Fleets Mull Shifting Work to Outside Maintenance Shops

Truck and engine dealers and independent repair shops are trying hard to persuade truck fleets to outsource more of their maintenance work, but can they satisfy their customers?

“If you take your truck into a shop, you’re in line with 15 other guys and you may not get it back until the next day. Fleets don’t like someone else deciding their fate,” David A. Fulghum, vice president of MacKay and Co., says.

Also, the industrywide shortage of mechanics appears to have stymied the outsourcing trend in maintenance as much it has hurt carrier shops.

For the full story, see the March 12 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.