PM prescription: An ounce of prevention...

Motor,  Feb 2003  by Seyfert, Karl

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When your customers are on a regular I schedule of preventive maintenance, you can promise them safe and reliable transportation, while avoiding any unexpected walks back to civilization.

It's been estimated that motorists are driving around with 860 billion worth of unperformed maintenance on their vehicles. Why is this? Perhaps they don't understand the need for vehicle maintenance. Maybe they've been convinced that their vehicles are "no maintenance" or "low maintenance." For this, we can thank the vehicle manufacturers and their advertising, which touts longer service intervals.

Improved vehicle build quality has also contributed to the problem. Cars don't break quite as frequently as they once did, which only reinforces the low maintenance customer mentality. This has caused an appreciable loss of business for many shops. Combine these factors with our current economic downturn, and it's no wonder things are looking grim for some independent repair shops.

Yet other forward-looking shops are bucking this trend by placing an increased emphasis on preventive vehide maintenance, a concept that's been around as long as the automobile. Today's vehicles are just as much in need of preventive maintenance as cars and trucks of the past. Making your customers aware of this should be your mission.

Let's begin by defining the rationale behind preventive maintenance (PM). The idea is to prevent something from happening. In this case, preventing unexpected vehicle breakdowns and providing your customers with the assurance that they'll -always have safe and reliable transportation that performs up to their expectations.

It doesn't have to be entirely one-- sided, however. Getting your customers' vehicles on a schedule of preventive maintenance also prevents your shop from going through unpredictable upswings and downturns in workflow and gross profits. When your customers are committed to staying on a schedule, predicting the amount of work that will be coming into the shop each day becomes much easier for you.

So how do you get your customers on a PM schedule? We'll give you some ideas, and explore some vehicle maintenance areas you may have forgotten or might not have considered.

Scheduled Maintenance Intervals

Preventive maintenance is often confused with scheduled maintenance. Preventive maintenance involves the service or replacement of parts because they're wearing out and are nearing the end of their useful life. Repair or replacement is recommended to prevent a failure, to minimize the risk of a breakdown or damage to other components, to restore proper performance or to extend component life.

Scheduled maintenance, on the other hand, involves the adjustment or replacement of certain components according to a time and/or vehicle mileage table based on the vehicle manufacturer's recommendations or warranty requirements. Examples include chassis lubrication, oil and filters, coolant, spark plugs and timing belts. Both scheduled and preventive maintenance are intended to keep small problems from becoming larger, more expensive problems.

To get the most out of a PM program, begin by building a customer database that lists each customer's vehicle and includes a vehicle service history and other pertinent data. Most successful shops develop this database to include a mailing system that can be used to notify customers of recommended services. Many shop management software programs will also print out the next service interval for the vehicle on service receipts.

In order to be thorough and complete during vehicle inspections, check all the components that may require routine maintenance using inspection checklists. The Motorist Assurance Program (MAP) offers Uniform Inspection Guidelines on its website at www.motorist.org. Many shop management software systems also offer inspection checklists.

The vehicle inspection checklist is a valuable tool. If anything from the inspection appears to be marginal or bad, the customer will know what services he doesn't need, what services are pending and what services are needed right now.

What's 'Normal' or 'Severe' Service?

Each carmaker lists the recommended maintenance intervals for its vehicles in the owner's handbook and/or its shop manuals. These intervals are broken down by the types of conditions under which the vehicle is being operated-"Normal Service" or "Severe Service."

Most carmakers define Severe Service as operation under the following conditions:

* In extremely dusty areas.

* Towing heavy loads.

* Prolonged idling or heavy stop & go driving.

* Fleet or business usage.

* Frequent short trips of 4 miles or less.

* Frequent short trips under 10 miles during freezing conditions.

* Driving more than half the time in temperatures of 90*F or greater.

While this may be the manufacturers' definition of Severe Service, it would seem that most vehicles normally operate under at least some if not all of these conditions. Keep this in mind when you consult the vehicle maintenance charts, and when making service recommendations to the customer.