Interest in Maintenance Growing
Page 36
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WE are receiving a large number of letters asking for suggestions concerning schemes of maintenance. It is quite clear that operators in general have suddenly developed an interest in this aspect of commercial-vehicle usage. The inference, we are afraid, is that they have been impelled to take this interest as the outcome of the Road and Rail Traffic Act.
Those who have written to us must either have experienced a visit from the Government inspector or anticipate such a visit in the near future. That this should be so is at one and the same time a reflection upon the general attitude of commercial-vehicle owners towards this matter of maintenance and a confirmation of the views we have been expressing for years as to the wisdom of making a feature of efficient maintenance. The general situation has not been altered by the Act or by the visits of the inspectors under the Act. It still remains, as it always has been, the fact that it is sound policy to take good care of a motor vehicle. An efficiently maintained vehicle is not only cheaper to operate, it is actually also cheaper to maintain.
The method of maintenance in any particular case depends upon circumstances. Where a large fleet is operated it will probably be worth the while of the owner to organize his own maintenance and repair department and look after his machines himself. In the majority of cases it is better to enter into some arrangement either with the manufacturer or with the manufacturer's local agent to maintain the vehicles under contract.