Being reliable takes effort
Reliability; we want it in our lives. Whether it’s in a life partner, a job, an employee or a vehicle, we rely on people and things to get us through our days, weeks, months and years. But what happens when they aren’t reliable? Some people get annoyed. Some others look for a replacement. Regardless of what or who you want reliable, it’s a team effort. Let’s talk vehicle.
Having a reliable vehicle is something many people take for granted. They get into the vehicle, start the engine and expect everything to be working as it should. In real life we know that doesn’t always happen. For many people, if your vehicle doesn’t work well enough to ensure its safe to drive, we can take it in the repair shop and get a ride to work. No problem really. But what happens when you need your vehicle for work? When do you take it in to be repaired? What could possibly go wrong if you continued to drive it when it wasn’t mechanically fit? Lots.
To the average driver, how often do you take your vehicle in for service? Do you wait until there’s a problem or do you take it for regular intervals? Recently I was an observer as commercial vehicles were brought in for a routine inspection. Many of these vehicles passed the surprise inspection, but others did not. Some of the violations the inspectors found were not having an annual vehicle safety done, overweight loads, broken leaf springs and one of the biggies – ruptured brake lines. All of these infractions can lead to a collision and possible injuries… or worse.
Proactive maintenance is always a good thing. Take a look at this vehicle with a broken brake line. Better to have found it now than after it completely leaked out.
While I was there I overheard an employee speaking freely to his employer about other company vehicles in their fleet which may need repairs. If you’re an employer or a fleet manager, it’s a good idea to listen to your employees. No one really wants to spend money they don’t need to spend, but spending a little money now for proactive repairs is far greater than spending a lot of money later…such as fines, major repairs, collisions, lawsuits, etc.
Regardless of whether you drive your vehicle to earn employment, to get to your employment or just for pleasure, you want your vehicle to be reliable. To help it remain reliable make the effort to look after it. It could cost you a lot more… than money.