Key Products to Boost Fleet Productivity: Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolants

Productivity is Vital to Increased Financial Performance

PEAK Commercial & Industrial surveyed more than 100 fleet professionals across the country to see how they operate their fleet systems to maximize efficiency and productivity. Eighty percent of surveyed fleet professionals have a formal plan in place to measure fleet productivity and the most popular reasons behind these plans point to cost savings — more than half aim to use budgets more effectively (29%) or increase sales and revenues by completing more jobs in the same amount of time (28%).

Maximizing a fleet’s profitability is undoubtedly a good plan to have, but the numerous options available can be overwhelming to fleet professionals due to their varying levels of difficulty. A simple, strategic element fleet professionals should pay close attention to is the products they choose to use for preventive maintenance, as these products will have a long-term effect on a vehicle’s performance. In fact, more than three quarters of fleet managers rate the products they use as either very important (57%) or extremely important (22%) to fleet productivity.

Benefits of Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolants

An important option fleet professionals should consider is the integration of extended life antifreeze/coolants. Extended life coolants provide the lowest cost for owners through both product and labor savings, as they not only decrease the hard costs of purchasing coolant, SCAs and chemically charged filters, but also lower the costs associated with vehicle maintenance. While conventional coolants should be flushed and filled at 300,000 mile intervals, extended life coolants like PEAK Commercial & Industrial Final Charge last one million miles.

According to Brent Hilton, Director of Maintenance at Maverick Transportation, a leader in North American trucking and logistics, there are numerous benefits to utilizing extended life coolants over conventional products.

“Each truck comes to the shop for preventive maintenance about four times a year, during which we spend about four to five hours on each truck,” Hilton explains. “If you look at the number of times that we have the trucks come in the shop versus the cost savings, using extended life coolants can save up to 1,000 hours per year, which really adds up in labor costs.”

The Growth of Extended Life Products

Although today’s trucking engines are hotter than ever, many extended life products are thinner and last longer on engine metals, ensuring protection against corrosion and cavitation. Because of the mixture’s numerous benefits over conventional coolants, many leading heavy-duty original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), now offer extended life coolants as a factory-filled coolant.

“We’ve made the decision to switch to Final Charge in all 1,450 of our trucks,” says Hilton. “This switch has resulted in valuable cost savings, allowing us to reduce maintenance costs, minimize vehicle downtime and amplify engine performance.”

The use of extended life products is an extremely valuable method to maximize fleet performance and utilize your organization’s budget most effectively. The use of this growing technology is a beneficial technique that all companies looking to remain on top in a competitive industry must consider.