Preventive maintenance (PM) expenses were slightly higher in 2018 because of the increased cost of crude oil, but this was offset by improvements in engine design, onboard oil monitoring technology, and improved oil quality, allowing fleets to extend oil drain intervals. Oil drain intervals will continue to lengthen as older vehicles are retired from fleet service.
While there are regional differences in prices, when averaged out on a national basis, PM costs in 2018 have been relatively stable.
Putting upward pressure on PM costs is the maintenance policies of some OEMs adopting more stringent motor oil requirements for new models. As a result, total oil costs have increased slightly, year-over-year, as more vehicles are utilizing synthetic oils, which are higher in cost than mineral-based oils. The increased cost of using a synthetic oil is balanced out by the decreased frequency of services, resulting in less downtime for oil services.
Also, contributing to the industry-wide trend of extended oil drain intervals is onboard oil life monitoring systems that are installed as standard equipment in some popular fleet models. Onboard oil monitoring system reflects actual driving patterns, which often allows for longer oil change intervals. More OEMs are using onboard oil life monitors to define PM frequency. From a PM compliance perspective, a defined PM interval is still required in order to properly measure compliance across a vehicle fleet. When using an onboard oil monitoring system, careful consideration to application, usage, terrain, PTO usage, and idle time should be given before a PM interval is defined.