COMMENT: A few words of warning for anyone trying to save a few bucks by doing their own maintenance.
Truck maintenance and repairs are an unavoidable part of the industry, but with low rates and no real means to support cost recovery, many owner-drivers can find themselves between a rock and a hard place.
Recently with my own truck out of action for a week for repairs, and a friend reaching out for help in what could have been a horrific situation, it highlighted the above situation that operators can find themselves in.
In most situations I do most of the work on my truck myself, not only because it was my former trade but also because, like for so many of us, margins are tight and it helps to alleviate some of the financial pressure.
But not all owner-drivers are fortunate enough to have these skills to fall back on.
We all know a safe, well-maintained truck should be our first priority. We all want and endeavour to keep our equipment in top condition, it’s our lives, other road users lives and our livelihoods on the line if it’s not. But with the constant squeeze of poor rates and no regulatory support to ensure we can recover costs with every job we agree to, we can find ourselves under immense pressure to make ends meet. That drives some to take short cuts that could lead to deadly situations.
Even though it should be the most important priority of our businesses, good quality truck maintenance can be one of the first things to drop off when times are tough.
Incorrect adjustment
Again, as mentioned earlier, a mate of mine reached out for help – luckily. He had tried his hand at adjusting his brakes himself, but he did so incorrectly. Not only did this make the brakes ineffective, but it could have caused them to become inoperative altogether.
The impact of an incorrect adjustment as you can imagine can be deadly.
Luckily my mate had enough in the brakes to bring his truck to a stop. But if he’d been in an emergency situation he and anyone around him would have been in serious trouble.
He called me when this happened and I was able to talk him through the adjustment – but I warned him not to attempt any repairs he is not competent in that could compromise safety.
Unfortunately, this type of situation is only one of the dangerous consequences of tight margins that happens. It is not an uncommon occurrence for owner-drivers or small fleet operators to get repairs done on their vehicles, but then struggle to pull together enough money to cover the cost of repairs.
I know of garage owners who at times have had to hold vehicles, because people just can’t pay their bills.
Catch 22
Unsustainable rates have a flow-on effect, not only to owner-drivers and operators, but the repair shops, garages when fuel accounts can’t be met, and also others that supply or service our industry and those relying on us to transport their freight.
It’s a ‘Catch 22’ situation – if you’ve got a broken truck then you can’t make a living, but if you’ve got no money to pay the bill, then you don’t have a truck. It’s a sobering situation that too many people in our industry know and fear.
I’ve even heard stories that some people have been so desperate that they’ve asked mechanics to sign off on defects without fixing them properly because they just can’t afford the repairs, but they need to somehow make a living. Obviously the request was immediately declined and the operator sympathetically but necessarily had to show them the way out.
It doesn’t bear thinking about there being trucks on the road with known defects. That impacts all of us.
As much as we may judge those drivers, and of course we never want to share the road with someone driving a faulty truck, we must remember that the root cause of this problem starts with cost cutting at the top of supply chains.
To operate safely and professionally, we must be paid viable rates. All roads lead back to a broken system in urgent need of long overdue reform.
We’ve made some great strides this year towards industry reform, but we need to keep our finger on the pulse.
We all need to get behind the recommendations of Senator Sterle’s inquiry , and put pressure on the Federal Government commitment to lift standards, to ensure we can recover our costs, and operate within a safe, sustainable and viable industry.
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*Frank Black has been a long distance owner-driver for more than 30 years. He is a former long-term owner-driver representative on the ATA Council.