compressionpreview

Maintaining semi-truck trailers is essential for ensuring long-term performance and durability. Regular preventive maintenance (PM) helps minimize downtime, control costs, and keep operations running efficiently. Routine inspections allow for the early identification of potential issues, improving reliability and safety. By establishing a consistent maintenance routine, fleets benefit from reduced repair expenses, enhanced performance, and greater overall productivity. This article explores the key advantages of preventive maintenance and how it contributes to the success and longevity of your trailers.

What Is Preventive Maintenance?

Preventive maintenance (PM) involves the systematic inspection, cleaning, and servicing of semi-truck trailers to prevent unexpected breakdowns and extend their service life. Its primary goal is to detect and address small issues before they lead to major failures. A structured PM plan allows fleet managers to reduce downtime, boost productivity, and lower repair costs significantly.

Unlike reactive maintenance, which responds to breakdowns after they occur, preventive maintenance takes a proactive approach—performing regular service at scheduled intervals. This approach minimizes unplanned downtime and expensive emergency repairs. Investing in preventive maintenance helps trailer operators avoid sudden mechanical failures and maintain consistent performance.

Typical PM tasks include inspections, lubrication, brake testing, and tire rotations. These procedures follow manufacturer guidelines or industry standards and can be customized for specific fleet requirements. When implemented effectively, a PM program increases reliability, reduces operating costs, and extends the lifespan of each trailer.

Advantages of Regular Maintenance

Establishing and following a preventive maintenance schedule offers multiple benefits for fleet operations. Routine servicing helps identify minor issues before they turn into costly repairs, extending the life of your trailers. Proactive care reduces wear and tear, ensuring that equipment remains functional and efficient for longer periods.

In addition to extending lifespan, regular maintenance enhances performance and reliability. Well-maintained trailers operate more efficiently, leading to improved fuel economy and smoother daily operations. Dependable equipment minimizes disruptions and instills confidence in your drivers and maintenance teams.

Fleets that use enclosed trailer wall panels built with advanced FRP materials—such as those from Resolite—benefit from added protection against corrosion, impact, and environmental damage. These durable panels contribute to lower maintenance needs and reduced long-term operating costs, aligning perfectly with a preventive maintenance strategy.

By sticking to a consistent maintenance plan, fleets can greatly reduce the likelihood of unexpected breakdowns. Regular inspections uncover early warning signs, allowing for timely interventions that prevent larger failures. This proactive approach not only lowers long-term repair costs but also supports uninterrupted operations, ensuring that your business continues to run efficiently and safely.

Implementing an Effective Maintenance Program

Developing an effective preventive maintenance program is crucial to keeping semi-truck trailers in peak condition. Start by assessing the specific maintenance needs of your fleet. Identify key tasks such as inspections, lubrication, part replacements, and cleaning. Documenting these requirements provides a clear foundation for your maintenance strategy.

Next, establish a schedule that aligns with your operational priorities and trailer usage. Setting clear intervals for maintenance—supported by reminders or digital alerts—ensures no critical service task is overlooked. This proactive scheduling helps prevent small issues from evolving into major mechanical problems.

Leveraging technology can further strengthen your PM program. Fleet management software equipped with maintenance tracking, automated alerts, and performance analytics allows teams to monitor service history and identify patterns in equipment performance. These tools streamline maintenance management, improve planning accuracy, and provide data-driven insights for decision-making.

By adopting these strategies, fleets can create a well-structured preventive maintenance program that increases trailer reliability, reduces long-term costs, and supports continuous operational efficiency.

Truck service activity continues to rise. According to exclusive Q1 2025 data from Decisiv shared with Fleet Equipment, service volume increased by 10.3% compared to Q4 2024 and 6.8% year-over-year. Factors such as tariff uncertainty and freight shifts early in the year pushed more loads onto the road. At the same time, many fleets delayed purchasing new trucks, keeping older vehicles in operation. The result: more miles on aging assets and higher demand in maintenance shops.

“Looking forward, it will be interesting to see whether service activity begins to decline as freight volumes drop, or if fleets continue to delay new vehicle purchases—keeping service levels high as they add mileage to older equipment,” said Nick Pittinger, vice president of data services at Decisiv.

Brakes Take the Lead

The most significant surge occurred in brake-related service activity. According to Decisiv’s VMRS 013 category, brake services increased 93.6% year-over-year, primarily due to a major ABS recall that extended into Q1. Even after filtering out recall work, brake service volume still rose substantially.

“Even excluding the recalls, we saw a 12% increase quarter over quarter and an 8% increase year over year,” Pittinger explained. “Clearly, brakes have been a key driver of service activity recently.”

For fleet operators, this means more downtime and expenses related to braking systems—both from recalls and ongoing maintenance. Brakes remain one of the most critical cost centers to monitor in 2025.

Power Systems Continue to Dominate

Power plants maintained their position as the top service category for the fourth consecutive quarter, representing 19.3% of total operations. Exhaust systems followed at 10.6%, while brakes ranked second at 14%.

Other categories showing notable growth included:

• Power take-off (PTO): +13.4%.

• General accessories: +11.7%.

• Lighting systems: +10.2%.

These figures indicate that fleets are experiencing heavier wear and utilization across multiple critical systems—not just brakes.

Flat or Declining Categories

While many service areas expanded, four VMRS categories experienced declines in Q1:

• Tires, tubes, liners, and valves

• Manual transmissions

• Clutches (the only category with consecutive quarterly drops)

• Exhaust systems (despite their overall high service share)

Meanwhile, automated manual transmissions (AMTs), which had previously shown steady growth, leveled off this quarter. This stabilization suggests that fleets are beginning to normalize their AMT maintenance patterns after earlier adoption and adjustment phases.

AI Enhances Service Insights

Behind these analytics is Decisiv’s enhanced VMRS code key 31 AI encoding model, which improves the precision and depth of service data classification.

“Our previous model encoded about 65–75% of operations under code key 31,” said Pittinger. “The new model has significantly increased encoded operations across systems such as lighting, brakes, and tires.”

This advancement allows for more accurate trend tracking across 25 VMRS categories, offering fleets and service providers greater visibility into where maintenance dollars are being spent and how costs are evolving.

What’s Next

Upcoming regulatory and emissions changes are expected to reshape fleet service needs in the months ahead.

“With the various legislative updates taking place, monitoring how aftertreatment and emissions systems evolve will be especially interesting,” Pittinger noted. “The data over the next year will reveal how fleets are managing older equipment under these new conditions.”

This growing trend in service demand reflects a dynamic fleet environment—one where aging equipment, shifting freight patterns, and evolving regulations continue to redefine maintenance strategies and operational costs.