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.