Landscape Management, October 2010
TRUCKS TRAILERS continued from page 60 PHOTO COURTESY DOWCO ENTERPRISES Dowco is phasing out some trailers in favor of box trucks omy people are taking a much closer look at what their real requirements are and trying to downsize wherever they can Johnson says The big danger however is if you dont do your homework properly and end up with less of a truck than what you need what you save in fuel economy youre going to more than spend in maintenance New vs used Whether its having crews spend time on nearby jobs or driver training contractors have always worked to limit the wear and tear put on their vehicles Because our routing is fairly dense we dont put a lot of miles on them says Tom Heaviland president of Heaviland Enterprises Vista CA I like to see our typical truck life at about seven years Limiting yearly miles will lengthen a trucks usability but no matter how much life is added there comes a day when the cost of repair and maintenance outweighs the return on the investment When that day will arrive is often diffi cult to gauge and its one reason why Heaviland has outsourced his fl eet management Many business owners think theyre saving money by continually repairing used vehicles but that may not always be the case says Ned Maniscaloco a spokesman for Enterprise Fleet Management in St Louis Controlling costs for any business is essential he adds and a fl eet can be one of the companys larger expenses
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