For the HVAC contractor, there is little way to get around the necessity of managing a fleet. Customers are spread throughout a service area, and technicians need to get to them, as simple as that. Year-round, contractors must manage multiple logistics such as traffic, vehicle maintenance, and delays from road construction or weather. In addition to this, they need to ensure that technicians drive safely so that neither the employees nor other drivers are injured. HVAC contractors can incorporate a variety of best practices to ensure fleet vehicles are kept running as much as possible.
Proper vehicle maintenance is critical to keeping a contracting company as profitable as possible. While maintenance requires that a vehicle be taken off the road temporarily, ignoring maintenance needs will lead to vehicles eventually needing expensive and untimely repairs. If a driver turns up the radio to ignore the sounds of squeaky brakes, the owner may end up needing to replace expensive brake rotors when it could have just been a set of brake pads. Not enough tire changes, and a technician could get a flat that sticks them at the side of the road.