Avoiding Those Dreaded Road Calls
I’ve seen a lot of road calls in my 30 years in this industry. It’s brutal to know how many of those could have been avoided.
A single heavy-duty roadside tow runs anywhere from $500 to over $2,000, and that’s before you factor in the missed delivery, the driver sitting on the shoulder in 95-degree heat, and whatever cascading problem caused the breakdown in the first place.
The industry average is roughly 1 breakdown per 100,000 miles. However, with strategic maintenance programs, technological advancements, and dedicated driver coaching, some fleets are doing much better.
Before summer hits, coaching your drivers on the following areas is one of the most cost-effective things you can do this season. Here’s where I’d start.
1. Watch Your Drivers Perform Their Pre Trip Inspections
I don’t mean audit them. I mean, actually stand in the yard and observe.
There’s a tendency, especially with experienced drivers, to assume a long-tenured driver performs a thorough pre-trip. In my experience, long-tenured drivers sometimes run the most efficient pre-trips, meaning the fastest ones. They’ve done it so many times that it becomes muscle memory, and relying on that alone leads to skipping steps that may seem minor at the time, but could have prevented their eventual breakdown.
I’d recommend conducting pre-trip observations, or what some fleets call safety checks: get out there, watch drivers open hoods, verify they’re checking tires with a gauge, make sure they’re actually doing the inspection and not just walking around the truck. It doesn’t have to be every time, but consistent checks help remind drivers to be diligent about their pre-trip checks. Helping them understand that these checks help keep the driver on the road and making money rather than on the side of the road is also key; it’s a lot easier to follow instructions when you know why you’re doing something, especially if there’s a benefit in it for you.
The goal is not excessive oversight, but to set everyone up for success. The summer heat is hard on equipment, and good pre-trip habits can help prevent downtime and missed drops.
2. Check Every Fluid
Low coolant levels in summer are a direct path to overheating; low oil accelerates wear when the engine is already working harder in the heat. These need to be part of every PM going into summer, not just when a warning light shows up.
Make sure your drivers know what to look for and why. A driver who understands that low coolant can mean a blown engine on the side of I-40 is a driver who actually checks it. Walk them through it. Show them where the reservoir is, what the levels should look like, and what to do if something’s off.
One that often gets overlooked: windshield washer fluid. Bug activity spikes in summer, and a driver who can’t clear their windshield is a safety problem. Thirty seconds at the yard beats a visibility issue at highway speeds.
3. Focus on Tires
The only reliable way to check tire pressure is with a tire gauge. Hammers or tire thumpers do not accurately indicate tire pressure. Remind drivers of this, and if you’re doing pre-trip observations, verify they’re using one.
Coach them on mismatched tread depth between dual tires. Show them what it looks like and explain why it matters; uneven tread creates uneven heat buildup, and summer pavement temperatures amplify that fast. Tire blowouts increase significantly in extreme heat, and mismatched tires can be a contributor. It’s also worth mentioning fuel economy; properly inflated tires mean less rolling resistance, which shows up at the fuel pump.
4. Don’t Let Summer Heat Kill Batteries
Extreme heat is just as rough on batteries as cold weather, if not rougher. Battery box temperatures on modern trucks can reach 140 degrees or higher in summer due to tighter aerodynamic designs that reduce under-hood airflow.
Weak batteries are destined to fail on the road. The damage may not appear immediately, but high temperatures degrade batteries, increasing the likelihood of breakdowns. That’s why it’s important for drivers to keep an eye on their condition all year round. Be sure to check batteries during PMs to prevent no-starts.
Coach your drivers to flag anything unusual, even during the summer: slow cranks, electronics behaving oddly, anything that suggests the batteries are working harder than they should. A roadside no-start costs a lot more than catching a weak battery in the shop.
Make Sure Drivers Are Set Up for the Heat
Another thing worth mentioning is that heat illness is a real risk for drivers in the cab, especially during rest periods in summer heat. Make sure your drivers are carrying water. It’s simple, but it’s important to stay hydrated for drivers’ safety during extreme heat.
Sending a prepared driver out with solid equipment is critical. Pre-trip inspections, fluid checks, tires, and batteries, all done consistently, will reduce your summer road calls more than almost anything else I can recommend.
One More Tool Worth Knowing About
There’s one piece that pre-trips alone can’t solve: what happens when the truck is parked in 95-degree heat during a mandatory rest break.
If you want a solution that can help prevent no-starts, combat heat, and reduce idling automatically, check out Idle Smart.
We monitor batteries to ensure that they can start the truck when your driver is ready to begin their trip. We also integrate with the truck’s existing HVAC system to keep the truck cool without constant idling while the driver is parked.
It’s a fraction of the weight and cost of an APU, with no maintenance, a faster ROI, and year-round battery protection.