The importance of preventive maintenance for vehicle hoists
As a vehicle workshop service manager, you’ll no doubt be aware of the need for preventive maintenance for vehicles. After all, the service you’re offering to your clients is helping to minimise repair costs, and keeping vehicle down time to a minimum.
It’s no different for the actual vehicle hoists in your workshop. As you know, efficient vehicle throughput is absolutely crucial for the profitable running of your service department. And that means that if workshop equipment breaks down, you won’t be able to service vehicles until it’s fixed – and your bottom line will suffer as a result.
Of course, one of the best ways to ensure you don’t have a problem with your car hoist is to prevent breakdowns from occurring in the first place.
The answer? With preventive maintenance for car hoists, you can ensure that equipment breakdowns are minimised, and you have service capacity available when it’s needed – helping maximise vehicle throughput for your auto workshop.
Service contracts keep hoists in top working order
One of the most cost-effective ways to service your workshop equipment is to commit to an ongoing 12 month service plan. This will allow you to plan your car hoist maintenance around your busiest times, rather than simply having to repair a broken down lift – while also doing without one of your auto lifts at potentially the busiest time of day.
Another advantage of ongoing service plans is that, because a hoist service takes up to one hour for each hoist, it’s a significant time cost to your business. By planning ahead for regular servicing, you can choose the exact time for your hoists to be serviced – allowing you to plan around your workflow for the minimum interruption.
What’s more, with a 12 month service contract you’ll know your costs are locked in for the period – which helps when you’re budgeting for the year’s service costs. You can even lock in a service plan for up to five years, allowing you to plan ahead with certainty.
And because your car hoist maintenance service provider is responsible for the frequency of your hoist servicing, there’s no need to keep track of when your hoists are due for a service. The service provider will simply schedule service dates across the term of your contract.
Preventive maintenance offers safety and reliability
By setting up a regular service plan for your car lifts, you can rest assured that your vehicle hoists will meet applicable Australian Workplace Health & Safety laws.
These regulations mandate that your vehicle hoists must be serviced at least every 12 months – and of course, unannounced inspections can happen at any time. To avoid having to respond to a ‘make good’ order for your workshop safety at short notice, it makes sense to have an ongoing maintenance plan for car hoists in place. To make sure you meet this requirement, ask your hoist service provider about setting up an annual maintenance program.
It also pays to ask the question, “Who is responsible for servicing my car hoist?”. If your workshop hoist supplier isn’t currently providing the maintenance services themselves, they may be sub-contracting the service to another business. In that case, what standard of servicing are you really getting? Does it meet Australian Standards? Is this arrangement the best way to ensure vehicle lift safety for your customers, your employees, and your investment.
To find out more about car lift maintenance and how we can help make your workshop safer and more efficient, call Levanta on 1300 577 541 or use the contact forms here.
