The American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council, along with Decisiv Inc., announced that parts and labor costs dropped by 1.7% in the first quarter of 2024. This information comes from the latest Decisiv/TMC North American Service Event Benchmark Report.
“Lower parts and labor costs are welcome news to fleets, who have been weathering substantial increases for much of the last several years,” said TMC Executive Director Robert Braswell. “This important parts and labor cost analysis report is an excellent tool to help council members compare how their operations are performing relative to industry trends and plan accordingly.”
According to the report, parts and labor expenses decreased across 25 significant Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards (VMRS) systems, continuing a downward trend from the previous quarter when costs fell by 1.4%. Only seven of the 25 VMRS systems saw an increase in combined parts and labor costs, about half of the 13 systems that experienced an increase in the prior quarter.
The report highlights that, while parts costs went up in seven systems and labor expenses increased in 12 systems, the overall trend shows a decline in total costs for both parts and labor. Specifically, parts costs fell by 2.4% in the first quarter, marking the second consecutive quarterly decline, and labor costs dropped by 0.8% after two quarters of increases. Year-over-year, combined costs declined by 2.3%, although labor costs alone rose by 0.9%, a smaller increase compared to the 4.0% rise reported in the previous quarter.
“While more new trucks and greater parts availability are helping commercial asset service operations realize an across-the-board drop in costs, the ongoing shortage of new technicians entering the workforce continues to drive up labor costs,” said Decisiv President and CEO Dick Hyatt. “The recent findings are certainly positive. The ongoing efforts by commercial asset service operations to streamline management and execution of maintenance and repair activities are clearly playing a role in keeping costs down.”
The influx of new trucks and improved supply chain conditions are contributing to a widespread reduction in parts costs for commercial asset service operations. However, the shortage of new technicians is still pushing labor costs higher as companies must spend more to attract and retain qualified staff from a shrinking labor pool.
Decisiv aggregates data for the Decisiv/TMC North American Service Event Benchmark Reports, focusing on 25 VMRS system-level codes that comprise over 97% of total parts and labor costs. This data represents more than seven million assets and includes over 300,000 monthly maintenance and repair events across over 5,000 service locations. The ATA’s Technology & Maintenance Council distributes these insightful reports to its fleet members, organized according to the Council’s Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards, and categorized by VMRS-coded vehicle systems and geographical location.
Source: Truckers News
