By Billy Claunch, Brindlee Mountain Fire Apparatus
The greatest challenge is managing a fleet of fire trucks is identifying what the actual, total cost of ownership is. It sounds easy, but it’s quite difficult. The components include:
- Cost of the spec process, truck committee meetings, etc.
- New truck purchase price and construction process.
- Financing costs related to a new truck purchase, (interest, fees, etc.).
- Maintenance of the fire truck while it’s in service.
- Subcontracted maintenance vs. in-house.
- Repairs on the fire truck while it’s in service.
- Subcontracted repairs vs. in-house.
- The value you receive for the truck when you rotate it out of service from your department.
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Most departments are not able to access this information easily. We all know that as a truck gets older the maintenance and repair cost goes up. But how much? When does it go up? At the same time, we all know the value of the truck if we sell it goes down. But how much does it go down? When does it drop?
Generally, we have the idea that we keep a truck for 15, 20, or 25 years. But, what if there was a way to update your fleet every 10 years or even 5 years, and not pay any more money over the long-term? This can be done.
We all spend so much time in the design of individual fire apparatus. We need the engine set up like it will work best for our department and our community. How much time do you spend on designing the fleet management program overall?
Learn more about Brindlee’s buy-back program and how it can help you design a system of fire truck fleet management that wil work for the next 30 years—not just the next fire truck purchase.
Click here for more information.
