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How Fleets Can Adapt to Unexpected Breakdowns with TMT Road Call

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When it comes to daily fleet operations, every second counts. And unexpected roadside breakdowns can have an outsized impact on driver safety, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction, all while causing fleets to spend more on service and repairs. How can businesses better prevent these types of breakdowns and more quickly resolve them when they do occur? We spoke to Brian Mulshine, senior director of fleet maintenance technology at Trimble and industry expert, about how Trimble TMT Fleet Maintenance and the newly revamped TMT Road Call are changing the game.


The Impact of Unexpected Breakdowns 

In a recent American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) report entitled, “An Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking,” the data around maintenance and its financial impact is clear and convincing: repair and maintenance costs, which includes parts and labor as well as roadside service, rose by 3.1 percent between 2022 and 2023. It’s equally evident in the ATRI data that roadside breakdowns constitute a measurable portion of those repair costs. For example:

    • Fleets reported that trucks traveled 37,700 miles on average between breakdowns or unscheduled repairs. 
    • Truckload carriers averaged below the industry overall, at 32,000 miles between breakdowns.
    • LTL carriers averaged well above the benchmark at 80,817 miles between roadside events.
    • Bulk haulers running older equipment, irregular routes and shifts with heavier loads on less-maintained roadways can often average fewer than 10,000 miles between unscheduled repairs.

There’s also data that points to causes of breakdowns in results from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) 2024 International Roadcheck enforcement initiative, during which commercial motor vehicle enforcement personnel in the United States, Canada and Mexico conducted 48,761 inspections over a three-day period. Across a vehicle out-of-service rate of 23%, the largest violations were for defective service brakes, followed by tires, other brake issues and lights.

Trimble data shines a light on breakdown activity as well. “In most fleets using TMT Fleet Maintenance software, the average number of service events per year has been increasing,” said Mulshine. “Between 2.5 and five percent of vehicles are out-of-service for maintenance and repair daily. We have one fleet customer who has as many as 25 service events per day.”

Trucks disabled on the side of the road don’t generate revenue and put drivers at risk. Beyond repair costs for roadside events, the impact that breakdowns have on driver safety, fleet productivity and supply chain efficiency and customer satisfaction is evident. So, in the event of a breakdown, what is a fleet manager’s or dispatcher’s next step? 

The answer to that question, according to Mulshine, is the newly revamped TMT Road Call full-service module for managing unexpected vehicle breakdowns. The updated application transforms unforeseen maintenance management needs for commercial fleets with an advanced cloud-based event workflow directly within the TMT Fleet Maintenance solution.

“Many fleets manage hundreds or even thousands of breakdown events a year and nearly 80 percent of fleets use outsourced service providers for their maintenance needs,” Mulshine related. “Instant access to an extensive network of external, local service providers is a critical need for any fleet.

“By integrating Trimble Places, Trimble’s database of over five million commercial locations, TMT Road Call accelerates the process of taking a vehicle from breakdown to back-on-the-road in a single, connected workflow,” Mulshine added. “That reduces the time, cost and stress associated with managing these unexpected events.”

With TMT Road Call, fleet maintenance managers can: 

    • Identify Disabled Vehicles and Locate Best-Fit Service Centers – Through a single, intuitive screen TMT Road Call collects data like unit number, incident description, etc. and allows you to view equipment location and nearby service providers. Using a live map-based interface, complete with Trimble Places map data and precise geofences, TMT Road Call provides access to an extensive network of connected service centers, towing providers, tire vendors, truck stops, dealers, internal shop locations and more.
    • Determine the Best Approach for Vehicles and Drivers – By taking into account vehicle status and predicted weather intelligence, fleet managers can see the best service options available directly within the TMT Road Call map visualization.
    • Initiate and Streamline Repair Service Requests – Because TMT Road Call is integrated into the TMT Fleet Maintenance workflow, it eliminates the need to call a dealer or service center, and enables maintenance managers to create repair orders in the workflow, when selecting a repair location. Over 15,000 integrated connected maintenance service facilities in TMT Road Call include Travel Centers of America locations, Daimler Truck, and International Truck and IC bus dealers.
    • Unlock the Power of Data from TMT Fleet Maintenance – By seamlessly integrating and overlaying vendor metrics such as repair count and ratings on the map, fleet managers can uncover insights and make informed decisions about service options.

Other features in TMT Road Call, which is available as an add-on for TMT Fleet Maintenance customers, are a case management system to log and record road call events, and the capability to view equipment specifications and send them along with warranty information and repair histories to third-party service centers to speed up the repair process.

Information available in TMT Road Call as well includes preventive maintenance schedules, details on failed inspections and pending work, customizable statuses to track equipment updates, and downtime measurements. There is also API access for carriers to connect drivers and electronically submit a road call case.

“When fleets need roadside assistance it’s imperative they get drivers and trucks back out on the road and moving again as quickly as possible,” Mulshine said. “Trimble’s newly revamped TMT Road Call ensures that when road calls are needed, drivers receive timely, reliable support to help them get back on their journey with minimal disruption. By leveraging Trimble technology, fleets are empowered with the tools they need to efficiently navigate maintenance challenges.”

Want to learn more? Check out this wide-ranging FreightWaves interview with Trimble's Brian Mulshine on the challenges and opportunities of modern fleet maintenance. 

Visit our TMT Fleet Maintenance or TMT Road Call solution pages for more. Or, contact our team to see how the combination of our fleet maintenance and breakdown management solutions can keep your fleet running at its best.