How To Verify Outsourced Repairs

Spot The Repair

If all goes well and you've asked your mechanic to replace a booster, you can then go in the garage, or the yard, and see if one booster is a whole lot shinier than the other. Simple enough. But what do you do when the job you’ve outsourced to another garage or a mobile unit, to make sure it was really done. And well done.

In this example, it’s probably really simple. The story probably along the lines of 1-When the driver released the air brakes there was an air leak. 2- A mechanic replaced a booster. 3- The air level is maintained with parking brakes released and service brakes applied. Great! Everything is settled.

Now here are the varying degrees of difficulty when it comes to verifying maintenance and repairs are properly done, and how to verify them. This list is general and in no general order. Below is how to keep your suppliers honest and actionable tips you can start using today.

General Maintenance

Usually, when we talk about general maintenance, for the majority of fleets anyways, we’re talking about engine oil and filter replacement, grease and inspection. Those three things are typically the brunt of any p.m. program. For the most part, it is pretty simple to make sure it was well done. Are the filters on the truck new? Is the oil level where is should be? Are friction points with grease fittings wet.

Contrary to what most people would think, the dirtier the truck is, the easier it is to see if the work was well done. Of course, we would all rather that filter bases be clean when installing a new filter not to contaminate the oil/fuel/DEF before we’ve even started the engine; but the truth of the matter is dirt makes the subtle differences easier to see. The brake s-cams should seem wet on both ends where the grease was pushed out. At the very least the grease point should have been wet by the grease gun. Rusty grease point = neglected grease point. The slack adjusters are the same story. Where things get tricky are places such as the clutch, and the fifth wheel (pivots underneath the fifth wheel. The reality is some need greasing, some don’t. If no one is willing to go underneath the vehicle and check, then years could go by with no one having ever greased a thing.

One way to prevent this mistake is to add grease extensions, short hoses, to the hard to see and hard to reach places. This alone will cut down on many easily forgotten or neglected grease points. And sometimes crawling under a truck or trailer with a light is the only way to see that everything has been done properly.

Minor Repairs

A lot of minor repairs are done ‘on the fly’. Typically, no supervisor or manager will ever actually go to see the defect for themselves. This is where having a better driver report becomes so important. Have the employee that you know do the best inspection possible before and after to make sure the repair items on your bill correspond to the driver report. Also, to illustrate the importance of paying attention to detail in the driver’s report, if the complaint is for a front marker light, then there shouldn’t be any red lights on your bill without good reason.

Again, however, going to see for yourself is the best solution. Knowing what to look for is the key. The recipe is: the driver’s report + the mechanic’s report = what needed to be done and has been done on the vehicle.

Example- Air leak, second drive axle + replaced booster fitting second drive axle, left, service side = new fitting, installed with Teflon tape, on the service side of the left booster on the second drive axle. If the fitting has not been replaced, but just the ring inside, then the fitting that is there should be clearly marked/scratched by the mechanic’s wrench. If it is as dirty/rusted as every other fitting on the axle, it is possible the job was not done.

Major Repairs

For major repairs whether it be inside a motor, transmission, etc. or an electrical problem, there needs to be, on the mechanic’s report, a logical progression in the steps the mechanic took to get to, verify, resolve and re-verify the problem and its repair. Along with the steps that were taken, the list of parts should fall along the same lines. Allowances for certain items need to be made. Electrical problems can produce the need for more than just a union. It is more likely that between the diagnostic and the repair the mechanic also needed tie-wraps, loom, electrical tape, a fuse or two, etc.

When parts are replaced, there are two best ways to get proof of replacement. The easiest is to ask that and parts that have been replaced be returned to be verified by your own staff. If this is impractical not impossible then pictures should be taken of the part and a sheet of paper. On that paper should be the date and the work order number. If the vehicle being repaired can be in the background, even better (preferably with the unit or license number showing). Any garage that protests doing this for you should definitely be doing this for you. Better to be charged the time that it takes than to be paying for unnecessary parts.

Conclusion

Anytime work is outsourced there is a host of benefits and risks. Beyond costs. Granted, work done ‘in-house’ can carry its own problems and limitations. I do believe that most garages are honest. We all have anecdotal proof of when this either didn’t seem to be the case or simply was not the case. These methods I mentioned are the basis for making sure what you need to get done to get and stay on the road, get done. Every garage opened to serve exterior customers is looking to make a profit, of course, and it may lead some to be less honest. The other side of the coin is that these people also realize that always taking and charging too much time is not conducive to repeat business. Any competent and thorough mechanic should have no problem supplying the information I recommend, nor should they be worried that you would check to make sure their work was done and well done.

Drive safe,

Kevin Gauthier