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For industries relying on a fleet of vehicles, finding a reliable automotive lift that effectively services your fleet takes priority.

Servicing your fleet without helpful equipment such as an auto lift quickly costs your business valuable resources. In the content below, we discuss why a reliable automotive lift is crucial for fleet maintenance. Additionally, we explore the purpose and benefits behind in-house fleet maintenance.

Fleet Maintenance: What Is It?

Before discussing an automotive lift’s applications within fleet maintenance, it’s crucial to understand the concept. Fleet maintenance refers to a business investing time and money to safeguard its vehicles for their employees’ efficient and safe use. In comparison with personal autos, your business assumes full responsibility of regularly maintaining a commercial vehicle fleet and associated expenses.

Fleet Maintenance: Which Industries Utilize It?

In certain industries, a vehicle comes as a package with a job. Below are some common industries that often utilize fleets for their services:

• Pest Control
• Cable and Satellite Providers
• Plumbers
• Electricians
• Window Repairmen
• Postal and Delivery Services
• Construction Workers
• Cleaning Services

Fleet Maintenance Benefits

Although postponing maintenance tempts some, delaying repairs and service scheduling can quickly burden your budget. Therefore, consider the financial advantages of effective fleet maintenance. By performing preventative maintenance in-house, your business avoids taking valuable vehicles off the road for overdue repairs.

However, if your business fails to adhere to the maintenance schedule, you risk incurring costly damages. For example, neglecting to perform an oil change every three and six months can result in repairs exceeding $3,500. In addition to accruing expenses, you also put the longevity of your fleet and the safety of your employees at risk. Therefore, ensuring regular maintenance results in better fuel efficiency, greater vehicle longevity, and a safe staff while on the road.

How Do I Ensure Efficient Fleet Maintenance?

If you have a substantial active fleet, consider bringing a mechanic on staff, either part-time or full-time. As a result, you’ll have an employee dedicated to your fleet, ensuring each vehicle is in working order. Additionally, your on-site mechanic helps oversee vehicle rentals and returns in the event your employees aren’t assigned vehicles. As your business and fleet grow, you can consider hiring additional mechanics to continue servicing your fleet in-house.

When Reliability Counts: The Importance of Operating with Efficient Automotive Lifts

Automotive lifts are intended to facilitate a vehicle’s maintenance. From performing a tire rotation to changing the oil, lifts reduce the time spent on maintenance while protecting your mechanic. Below are three reasons explaining why a safe and reliable automotive lift is crucial for fleet maintenance.

Reliable Lifts Lead to Increased Productivity

Poorly designed auto lifts delay productivity and increase service time. Therefore, finding a quality lift that properly matches its intended application increases overall reliability.

Regarding fleet maintenance, increased productivity is essential when you only have one or two lifts to service your entire fleet. Auto lifts are intended to reduce a mechanic’s time spent servicing a vehicle or performing emergency repairs.

By raising the vehicle up several feet, your mechanic can better view your fleet’s undercarriage and evaluate any issues. Your mechanic can quickly notice troubling signs such as leaks, wear and tear, and damaged or missing parts. If any issues arise, your mechanic can easily access their parts and tools and quickly remedy the problem. Therefore, by repairing any issues early on, you prevent more expensive breakdowns. 

Reliable Lifts Enhance Mechanic and Fleet Safety

Every industry should value employee and product safety. As a result, auto lifts allow your mechanics to effectively service fleet vehicles while standing upright in a natural position. Doing so prevents them from straining muscles that reduce productivity over time. With having easier visibility of the vehicle and a greater working space, your mechanics can feel safe.

Additionally, purchasing a reliable automotive lift assists not only your mechanics and fleet managers but also your vehicles. Designed to securely lift and lower vehicles for maintenance and repairs, auto lifts can only work efficiently when used accordingly.

Automotive lift manufacturers heavily emphasize the importance of following a lift’s safety features. When operating a faulty lift, you risk the safety of your mechanic or anyone near the lift. If an accident occurred, the heavy machinery could incur serious injuries or fatalities. Therefore, it is crucial to regularly perform a lift inspection and ensure its proper usage.

Reliable Lifts Have Greater Longevity

We understand the importance of protecting your auto lift investment. Therefore, it’s crucial to purchase a reliable auto lift right from the start. To decide which auto lift best suits your business needs, evaluate a complete guide to different types of car lifts.

Poorly designed lifts guarantee a short life span, failing to offer necessary lifting capacities. Any lifts without the required arm configurations, adapters, and other attachments can quickly become overworked. As a result, you may maintain the lift more frequently than your fleet, causing excessive vehicle downtime and reduced shop productivity. 

Find Reliable Automotive Lift Repair Parts at SVI International

SVI International is the industry leader in automotive lifts and lift repair parts. We provide over 40,000 repair parts for a plethora of lifts and brand-new auto lifts of extraordinary quality. SVI provides innovative solutions to solve industry challenges. If in need of a discontinued part, our expert mechanical engineers will design a cost-effective alternative solution for you.

Are you interested in learning more about our products or ready to request a quote? Contact us today at (800) 321-8173 or by submitting our online contact form.

An auto repair shop’s wheel equipment is among the most important components needed for daily operation.

Each tool serves a unique purpose, often used for common maintenance needs. In the content below, we explore various types of wheel tools followed by discussing the signs that it’s time to replace wheel equipment in your auto shop. Throughout the article, we will also emphasize one of the most common pieces of wheel equipment: tire changer machines.

The Various Types of Wheel Equipment

Rim Straightener

Any number of items can damage a rim or wheel. Curbs, debris, potholes, road hazards, speed bumps, and the list of unprecedented, sometimes unavoidable, hazards goes on. Clients entering an auto repair shop with a bent rim tend to fear the worst: an expensive wheel replacement. However, functioning rim straighteners often make full wheel replacement unnecessary. In fact, if you operate an automotive or service shop with a rim straightener, you are often set apart from local competition as larger vehicles, SUVs, and luxury cars often require more expensive wheel repair.

Straightening a rim, rather than replacing one or more wheels in entirety, provides an economical and cost-effective option. Even if you consider yourself a self-proclaimed automotive enthusiast and perform repairs out of your garage, a rim straightener will serve as an excellent long-term investment.

Wheel Alignment

Proper wheel alignment is extremely important, and wheel alignment machines are a common commodity in both auto repair shops and in-home garages. In fact, even a miniscule misalignment can cause serious issues when turning the wheels or breaking. Symptoms of misaligned wheels such as uneven tire ware and wheel vibration severely stunt tire life. Therefore, good wheel alignment machines are essential for any automotive, repair, or home shop.

Wheel Balancers

For shops installing wheels, a properly functioning wheel balancer is indispensable. Simply due to the wheel manufacturing process, tires are imperfectly balanced after installation. As a result, imbalanced tires can cause shuddering and vibration while in movement.

Overall, balanced wheels are important for safe, comfortable driving and prolonged vehicle life. Furthermore, a properly working wheel balancer is imperative for any vehicle shop performing wheel repair and installation.

Tire Changer Machines

Tire changer machines are yet another essential component to an automotive shop, especially shops consistently performing wheel repairs. In comparison to manual installation, tire changer machines save time, energy, and manpower. Mechanics and repair shops accustomed to regularly utilizing a tire changer machine require a functioning tool.

When to Replace Wheel Equipment

Your automotive shop’s wheel equipment is crucial to operating a successful business with efficient mechanics and satisfied customers. If you own an at-home repair shop in your garage, know when it’s time to replace or repair your tools.

Tire Changer Machine Maintenance & Repair

Tire changer machines are one of the most common pieces of wheel equipment. As such, when a tire changer machine stops working properly, auto shop efficiency plummets. Is your machine leaking water from hoses or the bead breaker cylinder? Are the cylinders working slowly? Are your foot pedal spool valves leaking, sticking, or simply not responding? Each of these common problems are signs that your tire changer machine requires repair.

Performing simple maintenance on your tire changer machine can prevent issues. A few practical steps to keep your equipment running properly in the long run include:

• Ensure that your air compressor drains. Manually drain your air compressor every day or install a timed-release valve to regularly drain your tank.
• Install a reliable air dryer after your compressor, ensuring that moisture stays out of the air lines.
• Check oiler assemblies weekly, and fill when needed.

Simply put, wheel equipment requires regular maintenance and care to prolong life. The primary cause of tire changer machine issues stems from water leaking into the air lines and internal components. When this occurs, seals dry, and parts begin to fail.

While regular maintenance can prolong your tire changer’s lifetime, eventually parts will fail. Of course, down time in the auto repair industry can be detrimental to a business. If your shop utilizes any wheel equipment throughout daily operations, identifying a trustworthy wheel equipment repair parts company is crucial.

Replace Wheel Equipment Repair Parts

SVI International is an industry leader in repair parts, with a plethora of tire changer parts. Regardless of the make or model utilized in your shop, SVI can have or manufacture the proper equipment to efficiently resolve a repair. Below, we discuss a small sampling of SVI’s tire changer models. For every model, according to unique specifications, SVI carries mount/ demount heads, bead break seal kits, blast valves, and every other required part.

Coats Tire Changers

Coats, providing high-quality tire changers since 1947, provides a wide variety of tire changers, from the 10-10 Air-Flate to the 6050E. SVI provides repair parts for every model.

Focus Tire Changers

Focus offers tire changers for cars and heavy vehicles, innovative systems commonly found in auto repair shops. SVI readily supplies repair parts for four models: F21, F242 TI, F252 TI, and F28.

Atlas Tire Changers

Yet another well-known tire changer company, Atlas Automotive Equipment is found in many countries across the world. With competitive prices and superb quality, Atlas is a trustworthy brand. At SVI, we understand that the best automotive equipment is not easily or gladly replaced – thus, we carry repair parts for nine Atlas tire changer models: TC-221XL, TC-229, TC-289, TC-755, TC205, TC211, TC221, TTC-301, and TTC-303.

Tuxedo

Tuxedo Distributors offer tire changers for ATVs, motorcycles, cars, trucks, tractors, and earthmovers. SVI provides a broad collection of tire changer parts for eight primary models: TC-1300, TC-400M-B, TC-430, TC-530, TC-770-T, TC-950, TC-950-WPA, and TC-980.

As mentioned, the list above covers a fraction of the tire changer machine repair parts carried by SVI.

SVI International

At SVI International, we are dedicated to our clients. This is why we provide on-time delivery on in-stock parts, from any of our three, “ready ship” warehouses, located across the country.

If the tire changer you utilize is not covered in this content, you will likely find the correct machine while viewing our entire collection. Furthermore, our team is ready to assist you in your search for the proper repair parts! Please do not hesitate to reach out 800-321-8173. We’re always just a phone call away.