If a truck –of any type or size – is going out on the roads in order to earn its keep and give its owner a return on investment; then one thing is certain – that truck will get dirty. From this, it follows that the fleet operator has to include some sort of truck washing program in his schedules.
Why Wash?
One very good reason is that most trucks carry some sort of signage that is there for advertising purposes – for a general haulage company carrying whatever happens to be available at the time from home base to anywhere in the country; the advertising may well be only their name and contact details (in order to attract new customers). When the fleet is owned by a manufacturing company and is used to transport their products throughout the country (and, possibly into Canada or Mexico; or, even to the docks for overseas shipments); the truck will also double up as a sort of mobile billboard advertising the product. In either case, the impact of the advert diminishes in direct proportion to the amount of road dirt covering it.
It could also be considered that the various authorities might be more likely to pull over a dirty truck and ignore a clean one. Even if the truck has broken no laws; time will be lost clearing things up with the authorities. As all fleet operators know, lost time on the road equates to lost money; why take the chance?
When you come to haulage trucks that have to go off road as part of their regular run; there is an even more legislation based reason for washing down. Suppose the contract is to haul rocks from a quarry located some distance off highway and reached via a dirt road which, after rain will be a muddy road. In this scenario, heaps of mud will cling to the truck tires and also under the chassis. The truck returns to the highway and continues on to its delivery destination leaving a trail of mud along its route. In many jurisdictions, this is totally against local ordinances and can attract substantial penalties. This is why it is in the fleet operator’s best interest to have the trucks washed down before they return to the highway.
Who Washes Where?
Many truck stops have washers large enough to accommodate the largest of semis and some operators have invested in power washing systems back at their home base. However, many find fault with such methods and believe that it makes better financial sense to subcontract the work to a mobile truck fleet washing in the Fort Worth TX area.
