vehicle wear/tear help

[yellowbeta]

I had a meeting with the GM today and he wants me to come up with ideas on how to cut down on people abusing the news vehicles. His concern is that we spent a lot of money on vehicle repairs this year.

Now keep in mind, all the vehicles are at least 4 years old and have 100-150 thousand miles.

We already have assigned vehicle and change the oil on a regular basis.

So any suggestions on how to cut down on abuse/repairs????

Thanks

 

[focusthis]

In the long term, perhaps reconsider the make/model vehicle?

Short term, it certainly seems you are taking the right steps in routine maintenance and having them assigned. Although, you may have noticed that assigning equipment doesn't always carry the "pride of ownership" that would keep it from being abused.

Maybe a meeting spelling out, clearly, how you expect company equipment to be cared for, and the concequences $$$ of unusual maintenance and abuse.

 

[Tom Servo]

What does he want, to go to 250,000 with no trouble? 100-150k on a domestic vehicle is a pretty high number.

What kind of vehicles are they? If they're Explorers/Escapes or Cherokees, you guys are lucky they made it that far Cherokees have crankshaft issues and escapes. . .well, they're Fords. Have your GM spring for Toyotas if you want to have cars last a quarter million miles without much trouble. Also, Consumer Reports just rated the most/least reliable vehicles. Have your manager look at it. The least reliable were almost all American with a few Nissans sprinkled in, the most reliable were almost all Honda/Toyota with (if I recall correctly) a couple of Chevy trucks in the mix.

 

[cameragod]

Get a 9 year old 3 door hatch, without aircon or a radio. Smear yogurt over the back seat and leave it in the sun for a week. Now introduce everyone to the “courtesy” car that they will be driving when their car is in getting fixed for anything other than normal wear and tear. That might help.

 

[focusthis]

cameragod:

If it's unmarked, I'll wrestle ya for it!

 

[A Step Above Productions]

The only way to cut down on abuse is assign each Photog a car. If they fell as if it theirs they will take care of it. Otherwise it is just a car… “If the Photog before me did not take car of it, why should I?”

 

[cameragod]

cameragod:

If it's unmarked, I'll wrestle ya for it!

Good point. Make sure it’s all over sign-written with the cheesiest station slogan ever. That will make them behave

 

[micaelb]

It depends on what's failing.

I'm not sure it's fair to think wear and tear on old and worn out cars can be minimized by a stern meeting or threats.
Then there is that ugly word, abuse. Is it abuse? Bent and broken body and suspension parts would spell say abuse to me, engine and transmission problems on well maintained vehicles might not. Again, might not.
We've tried to combat repair expenses by buying new vehicles but we never seem to get caught up. We have two (out of 10) over 200,000 and a couple over 100,000 and had to replace another over 100,000 when it quit and repairs would have been over $5000. It wasn't abuse that killed it unless you consider 8 years of use as a news car abuse.
It seems to me a GM would want to be able to replace cars on his terms with good planning instead of having them break down and having a big unbudgeted expense.

 

[SandRat]

If the cars are shared, you would have to physically check every car as it is checked in and out. Otherwise, there's no way to know who caused what damage.

One thing our shop does is have a company that does mobile oil change at the station. Just as any "oil and lube" company, they check all the other fluids and things that could wear out/break down. They also handle the live truck generators.

Those with assigned units that can't get them in on "oil change day" have to swing by our local mechanic for a lube there (it's easy OT).

Once a week, a car wash company cleans all the news units and reports any noticeable damage.

Most of our cars are assigned, so it's pretty easy to tell who breaks what. Live trucks are another story.

 

[Mr MoOz]

Fill us in, what is he seeing as abuse?
What are these repairs that are raising red flags?

Could be he is just looking to squeeze the purse tighter.

As to the type of cars, well at this point you may be behind the eight ball. Go talk to the fleet manager at the dealer who handles your cars. See what he can tell you about the general well being of each car, ie.: is it user damage, general wear and tear, how can each car be maximized for long life, etc. Use that info with a talk one on one with each photog, then look at what assignments are like, etc.
It is not going to be an easy one shot answer here. You are going to have to do some real footwork here.

When I ran our first eval on cars years ago, I learned alot about how poor of a choice we made in car choice alone. Live trucks with the load they have, need to have all fluids up to spec all the time. That 3/4 quart low oil does not help, nor does low water.

So fill us in abit more so we can share what we know; but more importantly go to the doc who fixes your car and quiz the hell out of them.

 

[yellowbeta]

Follow up...

Thanks for the info everyone provided. As I looked into the situation, I found that what was being considered abuse was really repairs due to age.

As for questioning what we use and who repairs them. I found out one of the 2 shops we went to was running up the bill. I have since told people that we are to never use that company again. I've also started talks with a mechanic at the dealer we still use to see what he would suggest for a possible different vechicle.

 

[pre-set]

"The condition of a vehicle deteriorates at the square of the number of people allowed access to it."

-"pre-sets 2nd Law of News"


Under normal conditions, a news unit assigned to and cared for by ONE person will always outlast (by a considerable margin) a news unit operated and neglected by several people.

 

[LongTimePhotog]

We take our vehicles home along with gear. Every Saturday I vacuum and wash the windows (inside and out) and get the car washed weather it needs it or not. Anyone who gets into my car can't complain about it at all. Also, I schedule the oil changes and repairs. I work that out with the desk. My car is three years old this December and has 65,000 miles on it.

 

[CHIEFPHOTDOG]

Good old P.O.S

This is how it works down here, with seniority comes the perks of having a newer vehicle; the vehicle is assigned to you and you have to complete a monthly inspection on your vehicle, the inspection has the photog checking the Belts, fluids and even any new damage to the interior or the body. But, for the sake of argument let's say that one photog tends to slip, trucks dirty, or goes over on it's scheduled maintenance then you have to remind them on how good it feels to drive a nice unit. Now every station has that one unit that has been with the station since it opened whether it's the old S-10 Blazer or the Chevy News Van we all should have one assign them that for a couple of months until you feel that he merits a newer vehicle. I've been their I used to say "treat your unit, like it was yours" but then I looked at their vehicle and changed my tune "treat it, like it was mine" I do the same with camera's, I tell them to treat them as if they were their kids, if they slip we have a Panasonic EZ-1, if you know what it is than you know what it looks like strapped to an O'connor, The camera has a Frezzi and a Beachtek adapter so your good to go, but it's just embarassing. The point is make them appreciate what they have, The EZ-1 is a step up I used to have some consumer SV's now that made a huge difference. Tough love, is still love.

 

[rocky1138]

GM, Jeep, Ford, Toyotas? wow you guys are soooo unlucky

I'm blessed w/ a bunch of shared Kias. read it guys, & spell it out loud "K-I-A"... for ENG, they live up to their name

 

[BluesDaddy]

It's all about the shop...

I found out one of the 2 shops we went to was running up the bill. I have since told people that we are to never use that company again.

It is SO important to find that one shop that is reliable, trustworthy, and cheap. I found a local shop about 2 miles from the station. It's just 2 guys. They work their butts off to do as much business as possible. They know if they get a bad rep they'll go out of business. Since we run so many oil changes and new tires through their shop, they slip us freebies like flat repairs and rotations. What I like best is their style of fixing parts rather than replacing them. They'll send an alternator across town to be rebuilt instead of calling the dealer for a new one. They'll turn brake rotors instead of slapping on new factory parts (read: expensive). My first question to a shop would be: how much stuff can you FIX as opposed to just unbolting an old part and bolting on a new part. That should knock down your repair bills.

 

[soonershooter]

Have you ever looked into leasing?
If you did the numbers you MIGHT--and I emphasize MIGHT--find out that you could pull it off. Then you'd have new vehicles every 3-4 years, and you'd only be paying depreciation.
It might NOT work, but it's worth looking into.

 

[No half-days]

So any suggestions on how to cut down on abuse/repairs????

Thanks

Easy. Shoot fewer assignments and let the anchors read more!

 

[newsismylife]

No, I'm not management, but I've seen a disturbing trend at some shops. I don't agree with it, but they minimize the mileage and maintenance on the their fleets by assigning as few take-home cars as possible. Less time on the road means less cost with tires, maintenance and gas. It's sad, but true. The staff hates it, but they see it as a way to control their expenses.

Once again, I don't agree with the concept.