Labor costs increased 0.9% in Q1. (welcomia/Getty Images)
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The trucking industry saw combined parts and labor costs continue to trend downward during the first quarter, American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council and Decisiv revealed July 3 in a report.
The Decisiv/TMC North American Service Event Benchmark report found that combined parts and labor expenses decreased 2.3% year-over-year with a decline in parts costs overcoming a 0.9% increase in labor costs.
Combined expenses also fell 1.7% from the prior quarter, driven by parts costs decreasing 2.4% and labor costs declining 0.8% quarter-to-quarter.
“Lower parts and labor costs are welcome news to fleets, who have been weathering substantial increases for much of the last several years,” said TMC Executive Director Robert Braswell. “This important parts and labor cost analysis report is an excellent tool to help council members compare how their operations are performing relative to industry trends and plan accordingly.”
Braswell
The report found that a continuing influx of new trucks and the resolution of supply chain issues are helping commercial asset service operations realize a widespread drop in parts costs. However, the shortage of new technicians entering the workforce continues to drive up labor costs by requiring higher spending to attract and retain qualified help from a shrinking workforce.
“While more new trucks and greater parts availability are helping commercial asset service operations realize an across-the-board drop in costs, the ongoing shortage of new technicians entering the workforce continues to drive up labor costs,” said Decisiv CEO Dick Hyatt. “The recent findings are certainly positive. The ongoing efforts by commercial asset service operations to streamline management and execution of maintenance and repair activities are clearly playing a role in keeping costs down.”
TMC and Decisiv develop the report based on repair and maintenance data from TMC’s Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standards coding system using information gathered from fleets and drivers that use VMRS in their shops. The report showed that costs across 25 key VMRS systems continued a downward trend that began in the previous quarter, a reversal of rising costs that stretched back to last year.
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