# Fuel Is Still Your Biggest Lever As Fleet Maintenance Costs Rise

Maintenance costs are getting harder to predict—parts, labor, and downtime can quickly add up. For fleets with 5-30+ trucks, the real opportunity isn’t just cutting maintenance, but protecting margins by reducing controllable expenses like fuel.

**Reduce Total Fleet Costs**

## What’s Driving Higher Maintenance Costs

Maintenance costs aren’t just about repairs—they’re tied to how fleets operate day to day:

### Wear from Inefficient Operation

Extra miles and inconsistent driving increase strain on vehicles

### Unpredictable Breakdowns

Downtime creates both direct and indirect costs

### Rising Parts and Labor Costs

Harder to control and often outside your influence

## You Can’t Control Maintenance—But You Can Control Margin

Maintenance costs are variable and often unavoidable.

Fleets that stay profitable don’t try to eliminate them—they offset them by controlling their largest, most consistent expense: fuel.

## How Fleets Manage Around Maintenance Costs

Operators that stay ahead of rising maintenance costs tend to:

- Reduce fuel spend where possible
- Tighten cost per mile across the fleet
- Maintain clear visibility into operating costs
- Create more margin to absorb unexpected repairs

## Fleet Maintenance Cost Checklist

Use this checklist to stay ahead of maintenance-related costs:

- Preventative maintenance schedule
- Cost tracking template
- Driver usage and care guidelines

[Download Checklist](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/663e75126ab14bc3a56a0e08/6a04f012b587eb194d054794_Mudflap-Maintenance-Planning-Checklist.pdf)

## Reduce Fuel Costs to Offset Maintenance Costs

Mudflap helps fleets reliably improve margin and offset unpredictable maintenance and repair costs with:

### Lower fuel costs right away

Discounts applied at the point of purchase—no waiting on rebates

### Stop paying to save

No setup, transaction, or out-of-network fees that cut into savings

### Card and fraud controls built in

Set limits by driver or card and get alerts for suspicious activity

### One place to track fuel spend

See usage across the fleet in the Mudflap Fleet Dashboard

### Works with how fleets already operate

No long onboarding process or new systems to manage

## What Better Cost Control Looks Like

- More margin to absorb maintenance costs
- Less financial impact from unexpected repairs
- Better predictability in overall operating costs
- Stronger control over total cost per mile

## Built For Fleets Running 5-30+ Trucks Nationwide

Saved 91 ¢/gal

> "We couldn’t control maintenance costs, but we could control fuel—and that gave us more room to operate."
>
> \- Stamp M

> "Lower fuel costs made it easier to deal with repairs and unexpected downtime."
>
> \- Jenny S, JM Trucking

## Start Reducing Total Fleet Costs