Key Inquiries When Purchasing Truck and Trailer Parts

Australian trucks are tirelessly on the road for long periods, which leads to a great demand for investment in parts, service, and ongoing maintenance and makes choosing the best truck and trailer parts more critical than ever for business owners. As quality replacement parts are needed at regular intervals, buying the incorrect parts, paying too much, or choosing the wrong supplier can have significant consequences. Here are three key inquiries that need to be addressed when purchasing spare truck and trailer parts for your fleet:

Life Cycle Matters

When choosing spare parts, the goal should not simply be to buy the least expensive option. Nor does it necessarily mean purchasing the most costly. Having a supplier who offers a range of quality products allows you to maintain your heavy vehicle properly while balancing the total maintenance cost of the fleet. The product selection lets you match the right part to each vehicle’s needs and usage. A good quality part may be sufficient and the most cost-effective solution for light or medium-duty trucks that see a different level of heavy, high-mileage duty. However, investing in premium truck and trailer parts can pay off over the long run for the long-haul tractor-trailers that are the workhorses of the fleet.

The Internet as a Tool

The internet provides another avenue for purchasing items, or at least for researching parts and suppliers, before making the investment. However, the Web is not always the complete answer when sourcing the right truck and trailer parts for commercial vehicles. Sometimes, the expertise and hands-on knowledge of a good counterperson or dealership mechanic are invaluable. 

An expert counterperson can ask the right questions to quickly diagnose the issue and recommend the appropriate replacement part, often drawing on years of first-hand experience with that make and model of vehicle. Likewise, a skilled dealership mechanic has intimate, technical knowledge of the vehicle’s system and can provide guidance beyond simply identifying a compatible part number. 

The Role of a Wholesale Distributor

Fully laden trucks put immense and dynamic loads on components like braking systems, suspensions, and couplings, which must be properly maintained using quality replacement truck and trailer parts. Finding a national wholesale distributor who stocks a wide range of competitively priced, high-quality trailer parts from major manufacturers is crucial, as well as developing a strong relationship with the right dealership to run an efficient fleet. A reputable supplier can help choose the appropriate truck and trailer parts and alert you to new parts, maintenance programmes, or savings opportunities that can help reduce the total cost of ownership over time.

Ultimately, uptime is the key priority alongside the truck and trailer parts when choosing a parts supplier. If a supplier can provide the needed part the same day, allowing the truck to be fixed and returned to the road, that service has significant value as the cost of a truck being down can be as high as 850AUD per day in some cases.

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