The national tyre and maintenance provider said the results will be to inflate running costs between 3-10% depending on the degree of underinflation.
Gordon Robertson, mobile area operations manager - North, ATS Euromaster, said: “That’s a significant loss on fuel. It can also change the driving quality of a vehicle which puts extra driving demands on the driver as well.”
Robertson pointed out that with fuel costing an average of 186p per litre for diesel, a fleet losing 10% across a 100 van fleet could cost £1300 a month.
“Even if 75% of the fleet is running on correctly inflated tyres, the 25% still represents a worthwhile saving,” he continued. “Can fleets really be ignoring such basic driver checks?”
According to the TyreSafe organisation, underinflated tyres reduce the tyre patch in contact with the road and are more likely to suffer from rapid deflation while also suffering unnecessary wear on the outside circumference of the tyre.
The organisation added that the benefits of a properly inflated tyre include longer life and reduced running costs, particularly important at a time when fleet SMR budgets are under pressure.
ATS Euromaster is said to inspect 5800 vehicles each month- including dotcom grocery fleets such as Tesco - and that on average 32% of vans need actionable maintenance.
The company offers the ATS Euromaster Mastercare service for major fleets, covering vans and cars. It provides tyre checks, such as depth checks and recording of tyre wear and damage to a fleet’s tyres to provide a health check overview. It is expected to allow fleets to take proactive preventative actions, supporting vehicle uptime and reducing fleet costs. Further support is provided by on demand management reports that include a complete fleet analysis and any recommended work that may be required.
“Mastercare is about managing tyre life and ensuring vehicle downtime is minimised,” Robertson added. “Fleets fulfil their duty of care with regular maintenance and inspection, which means we can offer advice on cost-saving measures to prolong tyre life.”