An Overlooked Opportunity for Fleet Fuel Savings
Diesel prices are climbing.
Operating costs are climbing.
Labor costs are climbing.
Fleet operations are being asked to find savings everywhere they can — without sacrificing service, reliability or productivity.
But there's one expense that often gets overlooked:
How much does it actually cost to send a working truck to the wash?
The price of the wash may only be $50 for a day cab, and $100 for a full truck and trailer setup.
But the true cost can be much higher.
You're Not Just Paying for the Wash
When a truck leaves your yard to visit a drive-through or off-site truck wash, you're potentially paying for much more than the wash itself.
You're paying for:
Diesel.
The truck has to get there and get back.
Mileage.
Those miles add up across a fleet and contribute to tires, maintenance and equipment wear.
Employee time.
Someone has to drive the truck, wait for it and return it.
Downtime.
The truck isn't hauling a load, making a delivery or servicing a customer.
Lost productivity.
A driver and truck that could be generating revenue are tied up at a wash.
And when diesel prices are skyrocketing, burning expensive fuel should be limited.
The Hidden Cost of "Taking It Through the Wash"
Let's say a driver spends two hours taking a truck to an off-site wash, waiting, getting it washed and returning to the terminal.
That's two hours of paid employee time.
It's also miles driven that weren't necessary for the truck's primary purpose.
Now multiply that by:
10 trucks.
25 trucks.
50 trucks.
100 trucks.
Now add the trailers…
Suddenly, a simple truck wash isn't just a wash anymore.
It's a recurring operating expense that includes fuel, labor, mileage and downtime.
And that's before you consider what that truck could have been doing instead.
Your Trucks Make Money on the Road, Not in the Wash Line
Your equipment is an investment.
Every hour it's sitting in a wash line is an hour it's not moving freight.
Every mile driven to a wash facility is a mile that isn't helping you serve a customer.
For a busy fleet, time is money… and diesel makes wasted miles even more expensive.
When fuel prices rise, fleets naturally start looking at fuel-efficient driving, routing, idling and other ways to reduce consumption.
But eliminating unnecessary trips can be just as important.
One of the easiest trips to eliminate?
The trip to the truck wash.
Bring the Wash to the Fleet
That's the advantage of mobile fleet washing.
Instead of sending your trucks somewhere else, Porta Wash comes directly to you.
Your trucks can stay at the terminal, yard or facility while we take care of the washing.
No unnecessary trip across town.
No extra wash miles.
No driver sitting in line.
No scheduling trucks around a wash facility.
And no burning expensive diesel to get a truck cleaned.
Turn Washing Into a Maintenance Program
For many fleets, washing isn't something that needs to happen only when a truck looks dirty.
It's maintenance.
Road film, dirt, grease and buildup accumulate over time — particularly around frames, chassis, wheels and other areas that are exposed to the road. We’re not talking just the heavy haulers and dump trucks!
A recurring washing program helps keep equipment presentable while making cleaning a predictable part of your fleet's maintenance schedule.
And because Porta Wash comes to your facility, washing can be scheduled accordingly.
During downtime.
After routes return.
On a recurring schedule.
The goal is simple:
Clean the trucks without taking the trucks away from the job.
Start Looking at the Total Cost
If you're comparing mobile washing to a drive-through wash, don't just ask:
"What's the price per truck?"
Ask:
How many miles are we driving to get there?
How much diesel are we using?
How much does that fuel cost at today's prices?
How long is the truck unavailable?
What loads or deliveries could that truck be handling?
How much additional mileage are we putting on the equipment?
How many times do we repeat this every month?
When diesel is expensive and fleet margins are tight, the cheapest wash isn't necessarily the one with the lowest price on the invoice.
It's the one that minimizes the total cost to your operation.
Save the Diesel for the Job That Pays You
Your trucks were purchased to haul freight, make deliveries and generate revenue.
They weren't purchased to burn diesel driving across town and sitting in a wash line.
Porta Wash brings the wash to your fleet.
We provide recurring mobile fleet washing throughout the St. Louis Metro area, Eastern Missouri and Southwestern Illinois, helping busy fleets keep their equipment clean while minimizing unnecessary mileage, employee time and operational downtime.
Diesel is too expensive to waste on unnecessary miles.
Let us bring the wash to you.
Porta Wash
The Mobile Fleet Washing Experts
314-303-7581
PortaWashSTL.com