Smarter maintenance, cutting fleet downtime, and keeping vehicles productive


Vehicle downtime is becoming an increasingly expensive and complex challenge for fleets, with the cost of an off-road vehicle extending far beyond the workshop bill.

As vehicles become more connected and software-defined, Benoit Dessart, Head of BL Digital Solutions at ZF Aftermarket explains why reducing downtime will depend on combining smarter diagnostics and AI with the skills and judgement of technicians – and why fleets need to think more broadly about the true commercial impact of every day a vehicle is unavailable.

How should fleet operators be measuring the true cost of vehicle downtime?

Downtime is no longer just an inconvenience; it is a direct commercial risk. Missed deliveries, replacement vehicles, disrupted schedules and dissatisfied customers all contribute to the true cost of a vehicle sitting idle awaiting repair.

According to research by Mercedes-Benz Vans, UK businesses lose an average of £1172 for every day a van is unavailable, with companies experiencing an average of six-and-a-half days of disruption each year. With average hourly workshop rates at between £70-£100 in the UK (£150-£250 for many dealerships), every hour lost is costly.

As AI and automated diagnostics become more capable, how will the role of the workshop technician evolve, and what should fleets be doing now to ensure they have access to the skills needed to keep increasingly complex vehicles on the road?

Efficiency in workshops and the need to speed up vehicle diagnostics is vital. With AI threatening to replace more jobs, it might be reasonable to conclude that the mechanic/workshop technician is a thing of the past, or not part of the future. Not so!

According to new figures from the Institute of the Motor Industry advanced technology is not about to replace humans. Demand for vehicle technicians has risen 41% in a year, despite the rapid advance of artificial intelligence and increasingly automated vehicle diagnostics.

 

 

The IMI figures show around 16,000 vacancies across the UK motor trade, with vehicle technicians accounting for 46% of job postings in July. Demand for EV experience has risen even faster – up 131% year-on-year – while the IMI forecasts a shortage of more than 43,000 EV-qualified technicians by 2035.

At a time when almost every industry is asking which jobs AI could replace, automotive workshops appear to have the opposite problem: they need more skilled humans, not fewer.

AI will be central to that workshop, but as a tool that makes skilled technicians more productive, rather than a substitute for their judgement and experience.

Why should fleets be so concerned about downtime?

The consequences of increased downtime extend well beyond lost revenue. The Mercedes-Benz research revealed than four in 10 businesses reported increased staff stress because of vehicle downtime, while a third experienced workflow disruption and almost three in 10 said employees were forced to work longer hours as a result.  

According to the Arval Mobility Observatory’s 2026 Fleet & Mobility Barometer 2026 (car & van), 21% of UK companies have experienced an increase in vehicle downtime in the last 12 to 18 months (vs. 24% in 2025 and 18% in 2024). 

To overcome these difficulties, fleet managers use short or mid-term rental to replace vehicles off the road (52%), introduce manufacturers with better parts supply (40%) and manage the process more closely (34%). Against that backdrop, digital diagnostics and predictive maintenance are becoming essential tools for keeping vehicles on the road rather than simply repairing them once they fail.

Then there’s the increasing volume of vehicle data to navigate. A modern connected vehicle now generates approximately 25GB of operational data every hour. That’s roughly enough raw information to fill a high-definition movie file. 

This information needs to be harnessed, but it is far beyond what any technician could realistically interpret manually. Instead, sensors (a modern car has between 30 and 150, depending on features and spec) continuously monitor everything from braking performance and battery condition to steering, emissions systems and advanced driver assistance technologies. 

For fleets, the opportunity is increasingly to move from reacting to vehicle failures to identifying and managing problems before they result in extended downtime.

In part two, Benoit looks at how fleets can make better use of the growing volume of vehicle data, the role of AI and predictive diagnostics, and how connected technologies could enable faults to be identified, diagnosed and prepared for repair before a vehicle even reaches the workshop.

Read how AI and connected diagnostics can help fleets predict faults and speed up repairs.

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