Data from Fleetio highlights the most frequently performed fleet maintenance activities, revealing key cost and labor patterns. The data covers these maintenance categories: DOT inspection, engine air filter replacement, engine oil&filter replacement, fuel filter replacement, tire replacement, and towing/roadside assistance.
For these categories, costs have remainedlargely stable throughoutthe 2024– 2025 period. However, key service categories continue to show meaningful variation in both cost structure and labor intensity. Tire replacement remains the most expensive routine service for fleets.
From a cost composition perspective, services can be categorized into labor-driven and parts-driven categories. DOT inspections and towing are almost entirely labor-dependent — labor accounts for more than 80% of total cost — while tire replacement is about 90% parts, illustrating how materials, rather than time, drive cost increases.
Services such as oil and filter replacements fall in the middle, withanear-even split between parts and labor. This balance indicates efficiency gains from standardized processes;however,these categoriesstill represent a significant portion of annual maintenance budgets due to theirfrequency.
Labor vs. Parts Composition by ServiceType (2024-2025)
DOT inspections and towing are primarily labor driven, with labor accounting for more than 80% of total cost. In contrast, tire replacement is about 90% parts, while oil and filter services maintain a balanced cost split between labor and materials
Source: FleetIO
Average Quarter-over-Quarter Change in Service Cost (2024-2025)
|
Service Type |
Avg. QoQ Change (%) |
|
Towing/Roadside Assistance |
4.2 |
|
Tire Replacement |
0.9 |
|
Engine Air Filter Replacement |
0.0 |
|
Fuel Filter Replacement |
-1.6 |
|
Engine Oil & Filter Replacement |
-1.9 |
|
DOT Inspection |
2.4 |
Average Labor Time per ServiceType (2024-2025)
|
ServiceType |
Avg. LaborTime (Minutes) |
|
Towing/Roadside Assistance |
132.1 |
|
Engine Oil & Filter Replacement |
80.9 |
|
Tire Replacement |
67.0 |
|
DOT Inspection |
64.4 |
|
Fuel Filter Replacement |
45.3 |
|
Engine Air Filter Replacement |
24.5 |
Average Cost to Perform by ServiceType (2024-2025)
Tire replacement continues to dominate fleet maintenance spending, driven primarily by high parts costs. Other routine services, such as oil and filter replacements, remain comparatively stable in both price and frequency.
Source: FleetIO
Quarter-over-quarter comparisons reveal moderate volatility, with towing and roadside assistance showing the sharpestincreases, averaging a 4.2% rise per quarter. That uptick aligns with inflationary trends in field labor and rising dispatch costs. By contrast, DOT inspections and engine oil changes have seen minimal movement, underscoring the relative predictability ofstandardized preventive maintenance tasks.
Together, these patternssuggest that fleets will continue to manage a dual challenge: inflationinparts-intensive categories and timebased labor costsin service-heavy ones. ■
