A unit fails on the motorway, three hundred hours past its service
Trailer and tractor servicing is well organised: the workshop has a wall planner and the regular inspection intervals are in the system. The fridge unit is different. It runs on its own engine or electric standby, and its service interval is in running hours, which depend on how the trailer has been used.
Nobody reads those hours regularly. A driver notices a warning, or a unit fails loaded on a hot afternoon and the load is at risk. When the workshop checks, the unit is well past its service hours.
Why fridge units fall through the cracks
Unit maintenance sits between the transport office, the workshop and the fridge dealer, and none of them has the full picture.
- Service intervals are in running hours, not calendar dates.
- Hours are on the unit display or telematics, not in the maintenance system.
- Trailers are swapped between depots and routes, so ownership of the check moves.
- Services are done by a dealer, booked by phone.
- Driver pre-trip checks of the unit are on paper, if recorded at all.
What missed services cost
A unit breakdown while loaded risks the whole load, as well as the recovery, the transfer to another trailer and the late delivery. Unplanned repairs cost more than planned services. Some customers ask for evidence of unit maintenance at audit, and a missing record is an awkward conversation.
How we plan unit services from real running hours
- We read running hours and fault codes for each unit from your reefer telematics every day.
- Each unit has its service schedule set up by hours and by date, from the manufacturer's intervals and your own policy.
- The planner forecasts when each unit will reach its next service, from its recent usage.
- Services due soon are shown to the workshop and the planner, and can be booked with your dealer or in-house team, fitted around when the trailer is not needed.
- Driver pre-trip checks of the unit, done on the driver's app, record set point test, display, fuel and defects, and defects create a job for the workshop.
- Completed services, repairs and parts are recorded against the unit, building its history.
| Trigger | Action |
|---|---|
| Unit approaching service hours | Service shown as due soon, slot suggested |
| Fault code from telematics | Workshop alerted with the code |
| Pre-trip defect reported | Job created, trailer flagged |
| Service completed | History updated, next due recalculated |
Service intervals and what counts as a defect come from the manufacturer, your dealer and your own maintenance policy. We schedule and record against them.
What the workshop sees after
A list of units due in the next few weeks, sorted by urgency, with the trailer's planned work so services can be fitted in. Fault codes arrive as jobs, not as a driver's phone call. Every unit has a full history for audits and resale.
Budgeting improves as well. With running hours forecast for the whole fleet, you can see which months will have a heavy service load and plan dealer bookings and spare trailers around them, rather than finding out when three units come due in the same week.
Is unit maintenance left to chance?
- Fridge unit hours are not read regularly.
- Units have failed loaded past their service interval.
- Services are booked when someone remembers.
- Pre-trip checks of the unit are on paper or not done.
- You cannot show a customer a unit's service history.