14. It is necessary to set up an internal system to ensure the withdrawal from service of vehicles not fit for use, with one person having the responsibility to remove vehicles from the road. 2. First-use inspections shall be essential for operators who rent, lease or borrow vehicles. These are especially important when vehicles and trailers have been off the road for some time. Even the most comprehensive R&M contract, which sings everything, dances everything, cannot relieve the user of his fundamental obligations, namely to ensure that the vehicle “is kept at all times in a safe and secure state of traffic when used on the road”. This is indicated in the vosa guide on maintaining roadworthiness testing, a useful starting point for anyone making decisions about maintenance measures. The guide also clarifies that the term “vehicle user” applies to both the operator and the driver. The driver is responsible for the complete daily checks and the careful completion of the defect declarations. Vosa and the transport commissioners consider that this daily check is as important as the planned safety inspections: vosa estimates that more than 30% of the mechanical defects it detects should have been identified by the driver. 17. Operators are responsible for the condition of vehicles and trailers that are inspected and/or maintained by agents, contractors or lessors for them.

(12) Records of security checks should be kept for at least fifteen months for all vehicles, including those that have been removed from the operator`s licence. 11. Certain types of vehicles and certain types of operation may be subject to intermediate safety tests. R&M contracts are evaluated according to the nature of the vehicle`s work, the annual distance and the region of intervention. They are required to inform the R&M supplier if any of these changes change. The most likely is that the annual distance is in contradiction with the number of contracts. The standard is to check the distance each year, with the fee for the following year being adjusted accordingly. It is advisable to know how the fees change if there is a lag. Also check if there is a mechanism to group distances across multiple vehicles or if a surplus of one year can be offset by an anticipated deficit in the other. The critical point to be determined is what happens at the end of the contract term.

We wondered about the excess distance fees that would be levied for Hypothetical Haulier`s R&M contract. The R&M fee for the distance indicated in the contract is about 5p/km: we were offered an over-course fee of 5 to 15p/km. You should also check the tolerance level, if any, before this tax is collected. If the distance actually traveled is less than the number stated in the contract, there may be restrictions on the amount of credit you receive. Another major attraction of R&M contracts is that they read your maintenance costs, so your costs for the fifth year are the same as the first year. This may be handy for a budgeting perspective, but of course it involves costs. By paying in the early years on the co-payments to subsidize the expensive years towards the end of the contract, you effectively lend money to the R&M supplier. For example, the monthly fee for a five-year R&M contract will likely be about 50-60% more than a three-year contract. Most R&M contracts are aimed at the lease term of a new truck and are therefore generally three to five years, with the renewal of the duration of the R&M contract provided for if necessary. Scania offers R&M contracts for vehicles up to the age of seven years and 1.2 m kilometres.

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