Regular fleet inspections
A working car is taken for granted. Many owners believe a sound car is the norm, something you don’t need to do anything for. In reality, a properly working car is the result of regular care and a set of routine tasks.
Just as a well-kept flower pleases the eye because someone waters and feeds it, a car stays sound only if all the needed work is done in time. Otherwise it’s no surprise when wheels start to come loose, engines seize or tie-rods break free.
Why it’s critical for commercial transport
The main value of timely inspections (a check-up or screening) is keeping the car in sound working order. A personal car can be left untouched for years, but commercial transport is different: high mileage, heavy loads and a careless attitude speed up part wear and demand regular care.
A sound car is a combination of factors. Minor faults breed more serious ones. People get used to small issues and ignore them, but together they turn into a big problem. A burnt-out temperature sensor lamp — the car still drives as before. But once the radiator hose clamp bursts, the coolant leaks out, the temperature rises and the engine boils over with a high chance of a major overhaul. The cost of replacing a lamp and overhauling the engine are not comparable.
The simplest and most effective way to improve fleet management is regular preventive inspections. During an inspection we check the main critical units.
Compression
This is the pressure built up in the cylinders. There are two main problems. Uneven compression: if the difference between cylinders is large, the car “chokes” and the engine misfires. Low compression: there’s no pull and the engine runs wild — heavy vibration, excess fuel and oil consumption, and black smoke from the exhaust. The cause is either worn rings or a valve problem in the cylinder head.
Leaks on the engine and suspension
Oil, coolant, brake fluid or power-steering fluid may leak. If oil leaks, a gasket somewhere is loose or cracked: instead of 200 g a week the car can burn a litre per 100 km. A leaking coolant hose leads to overheating, and if the emergency temperature sensor is broken, the engine boils unnoticed and can seize. Leaks on the brake cylinders risk losing the brakes, and on the power steering the rack can fail (a complex, expensive repair).
A leak doesn’t always mean a serious failure — sometimes it’s enough to tighten a clamp or replace the washer on the oil sump plug. That’s exactly what the screening is for: minimal effort in time saves you from major failures.
Level and quality of fluids
Monitoring levels rules out emergencies. We check brake fluid, engine oil, battery electrolyte and coolant — and we do it over time (regularly). If a fluid is clearly disappearing beyond the norm, the car has a fault and we run deeper diagnostics. We also track timely replacement by schedule and season. When topping up coolant, our expert presence is desirable: there are many fakes on the market, and cheap coolant or water damages the engine. The solution is to fix the leaks, not to save on fluid quality.
Correct engine operation
We run electronic diagnostics of the engine and can find what’s wrong: perhaps a sensor needs replacing or the ECU needs a new firmware. This diagnostics is also part of the inspection.
Air conditioner and heater
Usually drivers mention these themselves. Our job is to find why the heater or AC works poorly: a loose nut, a worn washer, or a cracked tube that let the refrigerant out. With an instrument we check the system and find such leaks. A broken heater in winter means fogged windows and a cold cabin, and no AC in summer makes the work unbearable. Staffing a fleet with good drivers is hard today, so a working climate is the minimum condition under which most of them are willing to work.
Lighting
We check the operation and alignment of the headlights: the car should light the road, not “under itself,” into the sky or the oncoming lane, blinding other drivers. We always check fog lights, side lights and brake lights — so the car is clearly seen in a parking lot, in fog and when braking.
Tyre condition
We assess tyre wear using tables of allowed values for different cars. If wear exceeds the limit, operation is dangerous: the chance of aquaplaning and an uncontrolled skid grows, grip needed for normal braking is lost, and the tyre lacks its rated strength — it can be punctured by a stone, burst or cut.
Suspension diagnostics
We check the shock absorbers and the integrity of the leaf springs: a seized shock pounds the steering and suspension with impacts, while a failed one makes the car “float” up and down and can roll it over in a turn. We check steering joints, ball joints, brake cylinders and calipers. Worn suspension leads to excessive tyre wear, the car pulling to the side, and ultimately a worn joint or ball joint can cause a wheel to tear off.
What you get
We do regular inspections and diagnostics for free. We take responsibility for your fleet and track its condition — no one else offers this. In a single visit you save about UAH 900–1000 compared with a full diagnostics at another service station.
After the inspection you get a report in the form of a completed checklist graded on every important point: bad / acceptable / excellent. Our specialists mark what needs replacing, what will still last, and what is in good condition and needs no replacement.
Our approach differs in that we aim at prevention, not major repairs. We keep the car running with preventive inspections and repairs instead of “operating on neglected cases.” Our staff isn’t set on hiding small faults only to take you in for an expensive repair later — we make sure your car stays healthy throughout its service life.