Getting your fleet ready for winter tire season on time

The winter tire requirement catches fleets in the same place every year: the date arrives, the first snow falls and it turns out some of the fleet is still on summer tires. The last-day rush means not only an administrative fine; it means stock shortages, longer service queues and, worst of all, the safety risk of a trip made with unsuitable tires. Yet preparation is a predictable job with a calendar.

First, determine the scope

The requirement does not apply the same way to every vehicle. Vehicle type, purpose of use and, in some cases, brand and model differences can change the rule. For this reason the product does not hard-code the rule; because it can vary with legislation and vehicle class, this scope is managed through the record.

The job in practice is simple: in the settings section of the vehicle form, you mark the vehicles that are required to have winter tires. This mark is the basis of all later alerts and lists. Setting the scope correctly from the start is how you avoid producing false alarms or missing alarms throughout the season.

Defining the season

The calendar range in which the winter tire requirement applies can vary from year to year and from institution to institution. In vitaFleet the default season is December 1 to April 1; you can change it in the organization settings. Because you define the season yourself, you don't wait for a software update when legislation changes.

Alerts are produced as the season approaches and throughout it. So preparation starts weeks ahead, not in the middle of winter.

Seeing compliance

Vehicles without suitable tires within the season are listed and produce alerts. This list is the answer to 'which vehicles do I have work on'. If you see the list before the season starts, you can spread the tire changes and procurement over time.

Backing it up with measurements

The presence of tires alone is not enough; the tires must also be in usable condition. Tire measurements show tread depth and condition by position. Vehicles with no measurement entered or with insufficient tread depth stand out in the list. So the difference between 'has winter tires' and 'has usable winter tires' is visible in the record.

A preparation calendar

The sequence below is an approach that works well in most fleets:

End of September: inventory

Mark the required vehicles and record each vehicle's current tire status. Make it visible which vehicle has winter tires, which doesn't, and whose tires are waiting in storage.

October: measurement and planning

Enter tread depth measurements. Identify what needs to be replaced and plan procurement and service appointments. At this time of year the service queue is still short.

November: changeover

Complete the changes before the season starts. Record every change so that it is known which tire is mounted on which vehicle.

During the season: monitoring

Check alerts and the non-compliant vehicle list regularly. Don't forget to bring new vehicles added during the season into scope.

Reducing trip risk

A lack of winter tires is not only an administrative fine; a trip made with an unsuitable vehicle also means accident and liability risk. Seeing compliance across the whole fleet on a single screen lets you decide with data which vehicle can go on the road.

At the end of the season

Managing tires as a record

Winter tire preparation is easiest when the tires themselves are on record. In vitaFleet, every tire is a separate record: which vehicle it is on, in which position, how many kilometers it has run, how much it cost and when it should be replaced are tracked. Serial number, brand, model, size, DOT, purchase cost and new tread depth are entered. You can add four tires from the same purchase at once and copy the same replacement mileage limit and storage location to all of them.

A tire is in one of four states: in storage, on a vehicle, removed and kept, or scrapped. A tire can be in only one position at a time; before mounting on an occupied position, the tire there must be removed. When removing, the reason (rotation, season, wear, damage) and where the tire will be stored are selected. The location of tires in storage and removed-and-kept tires is held as a warehouse and shelf note; this ends the 'where are those tires' search at the seasonal changeover.

Doing the seasonal changeover with records

Switching to winter tires means mounting the tires in storage on the vehicles and removing the summer ones. The bulk mounting window speeds this up: you select a vehicle, assign a tire to each position, and after choosing the first tire you can fill the empty ones with a tire of the same type in one click. If the odometer is left blank when mounting and removing, the vehicle's current odometer is used; so how many kilometers each tire has run is calculated automatically.

Setting alert thresholds your own way

When a tire should be replaced is not the same for every fleet. You set the thresholds yourself in the tire alerts part of the Settings section: the tread depth at which to warn, how many kilometers before replacement to warn, the default mileage limit for new tires, the tread measurement reminder period and tire age by DOT. Mounted tires are evaluated against these thresholds every night.

Different vehicles need different thresholds. With tire rules, you can define separate thresholds by vehicle type, brand and model, model year and group: for example, one mileage limit for all minibuses, a higher tread depth for vehicles in a certain model and year range, or more frequent measurement in one group. This spares you from forcing the same rule on a light commercial vehicle and a heavy-duty one.

Making tread measurement a habit

A tire with no measurement entered is a tire of unknown condition. Tire measurements are entered for a vehicle and position and are automatically linked to the tire mounted there at that moment. The difference between the new tread depth and the last measurement, divided by the kilometers run, gives the wear rate and the estimated kilometers remaining until replacement. Regular measurement is how you make replacement 'planned' rather than 'at the limit'.

From the tire invoice to the record

If tires are purchased via e-invoice, the record is not entered by hand. At import, tire line items are saved to the tire inventory with brand, size, season, VAT-inclusive unit price, supplier and invoice number. If positions were selected at import approval, the tires arrive mounted on the vehicle; if not, they stay in storage and are mounted on the vehicle later from the list.

Comparing cost and brand

The kilometers a tire has run are calculated from the mounting and removal odometer readings; dividing the purchase cost by these kilometers gives the cost per thousand kilometers. The tire performance report shows average kilometers, cost per thousand kilometers and wear rate by brand and model. On your next purchase, the record tells you which tire is really cheaper, not the seller's claim.

Common mistakes

• Not marking the required vehicles and leaving the alert list empty.
• Forgetting to update the season dates at the start of the year.
• Changing tires without recording it; not knowing which tire is mounted on a vehicle.
• Not bringing new vehicles that join the fleet during the season into scope.
• Removing summer tires without noting their storage; searching for tires the next year.

The job is not over when the season ends. Returning to summer tires is also a task and should be recorded. That way, which tire was used on which vehicle in which season is still known a year later, and next year's plan rests on this history.