Seven out of 10 fleet managers are being advised to replace diesel particulate filters unnecessarily when they could be restored after a clean, wasting thousands of pounds a year, a motor parts reconditioning company has warned.
According to DPF Clean Team, inaccurate advice is being given to 70% of fleet managers thanks to a lack of knowledge and training on the part of garage technicians relating to DPFs.
The company said it costs up to £2,000 to replace DPFs, and that’s before vehicle downtime costs are taken into account.
Research from the RAC suggests that each fleet vehicle being off the road costs businesses £500 a day in downtime, with findings from the Freight Transport Association showing that the average unplanned downtime for fleet operators amounts to six days a year per vehicle.
“Our research has uncovered a worryingly high level of inaccurate advice given to vehicle owners regarding DPFs from garages and vehicle technicians. We are not suggesting this is deliberate. In fact, it appears to be a combination of a lack of knowledge and technical ability about DPFs,” said Cameron Bryce, director at DPF Clean Team.
“The cost of having a DPF replaced can cost as much as £2,000 per vehicle, and that’s before the cost incurred by taking a vehicle off the road is even considered. By having DPFs unnecessarily replaced, fleet managers could also be wasting tens of thousands of pounds per year,” he added.
