Parts and Labor Costs Fall in the Fourth Quarter of 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 9, 2025
Parts and Labor Costs Fall in the Fourth Quarter of 2024
New Report from TMC and Decisiv Shows Reversal in Trend from Previous Quarter
Washington – A new report from American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council and Decisiv Inc. indicated parts and labor costs fell in the fourth quarter of 2024.
After rising in the third quarter of 2024, following three consecutive quarterly decreases, combined parts and labor costs fell again by 1.6 percent, according to the latest Decisiv/TMC North American Service Event Benchmark Report. Lower costs in Quarter 4 (Q4) compared to the previous quarter reflect an expected drop in service activity following traditionally higher pre-holiday freight volumes in the third quarter of each year. The American Trucking Associations’ For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index supports this conclusion by indicating declines in November and December of last year.
The Decisiv/TMC Benchmark Report is based on comprehensive service data. For the report, Decisiv collects and analyzes parts and labor costs for 25 Vehicle Maintenance Reporting Standard (VMRS) system level codes. These codes account for more than 97 percent of total parts and labor spending and more than seven million assets during 300,000+ monthly maintenance and repair events at 5,000+ service locations.
In this quarter as well, combined costs increased in only nine of the 25 VMRS Systems tracked in the Decisiv TMC Benchmark Report compared to 19 systems in the previous quarter. The latest quarterly decrease is even more significant considering that the report is based on an increase of 4.7 percent in the number of service operations.
“Lower parts and labor costs are good news for service providers and fleets after last quarter’s increase,” said Dick Hyatt, CEO of Decisiv. “While they indicate that parts supply chains are more stable and there is improved continuity in the ranks of technicians, the data also show that service operations are handling an increase in events more productively and efficiently. With more effective service management, communication, and collaboration practices between their in-house operations and dealers, fleets are realizing how best practices can lead to a better bottom line.”
The latest Quarter-over-Quarter (QoQ) data also indicated decreases in parts costs of -1.5 percent and -1.9 percent in labor expenses. The lower costs in Q4 may point to stabilizing parts prices and in some cases are lower due to a replenished supply chain. While the number of operations is up, lower labor costs are also possibly the result of less turnover in the ranks of technicians employed by fleets and dealers.
Year-over-Year (YoY) combined costs in Q4 dropped -1.6 percent on decreases of -2.0 percent for parts and -0.9 percent for labor. Illustrating that this represents a continuing trend, the decreases follow a -1.3 percent drop in combined costs YoY in the Q3 report.
YoY parts costs also fell for the second quarter in a row. However, the lower YoY labor costs were a reversal of the higher expenses seen in the annual comparison in Q3.
“Reduced parts and labor costs are great news to fleets,” said TMC Executive Director Robert Braswell. “The information provided by the Decisiv/TMC North American Service Event Benchmark Report gives Council members an excellent means of comparing how their operations are performing to industry trends so they can take action accordingly.”
TMC issues the reports to its fleet members. The reports are organized based on the Council’s VMRS, sorted by VMRS-coded vehicle systems and geographic location.
TMC fleet members will receive the report electronically via email. For more information on joining TMC, call (703) 838-1763 or visit http://tmc.trucking.org.
By providing leadership support and opportunities to collaborate, TMC helps members develop the industry’s best practices that address the critical truck technology and maintenance issues that have the greatest impact on truck fleets. For nearly 70 years, TMC’s member-driven Recommended Maintenance and Engineering Practices have been setting the standards that help trucking companies specify and maintain their fleets more effectively. Follow TMC on X, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Virginia-based Decisiv is the provider of the largest asset service management ecosystem for the commercial vehicle industry. The Decisiv Service Relationship Management (SRM) platform is the foundation for the nearly 5,000 service locations across North America that manage more than 4 million service and repair events for commercial vehicles annually. Through Decisiv’s SRM platform, dealers, service providers, manufacturers, and fleet and asset managers can communicate and collaborate during every service event. The SRM solution streamlines the entire asset service management process bringing all the necessary diagnostic, telematics and asset information together for all participants, and delivers it at the point of service. This level of connectivity and collaboration drives an unrivaled level of service performance and asset optimization that gets trucks back on the road faster so fleets see higher revenue per asset and lower costs. Service providers using SRM establish efficient communication, better controls and increased productivity in service operations that enable them to become trusted partners to fleets. For manufacturers, SRM enhances the value of service networks and provides data and analytics to help develop more reliable and efficient commercial assets. For more information, visit www.decisiv.com.
American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on most to move our nation’s freight. Follow ATA on X or Facebook. Nothing Without Trucking.