Fleet downtime has fallen to its best level since before the pandemic, suggests new data from epyx.
Figures for first quarter of 2026 show the length of time fleet vehicles are spending off-the-road while undergoing maintenance or repair dropped to 1.46 days in January, 1.47 in February and 1.53 in March.
These are the three lowest monthly numbers recorded since January 2020’s 1.54 days, just before the Covid crisis, according to information from the company’s industry standard 1link Service Network service, maintenance and repair (SMR) platform.
Following that point, downtime subsequently increased, peaking at 1.83 days in May 2023 before gradually falling to 1.57 days for January 2025. However, during the rest of last year, there was some instability, with most months landing in a band of 1.68-1.77 days followed by rises to 1.83 days in November and 1.91 in December.
Tim Meadows, CCO at epyx, said, “Downtime has been a major problem for fleets since the pandemic, something caused by a number of factors. These include operating generally older vehicles, difficulties obtaining parts, a shortage of skilled technicians and higher demands on workshop capacity – all of which have meant that cars and vans have been spending longer off the road.
“We’ve been working closely with vehicle operators to mitigate its effects but, as our data shows, progress in resolving all of these problems have been both slow and erratic over the last few years. However, Q1’s figures suggest there may be a marked improvement underway, which would be very good news.”
However, Tim cautioned that experience of the last few years suggested future increases in downtime remained possible.
“It’s much too early, we believe, to say these three months of figures mean issues with downtime have effectively been sorted. We could well see further volatility in future data. There are many variables in play that could have a negative effect.”
