Ryan FowlerPreventative maintenance is not only a legal expectation under DVSA rules but could save the UK’s HGV operators an estimated £203m a year, according to new research from Logistics UK.
The organisation’s Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) carried out more than 40,000 inspections between April 2024 and March 2025 across HGVs, PSVs, LCVs and specialist equipment.
The findings show that when at least one defect is identified, operators save on average £545 per vehicle in unplanned repairs and downtime. With nearly 60% of HGV inspections identifying at least one defect, the savings for the sector are significant.
Chris Lipscomb, director of operations at Logistics UK, said: “Defects identified during an inspection can range from blown bulbs to more serious steering and braking defects, but they all have the potential to cause disruption if they need to be remedied when a vehicle should be operational.
“Operators are aware of their legal responsibilities regarding preventative maintenance, but the potential savings our research identifies show there is a financial business case for operating safe and roadworthy vehicles, alongside the operator’s legal and moral duty.”
Logistics UK’s latest “Compliance Report 2025” highlighted improvements in maintenance standards over the last 15 years. The initial HGV failure rate fell from 32.4% in 2008/09 to 10.3% in 2024/25, while the final failure rate dropped from 17.7% to 6.9% over the same period.
Lipscomb added: “These positive trends in vehicle compliance show how seriously operators take their responsibilities and reflect a combination of cultural change and operational improvements as well as changes to regulatory requirements.
“In addition, the increased expectations of the DVSA have encouraged operators to adopt more proactive maintenance regimes.
“This has always been best practice within the industry but not only is preventative maintenance now an expectation, our research shows that it has the potential to save operators thousands of pounds.”
