Vehicle downtime
VOR · vehicle off road · immobilisation · off-road time
Downtime is the period during which a vehicle stays unavailable to its user, from drop-off to handback. For a workshop it is the structuring constraint: it occupies a bay, ties up a customer, and is counted in half-days far more than in labour hours.
Director of publication : Florian Précigout
It is the unit missing from most distributor-workshop conversations. A part delivered half a day late does not cost half a day: it costs a blocked bay, a shifted next appointment, and sometimes a courtesy car tied up for another night.
On a company vehicle or a van, downtime leaves the workshop entirely: it is a round not run, a site stopped, a driver idle. The workshop then carries pressure that is not its own, and passes it to the counter as urgency.
That is what makes a lead time that holds more valuable than a low price. A workshop choosing between the right reference tomorrow and a sound alternative now is not making a technical trade-off: it is making a downtime trade-off.
The trap
Trading a discount against a delay. Five per cent on a part never offsets an extra half-day of downtime, and the workshop knows it better than the counter does.
Frequently asked
Why does a workshop sometimes accept a more expensive part?
Because it is available now. The cost of a blocked bay and a customer to reschedule far exceeds the price gap on the part.
How does a distributor reduce its customers' downtime?
By announcing lead times it can hold, offering an available alternative as soon as a reference goes on backorder, and never leaving a line open without a fresh commitment.