Can I really save money with a Truck Wheel Alignment?

So let’s talk about what sort of savings are available by ensuring correct alignment of axles and wheels on your truck trailer or bus. Research & studies conducted around the world show that around 80 percent of medium to heavy vehicles are incorrectly aligned, or have a mis-alignment. If your truck trailer or bus has incorrectly aligned wheels & axles, you have what we call increased rolling resistance when travelling on the road. This means the engine and steering components are working harder than they need to be, and the end result is an increase in fuel consumption. Generally speaking, correcting any alignment issues will result in a saving of 3 to 10 percent on fuel.Over the years we have performed alignments on several heavy vehicles that were toeing out so far that we couldn’t even take a reading off our scales! In cases like these, it is not uncommon to see savings of up to 20 percent on fuel. As you can imagine if you are a transport operator of one vehicle or a fleet, every year this adds up to a very significant amount of money that could easily be saved. Just say your trucks average fuel consumption is 33 litres per 100 km. So in a one way trip from Brisbane to Sydney you consume 330 litres of fuel. If you are getting diesel for $1.20/litre, you spend $396.00 per trip. What you didn’t know was that the incorrect alignment of your axles has been constantly increasing rolling resistance, and your fuel consumption is actually up 10 percent on where it should be.So along the way you get a wheel alignment. With the axles correctly aligned, you are now using 30 litres per 100 km. Your next trip from Brisbane to Sydney costs you $360.00 in fuel. So you are now saving $36.00 per 1000 kms on fuel, or 3.6 cents per km. Now I don’t know how many kms your truck does each year, but you can work out the rest.