How fleets reduce downtime and improve visibility using third-party shops 

Many fleets rely on third-party maintenance providers to help keep their assets up and running, and even those with strong in-house programs rely on third-party shops for specialized repairs, warranty work, overflow jobs, or assets that break down far from home. According to a 2026 Fleet Benchmark Report, 48.9% of fleets operate with a mix of in-house and third-party maintenance practices, while 25.6% are fully in-house, and 25.6% are fully third-party. But outsourcing maintenance, especially for mixed-maintenance fleets, can come with communication breakdowns and data that can be tricky to keep in order.  

Umair Tahir, Director of Fleet, DeliverOL, explained some of what he dealt with in his early days managing the fleet’s third-party maintenance.

“We started losing things here and there," he said. "Papers got misplaced for work that was done. We couldn’t keep up with warranty parts. We’d sometimes get five or six emails just for one repair order. That was a headache. It was a mess for one person to try to handle shops across the entire country.” 

Basically, when third-party maintenance isn’t run through a shared workflow, control starts to slip and visibility drops, causing fleet managers to spend more time chasing information than making decisions. 

The disconnect with third-party maintenance 

The potential challenges of working with third-party shops can be summed up as a disconnect in communication and expectations between the fleet and the shops. For fleets using multiple shops, the disconnect becomes even wider. Not all shops document services the same, and service approval processes can also vary, with information coming via phone calls or emails, but not always being documented properly. This can lead to double work, missed warranties, missed preventive maintenance, unauthorized services and, of course, since all of these are cost drivers, it hurts the budget. 

In the famous words of Billy Mays, “But wait, there’s more!” Another disconnect comes in the form of payment. If a driver is at the shop, ready to pick up the vehicle, but the shop can’t get hold of whoever is supposed to be paying, then the vehicle stays, and now we’re looking at extended downtime and reduced productivity. 

When these types of things happen, fleets sometimes blame execution, like maybe a shop didn’t communicate, an invoice was late, an approval was missed, but the real issue is that third-party maintenance often isn’t run through a single system. Without a shared workflow, every repair becomes a one-off process, approvals are inconsistent, billing is unpredictable, and records are incomplete by default, leaving fleets chasing updates and reconciling information after the fact. And, when leadership asks basic questions about asset status, spend, or risk, the answers aren’t always clear or immediate. 

Managing third-party maintenance shouldn’t require constant vigilance or perfect follow-through because, realistically, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Likewise, control shouldn’t depend on someone remembering to save attachments, follow up on emails, or cross-check invoices. When maintenance runs through a shared workflow, approvals happen before work begins, costs are visible before invoices arrive, documentation is captured automatically, and billing follows predictable steps, ultimately helping fleets overcome the challenges of disconnection and providing the added benefit of clean records. 

Even in-house fleets benefit from better workflows 

Fleets that handle most maintenance internally often assume third-party maintenance tools and solutions aren’t critical, but these fleets have just as much to gain, if not more. When third-party repairs are disconnected from internal systems, gaps form in asset histories, cost tracking, and reporting, making it harder to understand true lifecycle costs and maintenance performance. 

Bringing third-party shops into the same workflow used internally allows fleets to better maintain complete service histories across all work, compare internal versus external repair costs accurately, keep leadership informed without manual reconciliation, and extend internal standards to external partners 

How shop networks create connection and control 

Some fleet maintenance and management platforms provide a maintenance shop network feature designed to eliminate the disconnect that often comes with third-party maintenance by bringing shops, approvals, documentation, and billing into a single, shared workflow. Fleets can route work through the platform, so shops receive clear authorizations and can communicate service details digitally, while attaching estimates, photos, and invoices directly to the repair order. This creates real-time visibility into what work is being done, why it’s needed, whether additional work is recommended, and how much everything will cost. 

Because approved shops in the network work within the platform’s workflow, maintenance activity is automatically captured in the asset’s service history, helping fleets maintain complete and accurate records across all locations and providers. Warranty eligibility, PM schedules, asset statuses, and prior repairs are easy to reference, reducing the risk of missed coverage, duplicate work, payment-related delays, or unauthorized services. 

Maintenance shop networks shift fleet managers out of “information chaser” mode and back into decision-making mode. Costs are visible sooner and records stay clean by default. Plus, leadership can quickly answer questions about asset status and spend without manual follow-ups. The result is a more connected maintenance operation that improves control and increases transparency and communication to help keep assets productive. 

As a bonus, this sort of setup helps turn third-party shops into true partners. “It streamlined everything; the work order goes to [the shop], and you can see everything right in front of you. You can communicate back and forth with the shop right on one screen,” says Tahir of Fleetio’s maintenance shop network. “You don’t lose anything; no work gets done that’s not supposed to be done, records are clean. If we ever need to look up what was done on a vehicle, we can look at the vehicle in our [maintenance platform], go to where the repair orders are, and we can actually see everything that’s been done. Everything in one spot for us — everything — so we can see what our total cost is and what each van is costing us. It’s helped us a lot with headaches and downtime.” 

Bringing control back to third-party maintenance 

Third-party maintenance doesn’t have to be chaotic or disconnected. Fleets don’t need more vigilance, more spreadsheets, or more follow-ups; rather, they need maintenance to run through a single, shared workflow where approvals, communication, billing, and records are built in from the start. When that happens, downtime drops, visibility improves, and third-party maintenance finally feels as controlled as the work done in-house.