How Challenger Motor Freight reduces downtime with preventive maintenance and telematics

Forward thinking is one way to describe Challenger Motor Freight. Throughout the carrier’s 50-year history, it has been a proactive adopter of solutions and technologies that have enabled it to become a leading provider of transportation and logistics services. 

Part of the Fastfrate Group, Cambridge, Ontario-based Challenger Motor Freight operates from six locations in the U.S. and Canada. The company offers truckload and LTL, temperature-controlled, dedicated, and specialized services. 

Proactive maintenance and equipment strategies drive efficiency

Industry veteran Jaime Hillier recently joined Challenger as VP of maintenance. He brings 28 years of experience to the fleet, including motor carrier, leasing, and managed maintenance operations. Currently, Hillier is spearheading several equipment initiatives. 

Challenger's fleet comprises more than 500 company trucks, primarily Freightliners, along with some Volvo, Kenworth, and Peterbilt models. The carrier also operates more than 3,000 Hyundai and Stoughton trailers, as well as some from ITD Industries, Manac, Wabash, and Utility. 

“We’re moving toward a model that will utilize a larger number of owner-operators across our freight operations,” Hillier told FleetOwner. “Our total cost of ownership analyses indicate that it makes sense financially. In addition, it’s more cost-effective to find owner-operators than to continually search for drivers. One of the reasons I was attracted to this position at Challenger is because of this kind of bold strategy and savvy business move.

“TCO also plays a role in our new equipment purchasing decisions, and we look at the application and type of freight we’re hauling as well,” Hillier continued. “One of our biggest considerations is OEM support and parts availability because those things greatly impact uptime. We maintain good relationships with dealers for that reason.” 

Along with 32 in-house technicians, telematics and drivers are part of the equation at Challenger, which Hillier noted adds up to lower costs and reduced downtime. “Modern equipment requires an extreme amount of discipline, communication, and data,” he said. “Challenger’s proactive approach to driver training carries over to maintenance by emphasizing the importance of conducting thorough pre-trip inspections. We’re also using telematics data to trigger service events. Closing the loop mitigates breakdowns.” 

Technology and telemetry streamline operations and cut costs

With drivers on long-haul routes across Canada and the U.S., Challenger has adopted technologies to help better manage operations and business practices. For the past 12 years, the company has subscribed to the Bestpass toll management service. In 2020, it switched to Drivewyze for bypass service. Both brands are now part of Fleetworthy.

According to Paul Weatherbie, marketing communications manager at Challenger, Bestpass reduced the time fleet and safety managers spend processing tolls each month by half. Most company trucks are equipped with Bestpass Complete Pass transponders, and all tolls are consolidated into a single account, eliminating the need for administrators to track payments across multiple tolling authorities manually. Additionally, Challenger utilizes Bestpass’s discounted toll rates.

“By having one account that we can monitor all our tolling activity, we’re much more efficient at managing tolls, and that allows us to dedicate more time to other administrative priorities,” Weatherbie said. “Since Bestpass automatically withdraws funds from our account to pay tolls, we don’t have to worry about missing any bills.”

While Challenger has relied on weigh station bypass services for many years, Weatherbie noted that the company switched to Drivewyze following the announcement of its PreClear weigh station bypass coverage expansion in Ontario. Integrated with Challenger’s Isaac Instruments electronic logging devices, Drivewyze directly notifies drivers of upcoming weigh station sites.

According to monthly reports from Drivewyze that detail Challenger’s bypass usage, the company’s trucks with PreClear received 6,851 bypasses—an average of 11 per truck per month—across all Canadian provinces and the U.S., and more than half in Ontario alone.

Weatherbie noted that as a result, it reduced the time drivers spent at weigh stations by approximately 571 hours. “Since switching to Drivewyze, we’ve seen a significant uptick in the number of bypass opportunities we get each month,” he said. “It’s estimated that the cost savings associated with bypassing those weigh stations helped us save close to $60,000 in one month alone.”

Along with proactively implementing practices and technologies to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs, Challenger Motor Freight has earned a well-deserved reputation for fostering an environment where safety is prioritized and customer satisfaction is paramount.