Forklift Servicing & Repairs

Most forklifts are serviced every 250 to 500 running hours, or roughly every three to six months on typical single-shift use. The right interval depends on hours, duty and environment rather than the calendar alone: a truck in a cold store or a foundry needs attention more often than one doing light indoor work. Where telematics is fitted, servicing can be scheduled on actual running hours per machine instead of a fixed cycle.

A planned service covers safety-critical systems (brakes, steering, horn, lights, seat belt and seat switch, emergency isolator), the lift system (mast, chains and tension, forks and fork wear, carriage, hydraulics), drive and traction components, battery and charging including Battery Management System data on lithium machines, and any attachments. The engineer leaves a report of what was done and what will need attention before the next visit.

A service is preventative maintenance to keep the truck running well. A LOLER thorough examination is a separate statutory inspection of the lifting equipment, carried out to a defined scope and producing its own report. One does not cover the other. Sites that assume their service contract includes thorough examination are often caught out at audit, so it is worth checking exactly what your agreement covers.

At least every 12 months for a standard forklift, and at least every 6 months for any machine that lifts people – which includes order pickers and any truck used with a working platform. More frequent examination may be required where the duty cycle is heavy or where a written scheme of examination specifies it.

We dispatch an engineer to your premises within 24 hours of a breakdown call. Sites close to one of our designated repair facilities typically see an average 2 to 4 hour response. The engineer surveys the fault, quotes the work and repairs on site wherever possible; most forklift repairs are resolved at the first visit.

Yes. Our forklift services cover mixed fleets across manufacturers, including counterbalance trucks, reach trucks, pallet trucks and stackers, order pickers, Combilift and utility vehicles, whether new, used or hired. Most sites have accumulated equipment from several brands and do not want a separate service agreement for each one.

There are two common levels. Planned maintenance only covers scheduled servicing at a set interval, with repairs charged as they arise. Full maintenance covers servicing, breakdown labour, parts and statutory inspection under one agreement, which makes budgeting predictable. Both can cover a mixed fleet regardless of manufacturer.

It depends on the machine type, the hours it runs, how many trucks are on the agreement and whether you want parts and breakdown labour included. Rather than quote a figure that would not apply to your fleet, we survey what you run and how hard you run it, then price a contract against it. Fleets of several machines on full maintenance usually pay less per truck than single machines on ad-hoc repair.

Yes. Planned maintenance is booked to suit your operation, including outside normal hours where a machine cannot be released during production. Where a truck needs a major repair off site, we give a fixed timeline for its return rather than an open-ended wait, and can discuss a hire machine to cover the gap.

Yes. Genuine and equivalent parts are available for most makes, and our engineers carry common wear items so a straightforward job does not become a second visit for the sake of a seal or a sensor. Parts can be supplied on their own if you have an in-house engineer.

When the cost of keeping it running over the next 12 months approaches the cost of replacing or hiring, or when wear on safety-critical components such as forks, chains or the mast means it cannot be brought back to a safe standard economically. We will tell you when a machine has reached that point rather than keep charging for repairs on it.