A company with 5 to 50 vehicles doesn't shop for the cheapest oil change. It shops for fewer days with a van in the lot, and for one bill instead of forty receipts. So sell fleet maintenance as uptime and a single invoice, and open with a free fleet inspection that produces a written list. The checklist below covers who to list, what the inspection form holds, what to say in the first note, how to prove uptime, what to do after a breakdown, and how to renew.

The eight-line fleet checklist

  • List: 40 companies with 5 to 50 vehicles (trades, delivery, landscaping, home health, rental), each with the fleet manager or owner by name.
  • List: each row has a trigger (a vehicle down, a failed inspection, growth, a new driver count).
  • Offer: a free fleet inspection of every vehicle, with a one-page list per vehicle.
  • Offer: a service plan priced per vehicle per visit, billed on one monthly invoice.
  • Message: under 110 words, names the vehicle count and the one-invoice promise.
  • Proof: a record of uptime (days a vehicle was unavailable) and of what was done, per vehicle.
  • Follow-up: a call within 24 hours of any breakdown at a prospect.
  • Renewal: a quarterly summary and a review at month 10.

List checks: companies with 5 to 50 vehicles

Which companies run fleets but not a fleet department? Plumbing, HVAC, electrical and pest control companies; landscapers; courier and delivery firms; home health and mobile services; equipment rental; small construction firms. At this size the owner or operations manager is often the fleet manager, with a scattered set of shops for repairs. Titles to search: owner, operations manager, fleet manager, fleet coordinator, service manager. A rough way to count vehicles: look for photos of wrapped vans on a company's website, social posts and job listings that mention "company vehicle." Our guide to finding decision makers at a company covers the titles, and Rocketship builds this list from a description of the buyer and emails them from your own Gmail.

Triggers: a vehicle sitting at the roadside (you may see it), a new vehicle wrap (growth), a hiring post for drivers, and a failed inspection. For heavier vehicles, federal rules require commercial motor vehicles in certain classes to be inspected at least once a year, so ask a prospect with trucks which ones fall under that rule; don't tell them.

Offer checks: the free fleet inspection

The inspection is your sales call. Here's an outline of the form, one page per vehicle: unit number, mileage, tire tread (each position), brake pad thickness, fluid levels and leaks, battery test, lights and wipers, belts and hoses, suspension and steering play, warning lights, body damage, and notes. At the bottom: a line for "fix now," "fix within 30 days," and "watch." Add the estimate for each. Hand the fleet manager a stack sorted by urgency, with a one-page summary on top: "12 vans inspected, 3 need work now, 5 in 30 days, 4 fine."

Time and cost to you: about 45 minutes per vehicle, so 12 vans is 9 hours of technician time. Run it on a slow day, or at the customer's yard after hours. It may sound expensive to give away, but compare it to what you gain. If the inspection finds $3,400 of work on 12 vans and the customer approves two-thirds, that's about $2,270 in the first week.

Message checks: the note to a fleet manager

Subject: Free inspection for all 12 of your service vans

Hi Dennis, I see Ridgeview Plumbing runs a dozen vans around Reno. Northgate Fleet Service inspects and maintains fleets of 5 to 50 vehicles on one monthly invoice. I'd like to inspect every van at your yard after hours, free, and hand you a one-page list per van sorted by what needs doing now and what can wait. You decide what to do with it. If you already have a shop you like, I'll still send the list.

Carla Whitfield, Northgate Fleet Service, carla@northgatefleet.example, 940 Kietzke Ln, Reno, NV 89502. Reply "stop" to end these emails.

Notes: the number 12 shows you counted. "After hours" removes the objection that the vans can't be spared. Honest From and subject lines, your physical address and an opt-out are required for commercial email under CAN-SPAM. For more cold-email structure, see getting customers for an auto repair shop.

Proof checks: uptime and one invoice

Uptime means days a vehicle can't work. Count it: for each vehicle, how many days in the last year was it unavailable for repair? If Ridgeview's 12 vans lost 36 days between them, and a van produces about $950 of revenue a day, that's $34,200 of lost work. Cutting it by a third is $11,400. These are example numbers; ask your prospect for theirs, since many fleet managers know the day count roughly. Then show the second proof: one invoice. Twelve vans, four visits a year each, billed monthly in one statement with a line per vehicle. A plan price: $149 per van per quarterly visit is $596 per van per year, or $7,152 for twelve. Write what's included (oil, filters, a multi-point inspection, tire rotation) and what's billed separately (parts, repairs).

Follow-up checks: after downtime

A breakdown at a prospect is the moment they feel what your offer solves. Check their social posts and local news; sometimes a stalled van is visible. Don't pounce. Write: "Dennis, saw one of your vans was in the shop last week. If that kind of downtime is a pain, the free inspection could catch the next one before it happens. Still open?" Keep it to two sentences. If they say "we have a shop," ask about response time: "When one of your vans is down, how long until it's back?" The answer shows whether there's an opening. Wording for the call: how to follow up on a quote.

Renewal checks

Every quarter, send a summary: vehicles serviced, issues caught, days of downtime, total cost. At month 10, review it and ask for the renewal and for introductions to fleets that a customer knows (suppliers, subcontractors). If you also serve smaller customers, mobile detailing sells into fleets with a similar pitch, and paintless dent repair works with dealership fleets of cars. A written emergency rate card is the same idea used in the welding shop 30-day plan.

Building the list of fleets and writing to each one is where time goes. Rocketship finds the buyers, emails them from your own Gmail, follows up, and books the meeting on its own. Plans that get you customers start at $24.99 a month (Launch), and both Launch and Frontier start with a 7-day free trial, card required. Answering your existing number works on Launch, with call minutes bought as you go ($15 for 50), and a dedicated line is $5 a month. See the AI workers.