Ask any fitter when lorries break down and the answer is the first cold week of the year. Almost every one of those breakdowns could have been found in the yard a month before.
Tyres first
Tread depth on every tyre, the spare included, and the pressures checked cold. A tyre at the legal limit in October is a tyre that slides in January.
The batteries
A battery that starts the engine in September may not on the first frosty morning. We test every one under load and change any that is more than four years old.
If the cab lights dim when the engine turns over, the battery is telling you something. Listen to it before Christmas, not after.
The air dryer
Water in the air system freezes in the valves and the brakes stop releasing. Change the dryer cartridge before the frost, not when the first lorry is stuck on the yard.
Washers and wipers
Screen wash rated to minus twenty, new wiper blades and the washer jets aimed at the glass. Road salt on a windscreen is a long day without them.
The driver's own kit
A warm coat, gloves, a torch, water, food and a phone charger in every cab. A lorry stuck on the moors at night is much less of a story with them.