Of which, prices for vehicles use and maintenance, up by 5.1 percent, fuels and parts for vehicles, up by 2.6 percent.

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Mr Astle said the company's transport manager "failed to ensure the necessary systems for maintenance of vehicles" had been place and also "failed even to be aware of the extent to which there was such failure".

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It trains African health workers to drive safely on difficult terrain and teaches them how to carry out simple maintenance checks on their vehicles on a daily basis.

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But aside from that year, this industry has aggregately experienced healthy growth, a sign that consumers continue to invest money in their current vehicles, either as repairs or preventative maintenance.

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The services say that once they start deferring maintenance for aircraft, ships and vehicles, it will take years to get back to the levels of readiness considered prudent in an unpredictable world unless, of course, the political system decides to give them a lot more money in future years to make up for the shortfall this year.

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When in doubt, the AAA advises motorists have their vehicles thoroughly checked out by an automotive technician and have any necessary repairs or maintenance procedures performed before hitting the road.

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To that end, the company spearheaded projects such as the Connected Bus project in San Francisco, which involved taking the disparate tracking units the city had been using to keep tabs on buses, railcars and other transit fleet vehicles, and integrating them into one system that enables more reliable operations and maintenance as well as lower emissions.

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