Auburndale measures its freight in hundreds of thousands of square feet. As of 2018, the county economic development council listed Medline’s 830,000 square foot distribution center at Polk Commerce Centre and a Saddle Creek distribution center with a 468,000 square foot first phase and a 343,200 square foot second phase. The same year, the city council approved a 1 million square foot Prologis building on the I-4 corridor with more than 1,100 employee parking spaces. Buildings like these depend on trucks and trailers that show up on time, and that is the problem RDI Fleet is built to solve.
Auburndale’s distribution corridor and what keeps it moving
Auburndale’s freight sits between I-4 on the north and the tolled Polk Parkway, which links the city to I-4 and to south Lakeland. In 2018, a 1.1 million square foot distribution center was proposed on a 64-acre Pace Road site south of I-4, just off the parkway, inside Auburndale’s joint planning area. RealCold broke ground on a 386,000 square foot cold storage facility in January 2024, a $66 million project with 94 jobs. The Carters Subdivision and the Auburndale Subdivision, 2 CSX main lines, run through the city alongside all of it.
Every one of those buildings is a destination for tractors, trailers and delivery trucks. RDI Fleet, RDI Power’s fleet program, gives the operators behind those trucks a maintenance plan instead of a string of breakdowns.
An RDI Fleet plan for Auburndale dock-and-yard work
We have no shop in Auburndale, so the plan centers on your yard. Technicians drive out from Brooksville for scheduled visits; the work that needs a bay, such as a major engine or transmission job, comes to Brooksville on a date planned with you. Setting up the plan means working through:
- An inventory. Every tractor, truck and trailer by unit number, VIN, engine, mileage or hours, and condition, with open problems flagged first.
- Intervals by duty. A tractor running regional miles from Auburndale and a truck that shuttles loads a few miles between buildings wear in different ways. The first is usually planned by mileage, the second often by engine hours.
- A calendar. PM, annual DOT inspections and known repairs are lined up so each unit comes out of service as few times as possible, at the hours your dock can spare it.
- A budget. Findings are sorted into what needs doing now, what can wait for the next visit and what to watch.
Trailers on Auburndale’s warehouse lots
A trailer can sit for days between moves, and its problems stay hidden until a driver hooks up. Brakes, air lines and glad hands, lights and wiring, tires, wheel bearings and suspension all go on the trailer’s own schedule. When a trailer that runs with a particular tractor is due, we time its check with that tractor’s visit. When an Auburndale trailer inspection turns up a problem, our trailer repair page explains the fix.
What an Auburndale yard visit looks like
A scheduled visit starts from a list: which units are due for PM, which have an annual inspection coming up, and which have a driver complaint logged since the last stop. The technician works through them in that order on firm pavement with room to walk around each truck. On a tractor, PM means engine oil and filters, fuel filters and the water separator, the air intake, coolant, belts and hoses, brake linings and an air leak check, tires, steering and suspension, lights, batteries and a scan for stored and pending codes. Trailers get their brake, light, tire and bearing checks on the same pass. Anything that cannot be finished in the yard is written up with photos for your approval and booked.
Keys, gate access and someone who can answer questions about the units make the day go faster. So do drivers’ notes about noises, leaks or warning lights, collected before the visit, because a good description shortens any diagnosis.
Records and DOT dates for Auburndale units
Each visit ends with a digital vehicle inspection: photos of what the technician found, notes written for a manager rather than a mechanic, and the work done. Over a year, those reports turn into a service history for every unit and a clear list of what is coming due. Annual DOT inspections ride on the same schedule as PM, and DOT inspections explains what the inspection covers.
Warranty and after-hours help for Auburndale fleets
RDI Fleet repairs carry a 2-year / 24,000-mile fleet warranty. Fleet accounts also get 24/7 roadside assistance and priority service, so a tractor that stops on I-4 or the parkway after the Brooksville shop closes at 4:00 PM still has someone to call at (352) 433-3800.
Beyond Auburndale, the full program is described on RDI Fleet maintenance. For a truck that is down today, our Auburndale mobile diesel repair page covers on-site breakdown work, and operators with units in both cities can compare notes on fleet maintenance in Lakeland.