U.S. dealership service department business improved in August after a decline over most of the summer.

Cox Automotive reported that after three straight months of decreased business, franchised dealers’ service revenue rose 2.3% over July and 4.3% year-over-year, the best August in five years. Volume also rose, by 8.2% month-over-month but was down slightly year-over-year, by 1.2%.

“If you had any doubts that summer is over, our Xtime data is offering proof,” said Cox Director of Product Consulting Skyler Chadwick.

“After a long, hot summer, we can see an influx of consumers bringing their vehicles in for service. Consumers continue to hold onto their vehicles longer and make significant investments in service maintenance. The surge in service revenue is primarily due to the higher cost of parts, labor and major services.”

The data Cox analyzes are average numbers indexed to January 2019.

Franchised dealers in Cox’s third-quarter dealer sentiment index said their fixed operations are growing and that they expected that to continue for the next three months.

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