Affinitiv announced Monday the release of its new free eBook for auto dealers, titled Why Service Absorption is a Dangerous Number: An Auto Dealer’s Guide to Growing Service Revenue Using Revenue per Units-in-Operation.

The eBook presents a detailed guide on how dealers can grow service profits using revenue per units-in-operation (UIO). And stresses why dealers should use revenue per UIO to guide their service revenue growth strategy over the service absorption metric.

“Service absorption is dangerous because it doesn’t measure a store’s achievement relative to its potential. Your service department can be at 100 percent service absorption but still be losing market share,” Affinitiv chief executive officer Scot Eisenfelder said in a news release. “Using revenue per UIO as a metric forces effort on activities that grow market share and increase customer retention.”

For dealers focusing on growing service department revenue, Affinitiv said the best metric to measure and track increase market share and increase service yield from current customers is revenue per UIO.

“A focus on maximizing revenue per UIO creates a fundamentally different strategic and operating mindset where the dealer does not concede any revenue to the aftermarket,” said Eisenfelder. “When dealers calculate their revenue per UIO it’s an eye-opening experience, and not necessarily in a good way.”

Using revenue per UIO as a metric provides dealers with a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses because it more accurately represents a service department’s valid potential, according to the Affinitiv.

To download the free eBook, click here.