One way to cure those Sunday blues may be to go shopping for a new car. A set of new wheels you’ve had your eye on is a great way to tame those Sunday scaries.
However, you might be surprised to find that the car dealerships around you are closed on Sundays.
Of course, not all dealerships are closed on Sunday.
It largely depends on where you are.
Keep reading to find out if your local car dealership is likely to be closed on Sunday or not.
Why are some car dealerships closed on Sundays?
The main reason why your local dealer might be closed on Sundays is that it’s against the law for them to be open.
“Blue laws” are old laws that prohibited sales and shopping on Sundays so that they could be strictly dedicated as days of worship and relaxation.
Most of these “blue laws” are no longer in effect, but 13 states continue some of the tradition, making it illegal for dealerships to be open on Sundays.
These states include:
- Colorado
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- New Jersey
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Wisconsin
In addition to these states, a smaller handful of states limit car sales on Sundays by allowing dealerships to open for a shorter amount of time than usual, or by only allowing dealerships in certain counties to be open on Sundays.
These states include:
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- Rhode Island
- Texas
- Utah
If you find yourself in a state that is not on either of these lists, you might find that dealerships near you may still be closed on Sundays.
It is essentially the dealership’s decision to close on Sundays.
These dealerships may stay closed on Sundays noting that historically, sales on the day may not be high enough to be worth being open.
They may use the day to give their staff time off and to attract employees who prefer never to work on Sunday.
Which States Allow You to Buy a Car on Sunday?
When you consider that 20 states either totally restrict or limit car sales on Sunday, you are left with 30 states where you can absolutely buy a car on a Sunday. These states include:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Massachusetts
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Things you Can Do if you Need to Buy a Car on Sunday
If you need to buy a car on a Sunday and you are in an area where car dealerships can’t open on Sundays, you’re probably just going to have to accept that you aren’t going to drive a new car that very day.
However, this doesn’t mean you can’t take some important steps towards buying a car or even making a purchase.
You can try shopping online.
Many dealerships have adapted to modern times and have put the entire purchasing process on their websites, and the internet never closes.
So, you can potentially buy a car online on a Sunday. Just know that you aren’t likely to get delivery of that car on the same day.
If you don’t want to buy a car online, you can always take the day to research.
Dealerships have their inventory online. You can check on what is available near you, and the asking prices are for the car that you want. This is a good time to do a little comparison shopping, plus a little digging on the cars you’re interested in. Check out some of these resources to help you:
- Free VIN Decoder.
- Vehicle History Reports.
- License Plate Lookup.
- Recalls.
- Safety Ratings.
- Car Loan Payment Calculator.
On the other hand, if you are in a state where dealerships are free to open on Sundays, double-check with the dealer to make sure they are, in fact, open before making the trip.
Just because they can open, doesn’t mean that they are open.
