View Full Version : Why Can't You Buy A Car on Sunday?



Bunty
06-12-2013, 08:25 AM
Why should it be against the law to buy a car at a car dealership on Sunday in Oklahoma? I have never heard an answer to this question that made any sense. What is it about cars, but not something like furniture, that stands out so supremely that past lawmakers thought there had to be a law made against buying them on Sunday? Would God be too offended, or what?

Martin
06-12-2013, 08:31 AM
originally, it was a product of blue laws. now? dealerships don't want to have to be open another day of the week... if it wasn't against the law, at least one dealer would decide to be open on sunday and so all dealers would have to be open on sunday to compete. -M

WilliamTell
06-12-2013, 08:35 AM
I always heard blue laws...

kelroy55
06-12-2013, 08:40 AM
I know the Harley Dealers are open on Sunday but for parts and accessories only. They can't even tell you the price of a bike on Sundays.

kevinpate
06-12-2013, 09:20 AM
I know the Harley Dealers are open on Sunday but for parts and accessories only. They can't even tell you the price of a bike on Sundays.

Proof once again the law can be a real pile of dung at times.

Just the facts
06-12-2013, 09:26 AM
While blue laws all ways get the blame - I think it is because the finance companies (which at one time was the local bank) were not open on Sundays. There wasn't much point in being open if you can't sell anything. Now it is that car dealers want the day off. For the most part, cars are not an impulse buy so sales aren't hurt by being closed one day a week.

BBatesokc
06-12-2013, 09:27 AM
...They can't even tell you the price of a bike on Sundays.

Why not? Car dealers often run ads promoting "Come Sunday when no salesmen are around and see our lowest prices printed clearly on the windshield and then come back Monday morning to finish the deal."

Pete
06-12-2013, 09:31 AM
Is this still a law?

If not, you'd think some enterprising dealership would take the initiative to be open when all their competitors are closed.


If it is still a law, it's needs to be changed.

Bill Robertson
06-12-2013, 09:56 AM
Why not? Car dealers often run ads promoting "Come Sunday when no salesmen are around and see our lowest prices printed clearly on the windshield and then come back Monday morning to finish the deal."Every time I go in the local Harley dealers they have price tags hanging from the handlebars. They may not be able to negotiate a deal on Sunday but the asking price is known.

kelroy55
06-12-2013, 09:57 AM
Every time I go in the local Harley dealers they have price tags hanging from the handlebars. They may not be able to negotiate a deal on Sunday but the asking price is known.

They don't have them at Fort Thunder, at least none that I've seen.

Bill Robertson
06-12-2013, 10:48 AM
They don't have them at Fort Thunder, at least none that I've seen.I haven't been to Fort Thunder in a year or so but I'm sure I've seen tags there at one time. I've been to HD World and Foreman in Stillwater recently and both of them had tags.

UnclePete
06-12-2013, 11:06 AM
I always thought that no Sunday sales of cars was caused by the fact that the brand new Hudiburg's in Midwest City was open on Sunday and the Oklahoma City dealers were not. The OKC dealers had enough political power to get the law passed.

Bunty
06-12-2013, 12:02 PM
I always heard blue laws...

Oklahoma blue laws state that people are to observe a day of Sabbath, unless one is a grave digger or seller of food. I guess those laws weren't clear and strong enough to include cars, so a special blue law had to be made that specified cars. It's interesting that such laws have apparently been regarded as constitutional.

It's probably true that car dealers would fight any legislative effort that lets them open on Sunday. Maybe it was the car dealers that proposed requiring Sundays off. Whatever happened, it seems to be a forgotten day in Oklahoma governing history.

OklahomaNick
06-12-2013, 02:00 PM
I agree this is a law that should be changed.. Just like smoking in restaurants & bars.. and 3.2 beer.. But let's not go there!

OKCTalker
06-12-2013, 02:29 PM
It's always been said that car dealers oppose revocation of the prohibition, but if I was an aggressive dealer I'd welcome the opportunity for another day of sales. Then again, I'd also want to sell cars online, to offer transparent pricing, to allow online service scheduling, to have an on-site tag agency, etc.

Larry OKC
06-12-2013, 03:08 PM
JTF: what about Saturdays? Don't think banks were open on Sat back when these laws were written. Even now, it is limited Sat service, often relegated to just the drive-thru. So, if your bank wasn't open to complete the financing, why is the car lot open?

ljbab728
06-12-2013, 08:52 PM
Why not? Car dealers often run ads promoting "Come Sunday when no salesmen are around and see our lowest prices printed clearly on the windshield and then come back Monday morning to finish the deal."

That's exactly what I like to do when looking for a car. I don't want to be hassled by sales people and don't want to have to go looking after midnight to accomplish that.

BBatesokc
06-12-2013, 09:59 PM
That's exactly what I like to do when looking for a car. I don't want to be hassled by sales people and don't want to have to go looking after midnight to accomplish that.

That's one reason my last several cars have all been bought from Craigslist. Keep it simple.

Bigrayok
06-12-2013, 10:03 PM
It is illegal to sell cars in Las Vegas on Sundays also. This is not just an Oklahoma thing.

Bigray in Ok

ljbab728
06-12-2013, 10:04 PM
That's one reason my last several cars have all been bought from Craigslist. Keep it simple.

True, but I like to see it in person before dealing with a seller. I sold my last car on Craigslist though so I'm certainly an advocate.

kelroy55
06-13-2013, 08:00 AM
It is illegal to sell cars in Las Vegas on Sundays also. This is not just an Oklahoma thing.

Bigray in Ok

Not sure if this is still the case but in Tennessee stores like KMART couldn't open up until noon on Sundays.

Bunty
06-13-2013, 09:39 AM
I'd sooner businesses close on Sunday due to a personal business decison, not because government expects them to. Chick-fil-a isn't afraid to close on Sunday and lose customers to KFC and other fast foods. But then people need to eat every day, but not buy a car every day.

OKCTalker
06-13-2013, 09:47 AM
I don't like the government telling business when they can be open.

G.Walker
06-13-2013, 09:51 AM
I would think because most financial institutions/loan companies are closed on Sundays, and the dealership would not be able to process loan requests, since most car dealerships don't finance in-house.

BBatesokc
06-13-2013, 11:56 AM
I would think because most financial institutions/loan companies are closed on Sundays, and the dealership would not be able to process loan requests, since most car dealerships don't finance in-house.

Ah, but those same institutions are closed by 7pm too and I can still buy my car up until the dealer closes. Also, many times the financing isn't even locked in (from the sellers perspective) until days after you've left the lot with the car.

Point your finger at the majority of the dealerships. You don't see any vocal advocating by local dealers to repel the law because it doesn't make sense to them to do so. Being open 7-days a week costs a dealer more money and doesn't equal more sales. Why? Because, car shopping is not so impulsive that if you're denied a Sunday purchase you'll decide not to buy at all. They can sell just as many cars 6 days a week as they would 7 and that one less day is one less day of overhead (which goes way beyond utility costs).

Servicetech571
06-15-2013, 09:58 AM
Come to think of it, is there any state that has the car dealers open on Sunday? I worked at a car dealership and after working 12+ hours on Saturday I needed a day off.

bluedogok
06-15-2013, 12:33 PM
In Texas you can be open Sunday but if you are you have to be closed on Saturday, there were only a few dealers in the Austin area who did this. The big motorcycle dealers would be open on Sunday like Wood's and Central Texas H-D in North Austin (owned by the Powersports Group conglomerate) but I don't know if they did motorcycle sales or not on that day. Colorado dealers are closed on Sunday as well.

I know that it was an issue when it came to the collector car auction that I worked in the late 80's, a certain percentage of vehicles that ran on Sunday had to be classic/vintage cars so most of those type of vehicles were held until Sunday.

Bunty
06-15-2013, 01:11 PM
In 2008, car dealers wanted to be banned from selling cars on Sunday in response to the downturn in the economy, but they apparently never got their wish.

BradR
06-18-2013, 09:52 AM
Wasn't Big Red in Norman open on Sundays for a while? I remember seeing a big banner that said they were but there may have been some restrictions to it or something.

Bigrayok
06-19-2013, 03:07 PM
Wasn't Big Red in Norman open on Sundays for a while? I remember seeing a big banner that said they were but there may have been some restrictions to it or something.

Some car dealers have sales people on the lot on Sunday to answer questions and set up appointments but they can not make a sale on Sunday. Some people like to visit dealerships on Sunday so they can look at cars without being hassled by over aggressive sales people.

Bigray in Ok

Bunty
09-12-2014, 11:20 PM
An interesting article on the history of why you can't buy a car in Illinois on Sunday:

Curious City: Illinois banned car sales on Sundays to allow dealers more time with families while limiting competition | WBEZ 91.5 Chicago (http://www.wbez.org/series/curious-city/illinois-red-light-sunday-car-sales-110136)

FTC isn't too fond of the Illinois ban: FTC says Sunday car sales ban in Illinois bad for competition - News - Journal Star - Peoria, IL (http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140331/News/140339909)

SoonerDave
09-12-2014, 11:43 PM
I'm going to make an uneducated guess that most dealerships right now have a pretty good idea how sales would change if they were open on Sunday, and most know that it would be hard to break even in terms of profit per unit compared to the overhead of opening the place up on a Sunday, turning on the lights and air conditioning, paying one or two receptionists and/or office clerks to handle paperwork, all combined with the seemingly ever-increasing pressure on sales coming from Internet sources to which the physical dealership adds almost no value.

Just a guess. Besides, if I'm looking at new cars, I like the unbugged Sunday car lots where you can look without getting shadowed by a sales drone.

Urbanized
09-13-2014, 07:39 AM
They would make more money on Sunday than any day of the week other than Saturday. Read the article.

kevinpate
09-13-2014, 03:24 PM
In 38 years, I've purchased one vehicle from a dealership. The others have come from making a deal with a family member, or a friend or a friend of a friend.
If you choose well, someone else's done with it ride will roll just fine for many more years.

Snowman
09-13-2014, 03:27 PM
While blue laws all ways get the blame - I think it is because the finance companies (which at one time was the local bank) were not open on Sundays. There wasn't much point in being open if you can't sell anything. Now it is that car dealers want the day off. For the most part, cars are not an impulse buy so sales aren't hurt by being closed one day a week.

If they wanted to not sell one day out of the week a day between Tuesday and Thursday would be far more convenient for most of their customers.

bchris02
09-13-2014, 04:09 PM
I don't like the government telling business when they can be open.

I agree and that includes liquor stores.

As for buying cars on Sunday, it has to do with keeping the Sabbath.

bluedogok
09-13-2014, 04:23 PM
In most places it doesn't have as much to do with religion anymore as much as it does tradition. Also some places other than Oklahoma still have more restrictive blue laws and stronger adherence to their religious practices.

After all, B&H Photo is NYC based closes their store and shuts off online ordering during the Jewish Sabbath and on high holidays. Their ordering is offline right now until 8:30 EDT.

Servicetech571
09-14-2014, 01:48 PM
That's one reason my last several cars have all been bought from Craigslist. Keep it simple.

Not to mention they are typically THOUSANDS cheaper !!

Servicetech571
09-14-2014, 01:52 PM
Since ALL car salesmen work "bell to bell" on Saturdays, they need a day off Sunday. There shouldn't be a LAW against it, it should be a mutual agreement between dealers.

Chick-fil-A is closed Sunday, doesn't seem to hurt them much.