Why aren't car dealerships open on Sundays?

Factual Questions
1

I mean, really. I could see them taking Mondays or even Wednesdays off, but why Sunday? Is this anything more or less than a hollow charade? Car salesmen attempting to respect The Lord by not staining the sabbath day with their shenannegans? Why would you be closed on one of the two days when most of your customers will have ample time to check out your wares?

Could I, If I wanted, open my own car dealership and keep it open on Sunday? What would happen to me if I did? Would I get a visit from the car yakuza or would I be in violation of some little-known blue law?

2

It depends on where you live. Where I live they are open on Sundays. Some places have laws forbidding car dealerships from opening on Sunday. You most likely live in such a place.

3

In Montreal, there is a Car Dealer’s Association that bans not just Sunday, but Saturday openings as well.

Used Car salesmen don’t belong to this group, so they’ve been open on weekends for a while – and have really started to steal business from new vendors. As a result, a year ago a few lots told the Association to stuff it, and started opening on weekends – which led to protests (from other car salesmen) outside their lots, and a few scuffles.

So if you want to buy a car in Montreal on the weekend, you’re either buying used, or going to one of three dealerships that’s open.
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=7df46d28-8b4a-4908-83a3-7a4bf4b183f8&k=7322

4

Where do you live?

They’re open here.

5

[QUOTE=Inigo Montoya]
I mean, really. I could see them taking Mondays or even Wednesdays off, but why Sunday? Is this anything more or less than a hollow charade? Car salesmen attempting to respect The Lord by not staining the sabbath day with their shenannegans? Why would you be closed on one of the two days when most of your customers will have ample time to check out your wares?
[/QUOTE]
First, as others have said, car dealers do open on Sundays in many places.

But, in answer to your question, perhaps the dealers in your area figured out that they probably wouldn’t lose much (perhaps any) business if they closed on Sundays. Perhaps they have research showing that people will make time for the purchase of a large, important item like a car, even if the dealers are closed on Sunday.

It seems to me that if they all close on Sundays, there are two possible results:

(1) people who were going to buy a car from them on Sunday will come back on some other day.

(2) people who were going to buy a car from them on Sunday will go somewhere that does open on Sundays.

If they conclude that (1) is much more likely than (2), why waste the money opening on Sunday? The thing is, a strategy like this really only works if ALL the dealers in a particular area close on the same days. That probably explains the Montreal situation, described by Barbarian. It involves a sort of collusion on the part of the dealers. And once two or three dealers decide to opt out, and to open on Sundays, the rest might be forced to follow suit, or they risk losing Sunday business.

In Australia, where i grew up, many suburbs and neighborhoods have a small local shop, which is usually a sort of small grocery store that sells bread, milk, newspapers, candy, and some essential household items. Some also sell hamburgers, chips, etc. These shops are family run, often by first or second generation immigrants (Greek, Italian, Lebanese, Vietnamese, etc.).

When i was a kid, the local shops in my suburb all closed on Sundays. It was the only day of the week that they got to relax. Then, when the big stores and supermarkets (K-Mart, Safeway, Woolworths, etc.) started opening on Sundays, the small stores all felt forced to open on Sundays as well. I remember, in the 1990s, asking the Indian guy who ran my local store why he didn’t take a day off each week, and he said that if he did that, he would lose too much business to the big stores. Not only would he lose the Sunday trade, but would probably lose weekday trade as well, as people became more accustomed to going to the big stores.

6

[QUOTE=Inigo Montoya]
Is this anything more or less than a hollow charade? Car salesmen attempting to respect The Lord by not staining the sabbath day with their shenannegans?
[/QUOTE]

It’s not a charade and has nothing to do with church. Sunday is simply race day. Car guys are at the track.

7

In Vegas the N.A.D.A sets the days new car dealers are open. That’s national automobile dealer association if you wan’t to Google it. Used car dealers are open seven days a week. I suspect before long it will be seven days all the way around. It’s a customer driven industry after all.

8

Around here the car dealers would love to sell you a car on Sunday, but they don’t want to fix your car on Sunday – the skilled mechanics either want the day off, or want overtime.

Faced with either a) opening for sales but not service, b) having to pay overtime to get the service department to show up or c) closing down entirely, they’ve chosen to close down. When you get to the point when you’re ready to buy, they figure you’ll get there either on Saturday or one of the evenings they’re open.

9

[QUOTE=Dag Otto]
It’s not a charade and has nothing to do with church. Sunday is simply race day. Car guys are at the track.
[/QUOTE]

Sorry. Nothing to do with the track, and everything to do with church and “blue laws.”

10

[QUOTE=kunilou]
Faced with either a) opening for sales but not service, b) having to pay overtime to get the service department to show up or c) closing down entirely, they’ve chosen to close down. When you get to the point when you’re ready to buy, they figure you’ll get there either on Saturday or one of the evenings they’re open.
[/QUOTE]
I sold new cars for a year in 1990-91. Our sales department opened on the weekends, but the service center was closed.

As a salesperson, i would have LOVED it if we were closed on the weekends. This was the pre-internet era, and if all the dealers in the area had closed, i don’t think we would have lost a single sale. Businesses only bought cars on weekdays anyway, and the majority of private buyers who came out on weekends were tire-kickers (salesperson slang for non-buyers).

Sure, we made a few sales on the weekends, but if we were closed all those people would have found a way to buy a car during the week anyway. I mean, can you really imagine the following converstion:

Man: Honey, the car is 8 years old now, and it’s falling apart. I think we need to get rid of it and get a new one.

Woman: But how can we? The dealerships are all closed on Sunday.

Man: You’re right! I guess we’ll have to drive the old beater for a few more years.

11

Around here (Oklahoma) it’s because of blue laws. It’s almost the last of the blue laws left, except for ones applying to liquor sales.

I’m sure the dealers would love to be open on Sunday (and I’ll admit that I’ve wished they were when I was looking for a car). I think there’s one dealer that opens lots on Sunday for looking at cars, but you supposedly can’t make any deals, test drive, etc.

The salespeople I know are all opposed to dropping the blue laws, for fear that they’d never get a day off again.

12

My state once had a big web of blue laws. The lawmakers were finally persuaded that we could get more convention and tourist business if there were something to do on Sunday. Now, the only things left are car sales and some limitations on alcohol sales. The official story is that the car dealers were asked, and they preferred the day off to Sunday sales.

The lots are open to lookers, though, and many people like to browse without a salesman hovering around.

13

[QUOTE=mhendo]
Sure, we made a few sales on the weekends, but if we were closed all those people would have found a way to buy a car during the week anyway.
[/QUOTE]
Sure, but I don’t completely buy this: isn’t the “impulse buy” a big part of car sales? The reason “no money down / super low payments” sales (which are a bad deal in the long run) work is that people aren’t planning ahead and just decide they want a car. Why would you create an obstacle to such an impulse buy? Car salesmen aren’t exactly known for their “eh, they’ll be back” attitudes. There’s usually some super hard-sell telling you they can’t guarantee this deal if you come back tomorrow, because they know if you walk out the door, you’re not likely to come back.

14

[QUOTE=ntucker]
Sure, but I don’t completely buy this: isn’t the “impulse buy” a big part of car sales? The reason “no money down / super low payments” sales (which are a bad deal in the long run) work is that people aren’t planning ahead and just decide they want a car. Why would you create an obstacle to such an impulse buy? Car salesmen aren’t exactly known for their “eh, they’ll be back” attitudes. There’s usually some super hard-sell telling you they can’t guarantee this deal if you come back tomorrow, because they know if you walk out the door, you’re not likely to come back.
[/QUOTE]
Right, but the precise reason they use such high-pressure tactics is because they know that, once you walk off the lot, you will probably go straight to another dealer looking for a better deal.

That’s why i suggested, earlier in the thread, that this whole “close on Sundays” gambit probably only works if it involves ALL the dealers in a given area agreeing to remain closed on Sundays, or some sort of law disallowing Sunday opening. In short, it requires either legal enforcement or some sort of collusion between the dealers.

If all the dealers in the OP’s area are closed on Sundays, they can still have their “no money down/super low payments” sales; they just have to have them on the other six days of the week.

I’m not arguing that the “close on Sundays” thing is good or bad; i’m just pointing out that, if everyone in a given city or state does it, then it probably doesn’t have a hugely detrimental effect on how many cars get sold. I could be wrong about that, though, and am happy to be corrected by anyone with relevant data.

15

My sister in SC says she’s seen the extremity of blue laws. From Wikipedia:

A blue law is a type of law in the United States and Canada designed to enforce moral standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest.

(underlining mine)

She went to a Wal Mart which was open on Sunday, but they would only sell certain things and had entire aisles roped off. E.g. a necktie would be fine because you might need it to wear to church. But a Nintendo, no, you can wait for that till church services are over.

16

When I was a kid thirty years ago New Jersey had a bunch of blue laws. Now they are all gone as far as I know. But car dealers are still closed on Sunday. New Jersey is not in the bible belt, there are no blue laws and they are still closed. In fact I was thinking this very question on Saturday when I was looking at cars.

17

Texas has a modified blue law for new car dealers. Take one weekend day off…your choice. If you close on Saturday you can open on Sunday.

18

IIRC there are a few Texas dealers (here in DFW) who are open on Sunday…but they can’t sell a car on Sunday.

19

Carmax in the Dallas area was open on Sundays for a while and just paid the fine for breaking the blue law.

You will sometimes see ads “Open Sunday!!! closed saturday…” in car ads.

I’m sure the car dealers like it since if everyone is closed, your dealership isn’t losing sales on Sunday. Makes it easier to staff since you can offer your salespeople one weekend day off.

I’m also thinking that Sunday brings out the tire kickers as people from small towns flock to the major city for church, brunch and then meeting family/friends. I can believe this group would have a lot of “thinking about thinking about buying a car…” types.

20

I came in to mention that Texas laws let you sell on one weekend day. The dealers choose for it to be Saturday, and there isn’t much pressure to change it. Car salesmen like time with their families too, apparently.