Are Car Dealerships Open on Sundays? What to Watch For Afterwards

Most American car dealerships are open on Sunday, on shorter hours than the rest of the week. Lakeland Automall in Lakeland, Florida posts Sunday sales hours of 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. against 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. In a group of states the answer is no and the dealer gets no vote: Illinois (625 ILCS 5/5-106), Missouri (§ 578.120 RSMo), New Jersey (N.J.S.A. 2C:33-26) and Minnesota (Minn. Stat. 168.275) each forbid a dealer to sell or offer a vehicle on Sunday. Texas splits it. Transportation Code § 728.002 bars selling on Saturday and Sunday consecutively, so a Texas store picks one weekend day and shuts the other. Two separate things decide whether your Sunday trip is worth making: what your state's statute says, and what that specific store posts on its door.

I ran a municipal drug take-back programme in Pierce County. The steel box outside the sheriff's lobby never closed. You could drop a bottle of amoxicillin nobody finished into it at two in the morning on a holiday. What you could not do at two in the morning was have anything happen to it. The box is a container; the disposal is a process; the process ran on the days the pharmacist and I were both standing there with a scale. People conflated the two constantly and got angry with me about it, and they were not being stupid about it. The building was open. The thing they came for was not available. A car lot on Sunday is the same shape of problem, and it pays to pull the two halves apart before you spend the afternoon.

What each state's statute actually says

The statutes I read for this piece are below. I have quoted what they cover rather than summarizing the whole chapter, because the exceptions are where people get caught.

| State | What the law does | Named exceptions | Penalty | |---|---|---|---| | Illinois — 625 ILCS 5/5-106 | No person may keep open or operate a place of business for buying, selling, bartering, exchanging or leasing a motor vehicle on Sunday | Petroleum products, tires, repair parts and accessories; motor vehicle repair shop; washing, towing, wrecking; permitted trade shows; motorcycles; manufactured housing; motor homes, van campers and recreational trailers | Current text carries the source note P.A. 89-551, effective January 1, 1997 | | Missouri — § 578.120 RSMo | No licensed dealer, distributor or manufacturer may keep open or operate a place of business to buy, sell, barter or exchange a motor vehicle on Sunday | Washing, towing, wrecking or repairing; petroleum products, tires, repair parts and accessories; powersports and motorcycles; manufactured housing; recreational vehicles; new vehicle shows with five or more franchised dealers | Class C misdemeanor; § 558.002.1(4) caps a class C misdemeanor fine at $750 | | New Jersey — N.J.S.A. 2C:33-26 | A person who engages in the business of buying, selling or exchanging motor vehicles, or opens a place of business and attempts to, commits a disorderly persons offense | Franchised motorcycle dealers under N.J.S.A. 39:10-38, except in counties where Sunday sales are otherwise barred; deposits on recreational vehicles at authorized off-site sales | Fine up to $100 first offense, up to $500 second, $750 third or later, plus dealer license suspension or revocation | | Minnesota — Minn. Stat. 168.275 | Carrying on the business of buying, selling, exchanging or trading motor vehicles on Sunday is an offense | Trailers for watercraft, ATVs and snowmobiles; utility trailers | Misdemeanor first, gross misdemeanor after; Minn. Stat. 609.02 subd. 3 caps a misdemeanor fine at $1,000, subd. 4 caps a gross misdemeanor at $3,000 | | Texas — Transp. Code §§ 728.002–728.003 | Selling or offering a vehicle on consecutive Saturday and Sunday is barred; each day offered is a separate violation | None listed; the chapter reaches selling and offering for sale, and does not touch service or parts | Civil penalty up to $500 first violation, $500–$1,000 second, $1,000–$5,000 third or later, tripled on a finding that the violation was wilful or made with conscious indifference. Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 165, § 1, effective September 1, 1995 | | Florida | No Sunday sales prohibition; dealers set their own hours | — | — |

Minnesota's is the oldest of the group I checked, tracing to Laws of Minnesota 1957, chapter 386. Texas is the one I'd point a shopper to as the sanest design, because it protects a day off for the sales staff without deciding which day that is.

A legal ban and a business decision produce the same locked door

This is where the comparison matters, and it is the part almost nobody makes explicit.

Missouri's statute exempts "washing, towing, wrecking or repairing operations" in plain words. A Missouri dealer may lawfully run its service drive on a Sunday. Suntrup Buick GMC, at 4200 N Service Rd in St. Peters, does not: its posted service hours are Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday both closed. Its parts counter runs 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays and closes for the whole weekend. The sales floor is closed Sunday because the legislature closed it. The service bay is closed Sunday because Suntrup decided to close it.

Now look at Florida, where nothing is prohibited. Lakeland Automall's service department runs Monday to Friday 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and is closed Sunday. Parts runs 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Saturday, also closed Sunday. The body shop closes both weekend days. Opposite legal regimes, identical Sunday answer on the service side.

So when you find a dealership dark on a Sunday, you have learned nothing yet about why. In Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey or Minnesota the sales floor is closed by statute and no amount of asking changes it. In Florida, Ohio or Virginia the same dark showroom is a scheduling choice, which means a phone call can sometimes change it, and a manager who wants your deal may meet you.

Can you walk around a dealership when it's closed?

Read who the statutes are aimed at. Illinois forbids a person to "keep open, operate, or assist in keeping open or operating any established or additional place of business" for the purpose of selling. Missouri uses nearly the same construction against the licensed dealer. New Jersey reaches a person who "engages in the business of buying, selling, or exchanging motor vehicles or who opens a place of business and attempts to engage in such conduct on a Sunday."

None of them says anything about you.

Whether you can stand on the lot is a property question, not a blue-law question. Most dealership lots are unfenced, lit and full of browsers on a Sunday afternoon; walking rows, reading window stickers and photographing VINs breaks no Sunday-closing statute in any of the four states above. A gate, a chain, posted signage or a request to leave converts the same walk into trespass under ordinary state law. And if a salesperson happens to be on site catching up on paperwork, the conversation is still legal — what cannot happen is the sale itself. In Illinois and Missouri, even offering the vehicle for sale is the prohibited act.

That distinction is the whole thing. Access to the property and a lawful transaction are two different permissions, and the closed sign only ever answers one of them.

The service department keeps its own Sunday

If your plan for Sunday involved having the dealership's own technicians put a used car on a lift, that plan does not survive contact with the posted hours. Across both dealerships I pulled, every department that publishes a schedule closes Sunday except the sales floor. Service, parts and the body shop are dark, and Lakeland's Saturday service window is already shortened to 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. before the weekend runs out.

The practical consequence is that a Sunday test drive is a Sunday test drive and nothing more. Book the inspection for a weekday. If a store pushes you to close on a used car you have not had inspected, the argument "the shop is closed today" is not a reason to hurry; it is a reason to wait.

The finance office has no posted hours, and that is the problem

Here is something you can verify in thirty seconds. Lakeland Automall publishes four hour blocks — sales, service, parts, body shop. Suntrup publishes three. Neither publishes a finance block. The F&I desk opens and closes with the sales floor, and it is the only department whose real constraints are invisible on the website.

Those constraints sit outside the building. According to the Federal Reserve Board, the Fedwire Funds Service business day begins at 9:00 p.m. eastern time on the preceding calendar day and ends at 7:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, excluding designated holidays; it opens for Monday at 9:00 p.m. on the preceding Sunday, and the deadline for initiating transfers for the benefit of a bank's customer is 6:45 p.m. ET each business day. The rail your lender funds on does not run while you are signing.

So a Sunday afternoon signature produces a contract, a set of keys and an unfunded deal. Any condition attached to that funding gets resolved on Monday, after the car is in your driveway. I would rather sign at nine on a Monday morning than at five on a Sunday evening, for the same reason I would rather hand a bottle to the pharmacist than drop it in the box on a Saturday night. The second one works. Nobody has looked at it yet.

What to watch for afterwards

People keep things because the counter was closed on the day they were finally ready to deal with them. I have weighed the results of that habit for years: vitamins by the kilogram, a bottle of liquid morphine from a death the family had not discussed. Paperwork behaves the same way in a glovebox. Do these five in order.

1. Read the date on every document before you leave the desk. A contract dated Sunday and a funding that clears Tuesday is normal. A contract with a blank date is not.
2. Check what is on the back of the car and when it expires. In Florida, a temporary tag is valid for 30 days, no more than two may be issued to the same person for the same vehicle, and the fee is $2 each, under Fla. Stat. § 320.131(2). In Texas, House Bill 718 took effect July 1, 2025: licensed Texas dealers now issue metal license plates at the time of sale and printed temporary tags are no longer available, per the TxDMV's implementation guidance. A paper tag from a Texas franchise dealer today is a reason to stop and ask questions.
3. Put the title deadline on your calendar. Florida requires the title application to be filed within 30 days after delivery, with a $20 fee on top of the other charges, under Fla. Stat. § 319.23(6)(a). Your state's clock will differ; find the number before the month runs out.
4. Confirm funding by phone on a business day. Call the lender, not the dealership, and ask whether the contract has been purchased.
5. Book the mechanical inspection for a weekday, when the service department in the table above is actually staffed.

If you live in Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey or Minnesota, Sunday is a looking day and the statute makes that decision in the dealer's name rather than yours. Everywhere else, the lot's hours and the paperwork's hours are two different clocks, and only one of them is printed on the door.

FAQ

Are car dealerships open on Sundays?

In most states, yes, on shortened hours — Lakeland Automall in Florida posts Sunday sales of 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. against 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. the rest of the week. Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey and Minnesota prohibit Sunday vehicle sales by statute, so dealerships there close.

Which states ban car sales on Sunday?

Illinois (625 ILCS 5/5-106), Missouri (§ 578.120 RSMo), New Jersey (N.J.S.A. 2C:33-26) and Minnesota (Minn. Stat. 168.275) prohibit Sunday vehicle sales outright. Texas is different: Transportation Code § 728.002 only bars selling on consecutive Saturday and Sunday, so stores there choose which weekend day to open.

Can I walk around a car dealership when it's closed?

Usually yes. The Sunday-closing statutes in Illinois, Missouri and New Jersey regulate the dealer's conduct, not yours, and say nothing about visitors on the lot. Browsing, reading window stickers and photographing vehicles breaks no closing law. A gate, posted signage or a request to leave makes it trespass under ordinary property law.

Is the dealership service department open on Sunday?

Almost never, whatever the state allows. Missouri's statute expressly exempts repair work, yet Suntrup Buick GMC in St. Peters posts service hours of Monday to Friday only, closed Saturday and Sunday. In Florida, where nothing is restricted, Lakeland Automall's service department also closes Sunday. Book weekdays.

Can I finish financing a car on a Sunday?

You can sign on Sunday, but the money moves later. The Federal Reserve Board states the Fedwire Funds Service runs Monday through Friday, opening for Monday at 9:00 p.m. ET on the preceding Sunday. Lender funding and any condition attached to it resolve on a business day, after delivery.

How long is a dealer temporary tag good for?

It depends on the state. Florida sets 30 days under Fla. Stat. § 320.131(2), with no more than two tags issued to the same person for the same vehicle at $2 each. Texas eliminated printed temporary tags on July 1, 2025; dealers there now issue metal plates at the time of sale.