Monday, December 7, 2009

Idiotic Blue Laws Keep Wisconsin Car Dealerships Closed Sunday

I went out to a dealership yesterday ready to buy a new car, or a low-mileage used car, but either way, I was primed to do my small bit to help save the economy and part ways with a ten-year-old Honda with a mere 106,000 miles.

The dealership was closed: it's still illegal to sell a car on a Sunday in Wisconsin, even in the recession.

I decided that they call them Blue Laws because they leave the consumer feeling blue. There were four other people walking and driving around the lot in the 20 minutes I was there. I wonder how many sales these dealers lose on Closed Sundays?

OK, the dealership is open on Monday, but Monday I'm too busy. And besides, who wants to traipse around in the snow?

So for now, I've lost interest.

2 comments:

Anon Jim said...

As an FYI - Wisconsin is one of 14 states that do not allow car sales on Sunday.

And per the following, it is the dealerships themselves that lobby for keeping this in place - appears they like having a day off.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122592581001202837.html

Personally I like having a day of the week when I can go look at vehicles at a dealership without some annoying salesperson hovering over me.

Anonymous said...

FYI,
Just because the dealership is closed, doesn't mean someone isn't inside spying on people coming and looking. I worked for a car dealership in the 70's, and I was payed on Sunday to come in and take down license plates, and use the DMV registration books to look up peoples address and telephone number. I'd be hidden away, watching people and cars with a telescope. The information was then given to sales people to do cold calling during normal working hours.