The One Day Of The Week You're Banned From Buying Cars In Colorado
When folks think of Colorado, they might envision one of two faces: the Rocky Mountain kind of faces or the pleasantly walkable cityside strolls of downtown, pot-legal Denver. And if you like food, Fort Collins has one restaurant per 258 residents, making it one of the cities with the most restaurants per capita in the entire United States. Also, Colorado means "South Park." So how are you supposed to see and do everything if you visit the region or live there and can't use public transportation? Simple: Hop in a car and drive. But you'll have to skip buying your car on Sunday, because that's a big no-no (one of Colorado's many weird laws).
Yes, it really is the case that it's illegal to sell cars in Colorado on Sunday. The law code is written in a very precise, ultra-strict way clearly meant to prevent people from finding loopholes. It's worth citing one fragment in full just to get the point across. Per Justia, "No person, firm, or corporation, whether owner, proprietor, agent, or employee, shall keep open, operate, or assist in keeping open or operating any place or premises or residences, whether open or closed, for the purpose of selling, bartering, or exchanging or offering for sale, barter, or exchange any motor vehicle, whether new, used, or secondhand, on the first day of the week commonly called Sunday." Yikes, that's a lot of nested clauses.
The law in question apparently dates to 1955, but it has roots in the same kind of religiously-motivated "blue laws" seen across the U.S. And yet, car dealerships in Colorado don't seem to mind. So what's the deal?
Cars are banned, powersports vehicles aren't
As Justia writes, Colorado's "no selling cars on Sunday" law was renewed in 2017 and contains the same wording as it did in 2016. We know that this particular legislation has been iterated on again and again because in the Colorado General Assembly, a 2017 renumbering bill titled "Relocate Auto Industry Division To Title 44" proposed changing the old law number (12-6-302) to a new number (44-20-302). This suggestion was part of a 179-page bill covering absolutely anything and everything car-related in Colorado, from the basic definitions of car manufacturers and dealers to motor vehicle board member appointment dates, classes of car licenses, rules regarding not tampering with odometers in used cars, and removing single, redundant words in individual sentences. And now we never again have to ask why the government is so slow.
But if you thought Colorado's ban was as simple as "don't sell cars on Sunday": nope. The same section of the law says that it doesn't apply to the sales of automobile parts, gas, products used by tow trucks, and so forth. This makes sense. Also, the law only applies to cars, or more accurately, "road-driven vehicles with axles." It doesn't cover the "selling, bartering, or exchanging or offering for sale, barter, or exchange any boat, boat trailer, snowmobile, or snowmobile trailer." These are dubbed "powersports vehicles," which for some reason don't violate the no Sunday rule, possibly because it would not be fun to not have fun on Sunday.
An old, religious blue law
Like we mentioned, Colorado's ban on selling cars on Sunday isn't totally arbitrary, even if it seems dumb or inconvenient. It's one of many old "blue laws," which are seen across the United States and are related to the morality of doing certain things on Sunday (aka the Sabbath to most Christian sects). Many such rules flagged shortly after the American Revolution, while others persisted. As recently as 2021, for instance, Texas somewhat repealed an old blue law relegating alcohol sales on Sunday by returning the decision to the county level. Colorado, though? Residents still can't buy cars on Sunday. But alcohol and pot? Go for it.
Colorado isn't the only state in the U.S. that doesn't allow cars to be bought or sold on Sunday. To residents of 12 out of 50 states, this whole "no car sales on Sunday" is commonplace. Besides Colorado, the states of Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Louisiana all ban selling cars on Sunday. Utah and Texas don't outright prohibit it, but they disallow selling cars across back-to-back weekend days, so take your pick: Saturday or Sunday. Michigan, meanwhile, prohibits car sales on Sunday to counties with populations over 130,000.
Despite the obvious financial benefits, car dealerships in Colorado seem fine with things the way they are because of some common sense reasons. Not the least of which is, somewhat wholesomely, religion and family time. There have been efforts in recent years to repeal Colorado's Sunday car sales ban, but the law stands.