Buying a car in Colorado on a Sunday is still against the law, a holdover rule that state regulators now say should disappear. The Department of Regulatory Agencies is recommending that lawmakers repeal the prohibition on Sunday motor-vehicle sales, arguing the restriction no longer serves any real purpose in a marketplace where people can shop for cars online any day of the week.
The recommendation came out of DORA's routine sunset review of state regulations, according to 9NEWS. As FOX31 Denver reported, the ban is codified as C.R.S. 44-20-302 and prohibits selling, bartering, exchanging or offering motor vehicles for sale on Sundays, a restriction that covers more than just dealership transactions — it also applies to private vehicle sales. Violating it is classified as a misdemeanor crime that can bring fines of at least $75 and up to $1,000, along with up to six months in jail, and a dealership's license can be suspended or revoked following a conviction, per FOX31 Denver's reporting.
A Rule Born in the 1940s
The law dates back to the 1940s, when most Colorado dealerships were family-owned operations, according to KRDO. Regulators say the original idea was to give dealership employees a guaranteed day off each week to spend with family or observe religious practices, per FOX31 Denver's reporting. Just how old the ban actually is depends on who's counting it: cbtnews.com has described it as a 72-year-old restriction, while tsscolorado.com has called it an 80-year-old ban, and FOX31 Denver's own figure puts it at 71 years.
Whatever the exact age, DORA argues the conditions that justified the law have changed substantially. Large corporations now sell vehicles, and purchases can happen entirely online, the department notes, even though Colorado law still prohibits online dealers from completing those sales on Sundays specifically, according to FOX31 Denver. The same report notes the ban is due for another formal review in 2027, following a cycle in which it's reviewed roughly every ten years and lawmakers last took it up for a vote in 2017.
Why Regulators Want It Gone
DORA's position is blunt: the department says there is no valid public-policy reason for the state to prohibit the sale of motor vehicles on Sundays, according to tsscolorado.com. The agency contends the rule is overly restrictive given how much the marketplace has shifted, and that it limits consumer choice by preventing people from shopping on top of evenings and Saturdays they already have available, per FOX31 Denver's reporting.
Regulators also point to a practical gap the ban creates for Colorado dealerships specifically. Because customers can already buy vehicles online any day of the week, the current law puts in-state dealerships at a disadvantage against that competition on Sundays, the department told KRDO. Giving shoppers both weekend days to buy a car would benefit both dealerships and customers, DORA argued in the same report. The recommendation would not force any business's hand — repealing the prohibition would let dealerships open on Sundays without requiring any of them to do so, according to tsscolorado.com's reporting, and FOX31 Denver's coverage makes the same point: no dealership would be required to open, and each business could choose for itself whether to sell that day.
Dealers Say the Math Doesn't Work
The Colorado Automobile Dealers Association isn't on board. The group wants the ban kept in place because Sunday openings would raise overhead costs that ultimately get passed on to consumers, according to CBT News. CADA president and CEO Matthew Groves told 9NEWS plainly, “It wouldn't make financial sense to open car dealerships on Sunday.”
Groves raised a more specific financing wrinkle in comments to CBT News: banks are closed on Sundays, he said, so buyers wouldn't actually be able to complete loans even if a dealership were open to sell them a car. He went further in remarks reported by tsscolorado.com, warning that ending the ban could lead to an exodus of workers and a decrease in Colorado sales overall.
What's Happened Elsewhere
Colorado wouldn't be breaking new ground if it repealed the restriction. Thirty-four states have already eliminated their own bans on Sunday motor-vehicle sales, according to DORA's figures cited by 9NEWS. The state has also been down this road before with a different industry: Colorado ended its ban on Sunday liquor-store sales in 2008, and that change didn't force any liquor retailers to actually open their doors on Sundays, tsscolorado.com reported.
The timing coincides with a rough stretch for Colorado's auto market. New light-vehicle registrations in the state fell 15.4% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to tsscolorado.com. The same report noted a 55% year-over-year decline in battery-electric vehicle registrations after federal tax credits for those vehicles expired in fall 2025. For now, DORA's recommendation is just that — a recommendation. KRDO reported that the proposal has yet to be reviewed by the state legislature, leaving the ban's fate, and its exact age, still up for debate.
