In Illinois, the lot is closed on Sunday. Your website is not. Shoppers still scroll listings on Sunday afternoon, and the ones who ask a question wait until Monday morning for an answer. That gap is where an AI sales agent earns its keep for a Chicago used car dealer.
Why Sunday is different in Illinois
State law (625 ILCS 5/5-106) bars keeping a dealership open on Sunday to sell or lease vehicles. Governor Jim Thompson signed it in 1982, and it took effect in 1984 after the Illinois Supreme Court upheld it. Dealer trade groups backed the law then, and they still did when WBEZ looked into it in 2014. Read the WBEZ report.
Crossing the state line doesn't help a shopper much. Indiana and Wisconsin are both on the list of states that ban Sunday car sales. So every dealer in the area starts Monday with the same pile of weekend leads. The store that already answered them starts ahead.
What shoppers do while you're closed
They keep shopping. In Cox Automotive's 2025 Car Buyer Journey study, used car buyers spent an average of 7 hours 45 minutes researching and shopping online and visited 4.8 websites. 60% of them visited a dealership's own site. Read the study summary.
A Digital Air Strike mystery shop of more than 1,500 dealerships found 40% of leads came in while the store was closed, and shoppers who heard back within 10 minutes were 3 times more likely to visit. Read the coverage.
What an AI sales agent can do on a Sunday
Jason is an AI sales agent for dealerships. He replies to every website, listing site and ad lead by text and email in under a minute, any day of the week. On a Sunday, a first reply can look like this (an example, not a real customer):
Hi Marcus, this is Jason with Brightline Motors. The 2021 Equinox LT is still here: 41k miles, one owner. We're closed today, but I can set up a test drive for Monday. Does 10 AM or 5:30 PM work?
- Confirms the exact vehicle is still on the lot
- Sends miles, history report and photos from the details you give him
- Asks about a trade-in so your team is ready to appraise it
- Books a test drive for a day you are open and texts a reminder
Keep Sunday inside the law
The law is about selling on Sunday. Answering a question and booking a Monday visit is not the same as making a sale, but where that line sits for your store is a question for your attorney or your dealer association, not a blog post. With Jason you set the Sunday rules once. Many stores keep it simple: confirm availability, share the listed details, book a weekday appointment, and leave price talk and paperwork for Monday.
On every day of the week, Jason never quotes payments or promises credit approval. Those conversations go to your team with the full chat attached.
One sales CRM for the whole week
Jason comes with his own sales CRM. Every lead, text, email and appointment sits in one place. On Monday morning your team opens a list of booked test drives and warm conversations instead of a cold inbox. Shoppers who go quiet get timed follow-ups without anyone having to remember. That is the sales automation most stores never get around to building.
Try it on your own phone
Plans start at $399 a month for 75 new leads, with no setup fee and no contract. Compare that with what one extra sale a month is worth to your store. Try the demo and Jason will text you the way he would text a shopper, or sign up and put him on this Sunday's leads. For the research behind fast replies, read our guide to dealership internet leads.