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Business Acquisitions and Dispositions - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $) | 3 Months Ended | 12 Months Ended |
--- | --- | --- | ---
Jun. 30, 2014 Franchise | Dec. 31, 2014 Dealerships Franchise | Dec. 31, 2013 Dealerships | Dec. 31, 2012 Dealerships | Mar. 31, 2014 Franchise
Business Acquisition [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |
Purchase price for franchise operations and underlying assets, including real estate, acquired |  | $ 50,900,000 us-gaap_BusinessCombinationConsiderationTransferred1 |  |  |
Goodwill |  | 475,929,000 us-gaap_Goodwill | 476,315,000 us-gaap_Goodwill | 454,224,000 us-gaap_Goodwill |
Number of dealerships held for sale |  | 0 sah_HeldForSaleDealershipsNumber |  |  | 0 sah_HeldForSaleDealershipsNumber
Number of franchises disposed | 2 sah_NumberOfFranchisesDisposed | 9 sah_NumberOfFranchisesDisposed | 0 sah_NumberOfFranchisesDisposed | 12 sah_NumberOfFranchisesDisposed |
Cash generated from disposition |  | 74,800,000 sah_ProceedsFromDispositionsOfFranchises |  | 72,200,000 sah_ProceedsFromDispositionsOfFranchises |
Interest allocated to discontinued operations |  | 0 us-gaap_DisposalGroupIncludingDiscontinuedOperationInterestExpense | 0 us-gaap_DisposalGroupIncludingDiscontinuedOperationInterestExpense | 700,000 us-gaap_DisposalGroupIncludingDiscontinuedOperationInterestExpense |
Luxury Franchise [Member] |  |  |  |  |
Business Acquisition [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |
Number of franchise acquired |  | 2 us-gaap_NumberOfBusinessesAcquired / us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis = sah_LuxuryFranchiseMember |  |  |
Mid-line Import Franchise [Member] |  |  |  |  |
Business Acquisition [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |
Number of franchise acquired |  | 1 us-gaap_NumberOfBusinessesAcquired / us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis = sah_MidLineImportFranchiseMember |  |  |
Domestic Franchise [Member] |  |  |  |  |
Business Acquisition [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |
Number of franchise acquired |  | 1 us-gaap_NumberOfBusinessesAcquired / us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis = sah_DomesticFranchiseMember |  |  |
2014 Acquisitions [Member] |  |  |  |  |
Business Acquisition [Line Items] |  |  |  |  |
Net assets relating to dealership operations |  | 33,200,000 us-gaap_BusinessCombinationRecognizedIdentifiableAssetsAcquiredAndLiabilitiesAssumedAssets / us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis = sah_AcquisitionsTwoThousandThirteenMember |  |  |
Indefinite life intangible assets representing rights acquired under franchise agreements |  | 7,500,000 us-gaap_BusinessCombinationRecognizedIdentifiableAssetsAcquiredAndLiabilitiesAssumedIndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssets / us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis = sah_AcquisitionsTwoThousandThirteenMember |  |  |
Goodwill |  | $ 10,200,000 us-gaap_Goodwill / us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis = sah_AcquisitionsTwoThousandThirteenMember |  |  |

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- Definition Number of franchises disposed. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Proceeds from dispositions of franchises. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Amount of consideration transferred, consisting of acquisition-date fair value of assets transferred by the acquirer, liabilities incurred by the acquirer, and equity interest issued by the acquirer. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 805 -SubTopic 30 -Section 30 -Paragraph 7 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6911251&loc=d3e6578-128477 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 805 -SubTopic 30 -Section 30 -Paragraph 8 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6911251&loc=d3e6613-128477 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 805 -SubTopic 30 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (b) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35744584&loc=d3e6927-128479 + Details
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- Definition Amount of assets acquired at the acquisition date. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 805 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (c) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=39739317&loc=d3e4845-128472 + Details
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- Definition Amount of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, that lack physical substance, having a projected indefinite period of benefit, acquired at the acquisition date. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 805 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (c) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=39739317&loc=d3e4845-128472 + Details
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- Definition Amount of interest expense allocated to disposal group, including a discontinued operation. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 205 -SubTopic 20 -Section S99 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26872618&loc=d3e7436-122677 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 205 -SubTopic 20 -Section 45 -Paragraph 7 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6892542&loc=d3e1063-107759 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 205 -SubTopic 20 -Section 45 -Paragraph 6 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6892542&loc=d3e1060-107759 + Details
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- Definition Amount after accumulated impairment loss of an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 350 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35741047&loc=d3e13816-109267 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 350 -SubTopic 20 -Section 45 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6388280&loc=d3e13770-109266 + Details
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