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Related Parties | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2018
Related Party Transactions [Abstract] |
Related Parties | Related Parties Certain of our dealerships purchase the zMAX micro-lubricant from Oil-Chem Research Corporation (“Oil-Chem”), a subsidiary of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (“SMI”), for resale to Fixed Operations customers of our dealerships in the ordinary course of business. Sonic’s Executive Chairman, Mr. O. Bruton Smith, is also the Executive Chairman of SMI, and Mr. Smith’s son, Mr. Marcus G. Smith, a greater than 10% beneficial owner of Sonic, is the Chief Executive Officer and President of SMI. Total purchases from Oil-Chem by our dealerships were approximately $1.6 million, $1.9 million and $2.1 million in 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively. We also engaged in other transactions with various SMI subsidiaries, consisting primarily of (1) merchandise and apparel purchases from SMISC Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a SMI Properties) for approximately $0.9 million in each of 2018, 2017 and 2016 and (2) vehicle sales to various SMI subsidiaries for approximately $0.2 million in each of 2018, 2017 and 2016. We participate in various aircraft-related transactions with Sonic Financial Corporation (“SFC”), a privately held company controlled by Mr. O. Bruton Smith and his family. Such transactions include, but are not limited to, the use of aircraft owned by SFC for business-related travel by our executives, a management agreement with SFC for storage and maintenance of aircraft leased by us from unrelated third parties and the use of our aircraft for business-related travel by certain affiliates of SFC. We incurred net expenses of approximately $0.3 million, $0.4 million and $0.5 million in 2018, 2017 and 2016, respectively, in aircraft-related transactions with these related parties.

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- Definition The entire disclosure for related party transactions. Examples of related party transactions include transactions between (a) a parent company and its subsidiary; (b) subsidiaries of a common parent; (c) and entity and its principal owners; and (d) affiliates. + References Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 850 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2122745 + Details
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