Long-Term Debt (Details 2)	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Redemption price, percentage
Beginning on March 15, 2014	104.50%
Beginning on March 15, 2015	102.25%
Beginning on March 15, 2016 and thereafter	100.00%

Debt instrument redemption price year three and thereafter percentage.

No definition available.

Name:	sah_DebtInstrumentRedemptionPriceYearThreeAndThereafterPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	sah_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration