Are you allowed to put flyers on cars? There are lots of rules and laws about this. You should investigate the laws in your area beforehand since laws vary by city and state. Laws change every year so it is important to keep up-to-date.

Choose Your Message

The first thing to do is decide the message you wish to convey. Is this flyer designed to get customers for your new restaurant? It would be beneficial to turn the flyer into a coupon, such as “bring this flyer in for 15 percent off your first order.” with a menu and contact information. Is the objective to get people to a live concert in a public park? Include the date, time, whether it is family-friendly or not and what sort of music will be performed. Include links to the park’s or band’s online presences. A good flyer should be attractive enough to get positive attention and concise enough to get to the point quickly.

Design Your Flyer

A flyer should be functional as well as attractive. Typically, you should be able to fit four flyers onto an 8.5”x 11” piece of paper. Consider if you want to punch a hole in the flyer to hook over antennas? Do you want thick enough paper to be able to slip it under a windshield wiper without bending it? Be mindful of fonts because some are easier to read than others and avoid using neon colors for your font. Above all, your flyer should be easy-to-read.

Ensure it's Legal

Ensure it's legal in your area to put flyers on cars, then get your flyers printed. You can check with city hall and show an example of the flyer you want to use. Keep in mind, that putting flyers on people’s cars could get you in some pretty hot water if you don't check the rules first. Head over to your target markets and find out who owns the lots where you wish to put flyers on cars and politely ask permission.

Where you can legally put flyers on cars, after getting permission:

After getting permission to put flyers on cars, check out these places:

  • Restaurants, bistros, and pubs
  • Airports
  • Libraries
  • Transportation stations
  • Salons and barber shops
  • Medical offices
  • Shopping malls
  • Strip Malls
  • Street parking and city parking lots and towers
  • Grocery stores
  • Universities, schools, etc.
  • Apartment complexes

When is it illegal to pass out flyers in parking lots? Strictly speaking, you can usually hand out flyers anywhere that the owner or property manager has given you permission. Sure, this takes up a bit more time but the blow-back could be fierce if you do not. Use common sense and be polite. Handing out flyers is meant to promote your cause, event or business so it makes business sense as well to be ethical about how you go about it.