Yes, you can keep open alcohol in the trunk of your car in Florida. Florida Statute 316.1936 bans open containers in the passenger area of a vehicle on a public road, but a locked trunk sits outside that area and is one of the storage spots the statute specifically allows.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.1936 – Possession of Open Containers of Alcoholic Beverages in Vehicles Prohibited; Penalties The rule gets more complicated if your vehicle doesn’t have a traditional trunk, and the consequences for getting it wrong can reach beyond a traffic ticket.
What Florida Treats as an Open Container
An open container is any container of alcohol that someone could drink from right away, or any container whose factory seal has been broken.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.1936 – Possession of Open Containers of Alcoholic Beverages in Vehicles Prohibited; Penalties That covers the obvious examples, like a beer can with the tab popped or a cup of wine. It also covers a liquor bottle with a cracked seal even if you’ve screwed the cap back on tight. A flask, a brewery growler, and a half-finished bottle of vodka all qualify.
A fully sealed, unopened bottle is not an open container and can ride anywhere in the vehicle.
Where the Statute Says to Store It
The law lists the acceptable locations. An open container has to be in a locked glove compartment, a locked trunk, or another locked nonpassenger area of the vehicle.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.1936 – Possession of Open Containers of Alcoholic Beverages in Vehicles Prohibited; Penalties The word “locked” shows up in every option. A standard sedan trunk clears the bar because it latches shut and is physically separate from the cabin. An unlocked center console or a bottle rolling around on the back seat does not.
The ban applies whenever the vehicle is on a public road, whether it’s moving or parked. Sitting in a street parking spot with an open beer in the cup holder is a violation, even if the engine is off. Private driveways and private lots that aren’t open to public travel sit outside the statute’s definition of “road,” though a shopping center lot and similar quasi-public spaces are a gray area best treated as covered.
If Your Vehicle Doesn’t Have a Trunk
Vehicles with no separate trunk compartment create the hardest compliance problem, because the statute only recognizes locked spaces.
SUVs, Vans, and Hatchbacks
The cargo area behind the rear seats in most SUVs and hatchbacks is open to the cabin, which makes it arguable that it’s part of the passenger area. Nothing in the open container statute carves out a special rule for these vehicles. The reliable options are the locked glove compartment or a locked container, such as a lockbox or locking cooler, placed in the cargo area. Simply tossing a bottle behind the back seat without any locked barrier is risky.
One narrow Florida statute does mention the area behind the last upright seat as acceptable storage, but that language appears only in the restaurant wine rule discussed below, not in the general open container law.2Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 564.09 – Restaurants; Off-Premises Consumption of Wine For anything other than a properly resealed restaurant wine bottle, that approach is not safe to rely on.
Pickup Trucks
A pickup bed is clearly a nonpassenger area, and it isn’t accessible from the cab while driving. Whether it counts as “locked” depends on the setup. A bed with a locking tonneau cover or a locked toolbox satisfies the statute. An open bed is harder to defend, since it’s a nonpassenger area but not a locked one. A locking bed cover or just using the locked glove compartment removes the ambiguity.
The Restaurant Wine Bottle Exception
Florida lets you take home a partially consumed bottle of wine from a restaurant, but the requirements are specific. The restaurant, not you, has to reseal the bottle before you leave. It then goes into a bag or container secured so that any tampering would be visible, with a dated receipt for the meal and the wine attached to the outside.2Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 564.09 – Restaurants; Off-Premises Consumption of Wine
Inside the vehicle, the resealed bottle has to go in a locked glove compartment, a locked trunk, or, for vehicles without a trunk, the area behind the last upright seat.2Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 564.09 – Restaurants; Off-Premises Consumption of Wine That “behind the last seat” allowance is unique to this situation. Skip any step, whether that’s missing a receipt, resealing the bottle yourself, or leaving it on the passenger seat, and the protection evaporates.
Who in the Car Can Drink
Three narrow exemptions exist, and all of them apply only to passengers. The driver can never have an open container.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.1936 – Possession of Open Containers of Alcoholic Beverages in Vehicles Prohibited; Penalties
- Passengers in a vehicle operated for hire under a contract to carry passengers, where the driver holds a commercial driver license with a passenger endorsement. Limousines and chartered vehicles fit here.
- Passengers on a bus with a commercially licensed driver holding a passenger endorsement.
- Passengers in a self-contained motor home that exceeds 21 feet in length.
The motor home rule catches people out because of the length requirement. A 19-foot Class B camper van with a full kitchen and living area doesn’t qualify.
What a Violation Costs
For a driver, an open container violation is a noncriminal moving traffic violation, which adds points to your driving record and carries a fine set under Chapter 318.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 316.1936 – Possession of Open Containers of Alcoholic Beverages in Vehicles Prohibited; Penalties For a passenger, it’s a nonmoving violation with a smaller fine and no points. Counties and municipalities can set stricter penalties than the state baseline, so local ordinances are worth checking.
The base fines are modest, and court costs and surcharges typically push what you actually pay well above that. The larger expense tends to be auto insurance. An open container conviction can raise premiums by roughly 40 to 50 percent on average, and that increase often sticks for three to five years. Over that span the insurance cost dwarfs the ticket.
The sharper risk is how an open container interacts with a DUI stop. An open container in plain view gives an officer additional grounds to investigate impaired driving and can support probable cause for field sobriety testing even when the driving itself was unremarkable. If a DUI charge follows, the open container becomes evidence of consumption that prosecutors will use at trial, making plea negotiations harder regardless of whether it formally enhances a sentence.