Does the color of your car affect its resale value? Based on a study conducted by iSeeCars there is a direct correlation between the color of your car and its resale value. So, if you’re looking for an easy way to purchase a car with a strong resale value this color guide will be a huge help.
The team at iSeeCars conducted a study of 650,000 sales of three-year-old used cars to determine how color affects their rate of depreciation. The team further broke down this date to specific vehicle segments to show the color preferences of different vehicle shoppers.
When it comes to the overall used car market, one color that fights off depreciation better than any other color is yellow. The average depreciation of the used vehicles analyzed was 15% but for yellow cars that number fell to only 4.5%. Other less common colors joined yellow as a safe investment with orange coming in second with a depreciation rate of 10.7% and purple in third place with 13.9%. After purple, red, green, blue, and gray all beat the average depreciation rate and fell within a tenth of each other in the 14% range.
These loud colors are more valuable on the used market because they tend to be a rarity. According to iSeeCars, “Yellow is among the least popular car colors with the lowest vehicle share and is commonly a color for sports cars and other low-volume vehicles that hold their value relatively well. Because yellow vehicles are so novel in the secondhand marketplace, people are willing to pay a premium for them.”
With the most desirable car colors identified, which colors hurt your vehicle’s value? First up we have white at 15.5% or 0.5% worse than average. Next up is black at 16.1% followed by gold at 16.7% and brown at 17.8%. Colors like white and black are very common which means these cars do not stand out on the used market. Conversely gold and brown are very rare but they are not desirable colors for used car shoppers who actively avoid these polarizing options.
Based on this data it may be time to stop buying cars in boring colors and spring for something a little more exciting. Not only will you have an easier time spotting your ride in the parking lot, but you will also make more money on the used market.
