Cars with Loud Colors Hold Their Value Better Than Boring Ones

A question just as old as “why do people buy boring cars?” is “why do people buy cars in boring colors?” When someone buys a beige Camry, what made them decide on beige? Maybe it’s a desire to stay low key. Perhaps the driver doesn’t want it to show dirt too much. One might assume that the car will hold its value better if it has a boring color and could appeal to more potential buyers.

According to a new study from car research site iSeeCars, the opposite is true. Research shows that cars with fun colors depreciate much slower than cars with boring colors. The color that holds its value the best is yellow depreciating 27 percent over three years and orange coming in second place depreciating 30.6 percent in the same time frame. For reference, the average car depreciates 33.1 percent over three years.

So, why is yellow so hot? “Yellow cars are relatively less common, which could drive up demand and help maintain their value,” said Phong Ly, CEO ofiSeeCars.com. “Our analysis shows that yellow vehicles have the lowest depreciation of any color for lower-volume cars like convertibles. Interestingly, yellow is also the color with the least depreciation for popular body styles like SUVs and pickup trucks.”

Green, white, and red are the other colors that depreciate slower than average. The most common colors like blue, black, and silver are quite close to the overall average while the big losers are colors that have been out of style for a while now.

The fastest depreciating color is gold at 37.1 percent. “Across almost every body style, gold color vehicles have some of the worst depreciation rates of any color,” noted Ly. Purple is the second fastest depreciating color at 36.7 percent, so think twice before ordering that brand new Jeep Wrangler in Xtreme Purple Pearl Coat (real color name). Beige is very close to purple at 36.6 percent.

Will knowing the depreciation of car colors impact your next car purchase?