QOTD: Does Color Affect Resale Value?

by Jason R. Sakurai

Updated: May 21st, 2021

Color counts when selling or buying a car. But which colors help or hurt? iSeeCars.com, a car search engine, performed exhaustive research on this topic, recently publishing the results.

Their research confirms what we had heard previously from paint manufacturers. White, black, and silver are among the most popular colors. But that also means these colors have minimal impact. They’ll neither hurt nor help resale, because there are a lot of vehicles available in these colors. Did you know the highest depreciating color loses more than twice that of the lowest?

Comparing prices of more than six million cars between 2017 to 2020, iSeeCars.com determined which colors help, hurt, or have minimal impact on resale value.

“A vehicle’s color is a primary consideration after deciding on a make and model,” said iSeeCars Karl Brauer. “Resale value is the biggest factor in vehicle cost. Consumers should consider their color choice.”

What we didn’t realize was that popularity doesn’t always equate with higher resale value. Take for example special colors Toyota has used on Tacomas. Limited to the TRD Pro edition for 2020, army green was made available on all Tacomas in 2021. Brauer said, “Because Toyota pickup trucks hold their value, and olive drab is a novelty, it helped green pickups maintain their value.”

White, black, and silver, are the safest colors with the greatest appeal. But do they help a vehicle maintain its value?

“Many consumers pick mainstream colors not because they like them, but because they assume everyone else does. They appear to be in demand, yet our analysis confirms obscure colors hold their value better,” Brauer said.

Take a look at the color charts, and you’ll see. Some colors work better for one type of vehicle and not another. Fascinating research into one aspect of selling or buying a car we don’t take into account.

[Images: Jeep, Nissan, Toyota, iSeeCars.com]

#Colors #NewCarSales #Research #UsedCarSales #VehicleMarketing

Jason R. Sakurai

With a father who owned a dealership, I literally grew up in the business. After college, I worked for GM, Nissan and Mazda, writing articles for automotive enthusiast magazines as a side gig. I discovered you could make a living selling ad space at Four Wheeler magazine, before I moved on to selling TV for the National Hot Rod Association. After that, I started Roadhouse, a marketing, advertising and PR firm dedicated to the automotive, outdoor/apparel, and entertainment industries. Through the years, I continued writing, shooting, and editing. It keep things interesting.

More by Jason R. Sakurai

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 31 comments

Jeff S on May 01, 2021

I can live with silver or white but not black because it is hot and hard to keep clean. I like the new grayish green that is on the Hyundai Santa Fe that Hyundai just revealed. Also like the bright red that Mazda offers.

Like Reply
Stellantis Guy on May 02, 2021

Can we talk about this next? (It seems to tie in) https://luxe.digital/lifestyle/style/most-comfortable-heels/

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Vid169489471 The technology exists today to produce a variable color temperature (kelvin) LED lamp. It can vary from 2700k that soft orange look to 6500k the bright daylight with the bluish tint.Since everything in a late model car is computer controlled, it would be an easy task to write a few lines of code that enables your vehicle to not only dim down from hi to low beam but to shift color temp down to the 2700k range for oncoming traffic, then back up to 5000k once oncoming traffic has passed. For the operator it would be automatic and seamless. For older cars they could be retrofitted with LEDs that are 2700k on low beam and 5000k on hi beam. As far as standards, there could be a lumens max, and a minimum. Several States already have minimum lumen standards going back to the old incandescent bulbs. Why not update these to national standards.
Jam169859557 More regulation is needed for ALL vehicle lighting systems. [list=1][*]The lighting that is most blinding are the rapidly flashing red, blue and amber lights on emergency vehicles. The lights themselves are blinding, flashing so rapidly that it's impossible for even the sharpest eyes to adjust. What's worse, is the nature of the emergency requires a careful view of the area surrounding the emergency vehicle. There is something going on that needs to be seen. More flashing lights is not the solution.[/*][*]Brighter headlights need to be regulated. The tall riding vehicles do not need headlights positioned so high that they blind drivers in lower riding vehicles. And those heasdlights need to be aimed properly. When I first started driving my 2020 Subaru Outback, many drivers would flash their lights, hoping I would dim my lights. This stopped after I performed am easy adjustment that tilted the beam lower. Late model Subaru headlamps are designed with a sharp cutoff that project less glare above the hood line. When the headlights are properly aimed, other drivers are not blinded by the beam.[/*][*]Customized light assemblies make it more difficult to see the marker lights (tail lamps, turn signals and side marker lamps) that have been tinted. There are many municiple codes that prohibit this tinting, but these laws are seldom enforced.[/*][/list=1]Solutions: Tight controls on emergency vehicle lighting. In trying to make these vehicles more visible, a dangerous side effect is reducing the ability of drivers to see the surrounding perils.Headlight design regulations that reduce the height of the headlight assemblies. Just because a pickup truck has a hood that sits 4 feet abouve the pavement, it does not mean the headlights need to be so high. Owneres should maintain proper adjustments to their vehicle headlights.Establish and enforce regulation requiring a illumination standard be followed.
Stl170698708 as someone who hates big government, and their interference;but you can add me to the list of people that are blinded by the lights.unfortunately "the poop is out of the horse and no way is it going back in"They have had 5 years to make lights bigger, badder and brighter because in the vehicle work it is go big or go home!Trucks are the worst because so many people use them to express their dominance and that is big, big, big $$ both at the Original Purchase and in the Aftermarket world.If, we are so lucky to get some good government regulation on this it will also take some very good Court enforcement to get the aftermarket people with fines and lawsuits.Much like the EPA did with the Diesel Tuner Industry that felt emission regulations didn't apply to them.This is from someone that owns said pickup truck with the same bright headlights,but i only use the truck when I have too and always turn off the Fog lights when driving in traffic.
Art65765977 I saw a porsche 911 with the most amazing headlights from behind approaching the Sunshine skyway in Florida. The pattern was 108 degrees across sweeping the road like a broom. My brother and I were amazed. I don't know what it looked like from the front but i am sure it was better than American cars
Master Baiter This is what happens when you take a chance on a startup auto company. Designing and building cars is hard.