QOTD: Does Color Affect Resale Value?

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]