- A new study gives us insight into the colors of cars that are worth the most on the used-car market.
- It also provides data on what colors tend to contribute to a car losing value over time.
- The top three best car colors regarding resale value are the same as they were in 2017.
Whether you’re driving a supercar or a hand-me-down hatchback, nobody wants their car to tank in value the minute they pull out of the driveway. Some of that comes down to rarity. A bit of it involves long-term reliability, too. What some may not bear in mind, though, is that color is a contributing factor as well.
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Yes, the paint job you pick can influence how much money your car loses over time. And some colors are surprisingly better at holding value than others.
Read: This Special Mustang Took A $52,000 Hit After Just 75 Miles
Depreciation is hitting cars harder in the last few years than it did during the pandemic. On average, a used vehicle sheds about 31 percent of its original MSRP after three years. That’s according to a new study that digs into more than just raw dollar values, as it reveals how much your choice of color could cost (or save) you in the long run.
It tells us that yellow, orange, and green lose value more slowly than the rest of the colors of the rainbow. After three years, green cars lost just 26.3 percent of their value. Orange ones lost even less at 24.4 percent, and yellow cars did the best, losing just 24 percent of their value.
“Yellow and orange have been among the best colors for retained value since iSeeCars began tracking depreciation by color,” said iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. “These are not widely popular colors, but they have more demand than supply, and that translates to higher value on the used market.”
TOP COLORS THAT KEEP THEIR VALUE AFTER 3 YEARS
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If You Want a Deal, Buy the Boring Colors
For bargain hunters who plan to buy used, there’s a silver lining in black, white, and gold. Those colors depreciated by 31.9 percent, 32.1 percent, and 34.4 percent, respectively. In terms of cold hard cash, we’re talking about $15,381 to $16,679 on average.
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“White and black are the two most common car colors, which suggests plenty of people want them,” said Brauer. “But it also means those colors provide zero distinction in the used market, reducing their value and making it easy for buyers to shop around for the lowest-priced model in these shades.”
Interestingly, things flip a little when we look at the truck segment. In this segment, orange, green, and gray take the top three spots in terms of value retained over three years. Orange trucks lost just 16 percent of their value over three years. On the other side of the coin, white, beige, and red trucks lost the most value, reflecting percentage drops of 28.3 to 28.8 percent.
Also: Don’t Buy A New Cybertruck Until You See What This One Sold For After Just 2.6K Miles
As for the broader vehicle market, the overall trends haven’t changed much over time. In 2022 and 2017, Yellow and Orange were the top two colors in terms of value retained over time. In 2022, Purple took the third spot, up from twelfth in 2017. In 2017, the third-most valuable question regarding resale value was green. That’s right, almost a decade later, the results, at least for the top three, are identical.
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So yes, paint choice isn’t just about aesthetics. It might not be the deciding factor in your next purchase, but it’s worth keeping in mind.
TRUCK 3-YEAR DEPRECIATION BY COLOR
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SUV 3-YEAR DEPRECIATION BY COLOR
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SEDAN 3-YEAR DEPRECIATION BY COLOR
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COUPE 3-YEAR DEPRECIATION BY COLOR
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CONVERTIBLE 3-YEAR DEPRECIATION BY COLOR
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