What are the best and worst car colors when it comes to selling? You may be surprised
A new study shows how colors can affect how quickly a vehicle depreciates.
iSeeCars found the highest depreciating vehicle color losing almost twice as much value as the lowest. The online automotive search engine analyzed the prices of more than 1.3 million vehicles to determine the impact of color on resale value for Sacramento and Modesto area car owners.
The average three-year depreciation for cars in Sacramento is 20.5%, or $8,489.
Some key points of the study:
▪ Popular colors like white, black and silver don’t help a car’s resale value, and silver and black actually rank below average
▪ Some of the best colors for resale value — yellow and orange, for instance — are not common color choices
“Every year consumer preferences shift, as reflected in the ever-shifting order of resale value retention for different colors,” iSeeCars.com executive analyst Karl Brauer said in a news release. “But one component remains consistent: Common colors like black and silver are never the best for resale value retention. There are just too many cars available in those colors to elevate resale value.”
See the video above for more on the study, including the rankings.
National rankings are similar to the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto metro area market. Key national findings:’
▪ The average car loses 22.5% of its value after 3 years, but yellow cars only lose 13.5%, which equates to saving more than $3,000 compared to the average vehicle
▪ Yellow, beige, orange and green cars all lose less than 20% of their value
▪ Gold, brown and black cars drop the most in value, losing over $10,000 after three years
