Want a Green or Maroon Car? – Well it’s only you that does “and it’s going to cost you”.
Many things effect what your car is going to be worth when you want to sell but one of the most important is one of the most obvious and that’s the colour you’ve chosen. Pick the wrong colour car and it could be hundreds of pounds less when you come to sell it than a popular colour and it may even take ages to find a buyer, but pick the right colour and you could find buyers queuing up and you could be laughing all the way to the bank.
So if colour is so important, what are the colours to choose and what should you avoid? Well like all kind of cosmetic things, is all about fashion and just like fashion, its never completely still, but never the less, there are periods where just like Coco Channels “little black dress” a colour endures and remains in vogue whilst others remain a must to avoid.
Motor Research Specialists “CAP” know a thing or two about what second hand cars sell for and every now and then, give us the low down on how the prices on exactly the same cars can vary depending on your colour and so for your delectation, below are some of their findings.
CAP constantly analyse the trade market, looking at hundreds of thousands of vehicles (so this is no gut feeling here) and found that over the last 5 years, in what’s referred to as mainstream or popular vehicles, that white was a consistent top performer, so this is no “today only” thing.
The figures are judged, looking at a benchmark price for each car as 100%, and what are the “colour related” up’s & downs?
Well the colour that used to be unpopular, because most reps cars and police cars were in it was white, but oh my, how things have changed as if you’ve got a white car now, its flavour of the week and will return you the biggest bucks with around 5% more when you sell it, than any other colour (and on a £20,000 car, that’s £1,000 more), but when comparing it with blue, it can be 6% up and against green, a massive 8% up
Colours such as green, gold, turquoise, and maroon are the kiss of death, typically making 4% to 6% less than the benchmark 100%. Blue cars still don’t make the cash and whilst some shades of blue are better than others, the dark blues are still known as “doom blue” in the trade and prices suffer because of this.
The previously “hip” colour’s of black, silver and grey, performed in line with the market benchmarks, so are still clearly popular and whilst they might not earn you extra cash over the benchmark, they are not going to lose you extra money either.
So what’s the colour that’s likely to cost you most in depreciation? Well it’s purple.
Well this all seems pretty logical to us, but of course, there are exceptions and some quirky colours that would look absolutely awful on some cars, will look wonderful on others and for the main part, I am talking sports cars or niche cars, such as say a Citroen DS3 whose off the wall schemes would kill lesser cars, but look great on the DS3.
So I guess the advice is if you are purchasing a car “and want to get as much back for it as possible when you eventually sell it) is to think not just what you like, but to give just a touch of consideration as to what the wider market would like, remembering that the mainstream and family car market tends to be fairly conservative but if you are buying something sporty, well you can be a touch extravagant.
You may however just feel that to hell with it and that as its you buying the car new, its you who are going to lose more money on the car than anyone else who subsequently buys it will and so you will have the colour you want, no matter what anyone else likes.
If you are a used car buyer, well you might be able to save some cash too, by going for an unpopular coloured car, because you can bet, if the dealers going to cut you a deal, it’s going to be on that otherwise perfect, but dull coloured old thing laying up the corner which he hasn’t opened the door on for 2 months!
