If you've ever wondered what's in a car color - the answer is, a lot. The color of a vehicle can really impact its resale value - with some colors causing a larger drop in value than others.
iSeeCars compared the prices of more than 650,000 recently sold three-year old used cars then determined the average three-year vehicle depreciation rate by car color. Its researchers found that vehicles with the highest depreciating color lost nearly four times the value compared to the lowest.
Bold colors - with a low market share - tend to hold their value best. Jewel tones also do fairly well because they stand out without being flashy. Popular colors like Black, White and Silver depreciate at a rate close to average. If resale value is important to you, you'll probably want to steer clear of gold and brown, colors that depreciate far worse than average.
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Vehicle Depreciation by Car Color (ranked by lowest to highest % depreciation) - iSeeCars |
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|
Rank |
Color |
3-year % Depreciation |
$ Difference from MSRP |
Compared to Overall Avg |
|
1 |
Yellow |
4.5% |
$3,155 |
0.3x |
|
2 |
Orange |
10.7% |
$3,825 |
0.7x |
|
3 |
Purple |
13.9% |
$5,461 |
0.9x |
|
4 |
Red |
14.0% |
$5,399 |
0.9x |
|
5 |
Green |
14.0% |
$5,596 |
0.9x |
|
6 |
Blue |
14.3% |
$5,582 |
1x |
|
7 |
Gray |
14.3% |
$5,635 |
1x |
|
9 |
Beige |
14.4% |
$5,960 |
1x |
|
10 |
Silver |
14.8% |
$5,499 |
1x |
|
Overall Average |
15.0% |
$6,096 |
1x |
|
|
11 |
White |
15.5% |
$6,490 |
1x |
|
12 |
Black |
16.1% |
$6,993 |
1.1x |
|
13 |
Gold |
16.7% |
$6,719 |
1.1x |
|
14 |
Brown |
17.8% |
$7,642 |
1.2x |
White, black, and gray, known as "greyscale colors", are the most popular car colors and researchers say they depreciate at a rate close to average. So they won't help or hurt resale value to any great degree.
While it may be among the least popular color choices, yellow is the vehicle color that holds its value best overall, depreciating 70 percent less than the average vehicle. You'll typically find it on sports cars and low volume vehicles that typically hold their value relatively well. Orange ranks second, for the same reason. iSeeCars says you often find it on special limited edition vehicles and muscle cars. The color on the Mustang Mach-E you see below is technically called "Cyber Orange Metallic." The color on the Genesis GV60 (pictured in the image slider) is technically called "Sao Paulo Lime" but it looks yellow to us.
Aside from yellow and orange - if retaining value is important to you, look to jewel tones like purple, red, green and blue. Researchers say they hold their value better than average.
Blue is the most popular color aside from greyscale hues, according to another iSeeCars study. As you can see below, blues range widely in color as evidenced by models we spotted at the recent 2023 North Texas Auto Show.
You won't see a lot of beige cars out there (beige defined as off-white to light brown), which depreciate at a rate close to average. We're not sure where Lexus' Copper Crest falls in terms of popularity and long-term value, but it's one of the unique hues out there right now.
Car color depreciation varies by vehicle type. iSeeCars analyzed the depreciation of each car color within the major vehicle segments.
The colors that retain the BEST value by segment are:
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SUV Depreciation by Color - iSeeCars |
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|
Rank |
Color |
Average 3-year % Depreciation |
$ Difference from MSRP |
|
1 |
Yellow |
-2.7% |
-$1,437 |
|
2 |
Orange |
11.5% |
$3,635 |
|
3 |
Green |
15.3% |
$5,695 |
|
4 |
Gray |
15.8% |
$6,366 |
|
5 |
Red |
15.8% |
$6,078 |
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Pickup Truck Depreciation by Color - iSeeCars |
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|
Rank |
Color |
Average 3-year % Depreciation |
$5,628 |
|
1 |
Beige |
3.8% |
$5,628 |
|
2 |
Orange |
8.6% |
$5,628 |
|
3 |
Gray |
10.7% |
$5,628 |
|
4 |
Blue |
10.9% |
$5,628 |
|
5 |
Brown |
11.6% |
$5,628 |
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Sedan Depreciation by Color - iSeeCars |
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|
Rank |
Color |
Average 3-year % Depreciation |
$ Difference from MSRP |
|
1 |
Purple |
10.7% |
$4,053 |
|
2 |
Red |
11.9% |
$3,565 |
|
3 |
Green |
12.8% |
$5,515 |
|
4 |
Orange |
12.9% |
$4,229 |
|
5 |
Silver |
13.1% |
$3,927 |
The colors that DEPRECIATE the most by segment are:
For a complete breakdown of the data by segment visit iSeeCars.com.