Summary:
When it comes to a car’s resale value, color can play a bigger role than most people realize. While factors like rarity and reliability are often considered, a recent study by iSeeCars shows that the color of your car can significantly influence how much it depreciates over time. On average, vehicles lose about 31% of their value after three years, but certain colors perform far better in retaining value.
Yellow, orange, and green are the top-performing colors, with yellow cars depreciating the least at just 24%, followed closely by orange (24.4%) and green (26.3%). These colors aren’t the most popular, but their rarity and demand give them a resale advantage. Conversely, black, white, and gold—though widely popular—depreciate more due to market oversaturation, losing up to 34.4% of value.
The impact of color varies across vehicle types. For trucks, orange, green, and gray retain value best, with orange trucks losing only 16%. In SUVs, orange, green, and yellow perform well, while white and black are among the worst. For sedans and coupes, yellow and orange again top the list, with green performing poorly in sedans but better in convertibles. The trend remains consistent over time, with yellow and orange consistently ranking high in past studies from 2017 and 2022.
For buyers concerned about resale value, choosing a less common but high-retention color like yellow or orange may save thousands over time. On the other hand, those looking for a deal on the used market may find better prices among the more common and faster-depreciating black, white, and gold cars. Ultimately, color isn’t just an aesthetic choice—it’s a financial one, too.
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