If You Picked the Wrong Car Color, You’re Losing Money
Cars depreciate. It’s the reality of the market. However, many vehicle owners might not know that the choice of color palette can impact value well after the car-buying experience. In fact, picking the “wrong color” could cost you thousands in depreciation in the first three years.
Believe it or not, there are wrong car colors to fight depreciation
According to the latest data from iSeeCars, car colors have a serious impact on depreciation. In fact, the worst car color for depreciation could result in a 14.3% greater value loss over the nationwide average.
| Car color | 3-year depreciation | Average difference from MSRP |
|---|---|---|
| Purple | 22.7% | $8,840 |
| Silver | 23.2% | $9,218 |
| Black | 23.9% | $10,867 |
| Brown | 24.0% | $10,305 |
| Gold | 25.9% | $11,546 |
| Overall average | 22.5% | $9,674 |
Gold leads the list of car colors with the highest depreciation rates. On average, a gold vehicle will lose 25.9% of its original value in the first three years of ownership. That’s 3.4% more than the overall average for all colors.
As a result, a gold vehicle could be worth around $1,872 less than the market average. That might not be enough to change your mind on that Champagne Gold Mercedes-Benz. However, on the other side of the car color spectrum, yellow snagged a top spot among value-retaining colors.
Specifically, iSeeCars data suggests that a gold car could be worth nearly $5,000 less than a comparable vehicle in a shade of yellow. Of course, gold isn’t alone on the list of the wrong car colors for value retention; brown also takes a bottom spot with an average three-year deprecation rate of 24.0%. Unfortunately for fans of monochromatic machines, silver and black also take top spots.
Yellow leads the list of colors with lower-than-average depreciation
Of all the popular car colors on the market, yellow retains value better than the rest.
| Car color | Average 3-year depreciation | Average difference from MSRP |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow | 13.5% | $6,588 |
| Beige | 17.8% | $8,411 |
| Orange | 18.4% | $7,023 |
| Green | 19.2% | $8,719 |
| Red | 20.6% | $8,538 |
Specifically, yellow cars could lose 13.5% of their original value. While that seems less than ideal, it’s 9.0% less than the overall average for vehicles nationwide. Surprisingly, beige earned a spot among the best value retainers, the rest of which are eye-popping hues like orange, green, and red.
So, if you’re in the market for that new Porsche, Nissan, or Lexus, consider a yellow model if you want to retain some of its original value.
Source: iSeeCars
