What color cars hold their value best?
If you've ever wondered if the color of your car makes a difference in its resale value, here's the answer: yes, according to a new study from iSeeCars.com.
The average car looses 33.1 percent of its value after three years, but yellow cars are down just 27 percent over that time. Orange and green cars, loosing about 31 percent, also hold value better than average. The most popular new-car colors -- black, white and silver -- show about average depreciation.
The scarcity of cars in bright colors may have something to do with that. "Yellow cars are relatively less common, which could drive up demand and help maintain their value," said Phong Ly, CEO of iSeeCars.com. While yellow slows depreciation on convertibles and other sporty cars, it also provides the highest used-car values on SUVs and pickups.
Yellow, orange and green cars combined make up only 1.2 percent of three-year-old cars. But rarity alone doesn't account for lower depreciation. The three worst colors at holding their value -- beige, purple and gold -- combine for only 0.7 percent of all 3-year-old cars listed for sale.
Ly said it's not surprising that the most popular new-car colors show about average depreciation. "Because white, black and gray are so common, buyers can shop around more easily if they're interested in these colors, reducing the amount of pricing power for dealers."
Interestingly, colors that hold their value well aren't the fastest to sell. Yellow cars average 41.5 days on the market, orange 38.1 and green 36.2. The average car sells after being listed for 36.5 days.
To compile this research iSeeCars.com analyzed 2.1 million three-year-old used cars that sold between September 2016 and August 2017. Depreciation was calculated by comparing the used-car listed price with the original new-car manufacturer's suggested retail price.
