These Are Best Colors To Fight Depreciation, One Actually Helps Resale Values To Climb

PPG released their annual Automotive Color Report earlier this year and it found the three most popular car colors in North America were silver / gray, white, and black.

However, automakers offer an assortment of other colors and a study from iSeeCars sought to see which ones have the greatest impact on depreciation. Unsurprisingly, it found that popular colors – such as white, black, and silver – have a minimal impact on depreciation as they don’t hurt resale value, but also won’t help to maintain a vehicle’s value either.

According to the study, the average vehicle depreciates 15% after three years and silver models lose about 14.8% of their value in that time period. This increases to 15.5% for white vehicles and 16.1% for those painted black.

Also Read: These Are The Most Popular Automotive Colors In America And Around The World

The color with the lowest depreciation (and in some cases even appreciation) was yellow. Vehicles painted the color of the sun typically lose 4.5% of their value after three years, but yellow SUVs actually gained 2.7% in value. The latter is interesting, but iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer explained “The Jeep Wrangler and the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited comprise the vast majority of mainstream yellow SUVs and these popular vehicles have been selling at prices above MSRP, even after three years of use.”

Putting that anomaly aside, orange was the second best color in terms of depreciation as vehicles sporting that vibrant hue only lost 10.7% of their value after three years. That low number can likely be chalked up to orange’s use on sports cars and limited editions such as the 2023 Toyota GR86 Special Edition.

Rounding out the top five spots were purple (13.9%), red (14.0%), and green (14.0%). At the opposite end of the spectrum, golden models lose 16.7% of their value after three years while brown models drop 17.8%.

However, these values vary by body style as beige is best for truck resale values while purple is a winning color for sedans. Yellow comes out on top for SUVs and convertibles, while orange coupes keep their resale value the best.

According to Brauer, “A vehicle’s color is among the primary considerations after shoppers have decided on a make and model. With depreciation being the largest cost of vehicle ownership, consumers should carefully consider their color choice–especially if they plan on selling their vehicle.”