Does a car's color determine its resale value? This report says it does

Depending on the color, a car's depreciation value could double within three years, a trend that affects national and Seattle drivers, according to a new report.

The trend goes against what some people would think. Safe, neutral colors would appear to be better choices, but a study from automotive research firm iSeeCars.com found that more obscure colors retained their value.

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iSeeCars executive analyst Karl Brauer chalked this up as a self-fulfilling prophecy. As people believe certain colors are safer, they pick them because they believe everyone else will like them -- even if they don't.

“This makes white, black, and silver appear to be in high demand, yet our analysis confirms that more obscure colors tend to hold their value better than common and popular colors,” Brauer said.

This is why colors like yellow and orange, which are commonly seen on limited production vehicles, dominated the top of the rankings.

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“Like yellow, orange is most often found on low-volume sports and muscle cars,” Brauer said. “Orange is such a novel color that it is often the choice for popular special edition vehicles, like the 30th edition Mazda MX-5 Miata, which are typically limited production vehicles.”

To find the results, iSeeCars analyzed the prices of more than six million new and used cars between 2017 to 2020. They ranked 13 colors based on a three-year depreciation value. Out of the 13, five were above the national average for depreciation, which was 37.6% over three years.

To see which colors retain their value the best, keep scrolling.