When shopping for a new car, one of the many decisions you’ll have to make is what color to get. While white, black and gray remain popular choices year after year, bright and vibrant colors have been making a comeback. If you’re tempted by the latest trendy hue, here are some pros and cons to consider before taking the plunge and getting a bright color car.
Pros of a Bright Color Car
There are some valid reasons you may want to go for a bolder color choice when buying your next set of wheels:
- Stand out – A bright color is guaranteed to get you noticed. If you want your car to stand out in a parking lot or make a statement cruising down the street, vibrant colors like red, yellow, orange, green or blue will do just that.
- Resale value – While very conservative colors tend to have the best resale value, certain bright shades can also help. Reds, whites and silvers often fare better than other colors when it comes time to sell or trade-in.
- Reflects personality – For many buyers, their car color is an expression of their personality. If you’re fun, energetic and outgoing, a high-visibility color can reinforce that image.
- Easier to find – A bright, uncommon shade makes your car easier to spot in parking lots. You’ll spend less time wandering around searching for where you parked.
- Customization – Vibrant colors are an easy way to customize your car and make it feel more personal. It’s a lot cheaper than adding other mods and accessories.
- uv protection – Light colors can help reflect sunlight and keep the interior slightly cooler on hot sunny days. This is especially true if you opt for a white or light yellow.
Cons of a Bright Color Car
On the other hand, going with a bright, attention-grabbing color does have some potential drawbacks:
- Shows dirt – Bright colors like white or yellow tend to show dirt, dust, road grime and imperfections more easily. This means you may have to wash your car more often.
- Maintenance – Touching up chips and scratches on a bright color can be challenging. It may be hard to perfectly color match bright shades when making repairs.
- Resale value – Vibrant colors often don’t have as strong resale value as popular neutral shades. Buyers tend to be more cautious of bright colors.
- Increased attention – A bright car will attract more attention, which can be annoying if you value privacy. You may also be targeted more by police.
- Heat absorption – Darker colors like black and red can absorb more heat from sunlight and get hotter inside. This can increase your cooling costs.
- Fading – Bright colors may be more prone to fading over time. Metallic and pearl shades can also lose their luster.
- Limited options – The brightest colors are often premium, so you’ll pay more. And fewer models/trims may be available in vibrant hues.
How Popular are Bright Color Cars?
Bright colors only make up a fraction of cars sold each year. More conservative neutral colors still dominate new car sales. Here’s a look at the most recent color popularity stats:
| Color | Percent of New Car Sales |
|---|---|
| White | 18.9% |
| Black | 18.2% |
| Gray | 15.2% |
| Silver | 14.7% |
| Red | 10.1% |
| Blue | 9.4% |
| Brown/Beige | 5.5% |
| Green | 2.1% |
| Orange | 1.8% |
| Yellow/Gold | 1.6% |
| Purple | 1.3% |
While white, black, gray and silver make up over two-thirds of new cars sold, there has been growth in vibrant colors like red, orange and yellow in recent years. So bright colors are becoming more popular, even if neutral shades still dominate overall.
Which Bright Colors Hold Value Best?
If resale value is important to you, pay attention to which bright colors tend to hold their value well vs. those that struggle.
Here are some bright color value retention highlights:
- Red – Holds value well, second only to black in some reports
- Yellow – Decent value, though lower than red
- Orange – Below average, not as strong as red or yellow
- Green – Tends to fall below average for value retention
- Blue – Slightly below average resale value for bright colors
- Purple – Often lower than average for resale value
So when looking at bright color choices, red and yellow tend to be safer bets for retaining value down the road if you decide to sell or trade-in. Orange, green, blue and purple more often struggle to hold value well when it comes time to resell your car.
Do Insurance Costs Increase with Bright Colors?
Contrary to popular belief, your choice of an eye-catching color generally won’t affect what you pay for car insurance. Insurance rates are primarily based on factors like:
- Your age
- Driving record
- Credit score
- Location
- Type of vehicle
- Miles driven
- Coverage limits and deductibles
Some insurers may include color in their risk factors when pricing policies, but any effect is minor. Rather than color, insurers are more concerned about the vehicle make, model, engine size and safety ratings. So you can choose the color you want without worrying about it increasing your insurance costs.
Safety Stats for Bright Color Cars
You may have heard that bright colors like red can be more dangerous and lead to more accidents. However, studies on this are inconclusive. While some older research showed increased crash rates for red cars, more recent studies have contradicted this:
- A 2007 New Zealand study found no connection between car color and crash rates
- In 2009, a US study determined silver cars had a higher crash rate than red
- A 2019 UK analysis also found silver cars had higher accident rates than red
The theory was that the increased visibility of bright colors could lead other drivers to pay less attention. But current safety testing standards mean all vehicle colors require a certain amount of visibility and reflectance. So modern bright color cars likely don’t carry extra safety risks.
Which Brands Offer the Most Bright Colors?
While most mainstream brands stick to common whites, blacks, grays and silvers for their volume models, certain makes offer more vibrant color choices across their lineups. Some brands known for brighter color selections include:
- Scion – Part of their youthful image was offering vivid colors on their small cars like the xB and xD.
- Fiat – Small cars like the 500 and 500L come in a rainbow of color pops like mint green, orange, red and more.
- Mini – A huge range of colors are available to match their playful personalities.
- Volkswagen Beetle – A long history of fun colors that carried over to the reborn New Beetle.
- Ford Focus RS – Offered in eye-catching hues like Nitrous Blue and Triple Yellow.
- Subaru WRX/STI – Available in unique shades like WR Blue Pearl and Hyper Blue.
- Mazda MX-5 Miata – Roof color customization allows two-tone combos like black with red or yellow.
These brands tend to offer the most vibrant, non-traditional colors across numerous models. So if you want the widest selection of bright color choices, consider cross-shopping them.
Do Bright Colors Cost More?
In most cases, YES – an eye-catching bright color will add an upcharge over common colors like white, black and silver. Here are some examples of premium charges for bright colors:
- Toyota RAV4 – Voodoo Blue costs $425 more
- Honda Civic – Rallye Red adds a $200 charge
- Ford Mustang – Grabber Yellow is $495 extra
- Hyundai Kona – Sunset Orange tacks on $200
These fees are sometimes called “color upgrade charges” by the manufacturers. So you’ll generally pay more for the privilege of having a less common bright color vs. a neutral one.
Are Certain Colors Harder to Keep Clean?
Yes, white and other light colors do tend to show dust, pollen, rain spots and road grime more easily. This means colors like white, yellow, orange and light blue may need washing more often to keep looking clean. Darker pigments like grays, blacks and browns tend to hide accumulated dirt better between washes.
Here’s how some common car colors rank for ease of keeping clean:
| Easiest Colors to Keep Clean | Hardest Colors to Keep Clean |
|---|---|
| Black | White |
| Gray | Yellow |
| Dark Blue | Orange |
| Dark Green | Light Blue |
| Brown | Light Green |
| Dark Red | Bright Red |
So weigh your desire for a light bright color against the need to wash it more frequently. Or consider opting for bright colors with darker shades like deep red or navy blue which hide dirt better.
Should I Avoid Certain Bright Colors?
A few exceptionally bright color choices do come with some extra caveats to consider:
- Gold – Can look tacky and hurt resale value. Often costs more too.
- Yellow – Shows dirt easily and industrial looking on some vehicles.
- Orange – Not offered widely and tends to hurt resale value most.
- Lime Green – Very bold choice that won’t appeal to many buyers when reselling.
- Purple – Less versatile and often costs more than other colors.
While personal color preference is subjective, many buyers do shy away from the boldest bright colors. So picking hues like a deeper red, blue or green may be a safer bet with wider appeal.
Should I Wrap Instead of Painting?
Vehicle wraps have become a popular alternative to painting for temporarily changing the color of a car. Benefits of wrapping vs. painting include:
- Lower cost – Wraps range $2,000-$5,000 vs. $3,000-$7,000 for a quality repaint.
- Removable – When you want to change the color again, wraps can be removed with no damage to the original paint.
- Protects paint – Vinyl wraps add a protective layer and prevent paint fading.
- Changeable – You can switch to different wraps for a whole new color once or twice a year.
However, wraps do have some downsides:
- Shorter lifespan – Wraps last roughly 5 years vs. paint that can last decades.
- Less shiny – Paint has a deeper, glossier shine while wraps have a flatter look.
- Less color selection – Paint allows endless bespoke color choices while wraps have a more limited palette.
- Overspray – Removing wraps can leave residue requiring paint touch up in crevices.
For a temporary bright color change, wraps can make sense. But for a permanent recolor with maximum shine, quality paint is still the best option.
Should I Lease Instead?
Leasing a car rather than buying can be a smart temporary option if you want a bright color but are unsure about long term appeal and resale value. Benefits of leasing include:
- Lower monthly payments – You only pay for the vehicle’s depreciation, not the full price.
- Always driving a new car – Upgrade to a different color and model every 2-3 years.
- No resale value worries – The leasing company assumes any losses on the car’s value.
- Predictable costs – Lease payments, fuel, insurance are all fixed monthly expenses.
Downsides of leases can include:
- Mileage limits – Typical leases have 10-15k annual mileage caps.
- Wear-and-tear fees – You can be charged for any dents, dings or excess interior wear.
- No equity – You don’t build any eventual ownership stake leasing like you would buying.
- Extra fees – Excess mileage, early termination and disposition fees can add major costs.
Leasing a bright color car you’re unsure of keeping long term gives flexibility. But buying can make sense if you drive more miles or like building equity in a vehicle.
Conclusion
Bright color cars certainly make a bold styling statement and help your ride stand out. But bolder hues still have limited mass-market appeal. If you’re willing to sacrifice some resale value and don’t mind the attention, today’s paint technologies allow even the wildest colors to hold up well in terms of durability. Just be prepared to pay extra and limit color choices to deeper, darker shades for broader appeal. Or consider wraps or leases if you want bright colors temporarily before eventually going neutral. At the end of the day, choose the color that makes you smile rather than what’s theoretically in demand or safest for resale.