Worst Car Colors to Buy for Resale

Quick Facts About Worst Colors Selling Used Cars

• Uncommon exterior colors sometimes offer better resale value than mainstream colors due to supply and demand.
• Some studies suggest dark-colored cars have a higher accident risk compared to light-colored ones.
• Certain colors, such as black and blue, are harder to keep clean, while gray and silver tones hide dirt and imperfections well.

Selecting a car color is a personal preference. Still, car buyers should be mindful that their choice might cause their vehicle to depreciate more than another color when they resell.

The exterior color of the car you choose can also affect your safety and how easy it is to keep it looking clean. Read on to learn which colors provide the best car resale value and the worst color car to buy.

To get to the worst vehicle colors when you sell your car, we’ll uncover some other issues surrounding color-related depreciation.

• Do Vehicle Colors Affect Resale Value?
• Which Car Colors to Avoid?
• Do Common Colors Resell Well?
• Car Colors and Their Average Depreciation Value
• What Car Colors Are More Prone to Accidents?
• What Car Colors Are Hardest to Keep Clean?
• Bottom Line on Worst Vehicle Colors for Resale

Do Vehicle Colors Affect Resale Value?

A vehicle’s exterior color is its most noticeable feature. Not surprisingly, car color is among the primary considerations following make and model when shopping for a new ride.

It might be surprising that mainstream colors such as black, white, and silver have broad appeal because buyers assume other buyers prefer them. While those three shades win the car color popularity contest, vehicles sporting more obscure colors, like the 2021 and 2022 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon 4XE in Tuscadero Pink, sometimes offer better car resale value than those with standard paint colors.

If you plan to sell your car privately, its color may be an essential factor to consider. We’ll have to wait to see how used car buyers in a few years respond to some of the more colorful models in the new car market in 2025, such as the Bright Moss Green Volkswagen Taos, Molten Magenta Metallic Ford Mustang, and Neoteric Yellow Hyundai Kona.

Which Car Colors to Avoid?

PPG Industries is one of the leading suppliers of paints and coatings to the global auto industry. The company produced detailed reports on color popularity for years. You’ll notice patterns when browsing previous annual reports. Greyscale colors are consistently in demand year after year. Reds and blues are often safe bets. Colors outside that range are rarely popular. Supply and demand principles govern the used car marketplace.

Another supplier, BASF, shows similar results in its 2024-2025 Automotive Color Trends report. White, the most popular color in North America, along with other achromatic colors—black, silver, and gray—make up about 80% of the automotive color palette. With that in mind, you’ll want to avoid some hues unless they appeal to you personally so much that you don’t mind the depreciation hit.

The BASF analysis is based on automotive production and paint color application. The report shows the least common car colors are green, violet, and beige, each found on about 1% of vehicles.

Do Common Colors Resell Well?

Car color is just one of many attributes that buyers must consider. The worst car color might not matter as much when it’s on an otherwise desirable model with plenty of other features buyers seek. And remember, some colors work well with specific models but not others. A sports car with flashy green paint might look fantastic, while a minivan in the same color might not be as attractive.

The most common exterior colors of automobiles rank in the middle of vehicle depreciation surveys by color. Because there are so many silver, white, and black cars on the market, potential buyers have more cars from which to choose. The BASF report shows this paint color breakdown for recent models:

Source: BASF

The color experts at BASF say lighter shades are getting more popular, taking market share from gray. More choices have effects pigments to give car exteriors intensity and excitement.

Are Popular Colors Easier to Resell?

Mainstream colors such as black, white, and silver appeal broadly and can make a car easier to sell when the time comes. Standard vehicle colors rank in the middle of car depreciation lists by color because potential buyers have a larger inventory to choose from.

Car Colors and Their Average Depreciation Value

Auto manufacturers produce more vehicles with grayscale and neutral exteriors. A smaller supply of bold-colored paint jobs helps create a greater demand and less depreciation.

A few relatively new, unusual colors are available on the used car market. A spokesperson from BASF tells us that purple, yellow, gold, and orange are the colors dealers are least likely to keep in stock. However, “people who buy these colors seem to keep their vehicles for a long time. It’s a smaller demographic that was probably more active in choosing that color, so they want to keep it for a longer time because they love it.”

What Colors Are More Prone to Accidents?

Statistically, color doesn’t affect car resale value too much. Today’s sellers can easily access nationwide auto sales listings and can market to buyers seeking a particular color they find attractive.

What drastically reduces a car’s value is damage. Statistics from Australia’s Monash University Accident Research Centre show an association between vehicle color and accident risk. Several years ago, it found that in a white vehicle, you have a 12% lesser chance of accident involvement than a black vehicle in all types of weather and lighting.

Put simply: Light-colored cars are easier to see on the road than dark-colored vehicles.

• Black has the highest crash risk (12%) relative to white
• Grey 11% higher risk
• Silver 10% higher risk
• Blue 7% higher risk
• Red 7% higher risk

What Colors Are Hardest to Keep Clean?

Deciding the best or worst car color is a personal choice that depends on who makes the selection. For sure, some vehicles have worse colors than others at hiding imperfections such as scratches, dents, and dirt.

• Black: Sleek black looks amazing on almost any car. But the color is a double-edged sword. Black cars look best when fresh from the car wash. However, it will likely get covered with pollen, dirt, and dust in just a few minutes.
• Blue: This color is rising in popularity but is harder to keep clean. Blues tend to show water spots easily. Scratches and swirl marks also appear quickly with this color.
• Gray: This color is easiest to clean, according to various studies. Dirt and dust can hide nicely on these surfaces and look cleaner for longer.
• Green: Green cars are easy to keep looking cleaner longer. However, the color shows imperfections more easily than gray, silver, and white.
• Orange: This bright color not only commands attention but it’s easy to clean.
• Red: This flashy car color hides mud easier than other colors but becomes dull if dirty.
• Silver: Like gray, silver hides dust and dirt longer. They also tend to hide mud buildup near the rocker panels of cars.
• White: This color is also in the easy-to-care-for group, but white tends to show mud and splashes easier than gray and silver. However, it hides swirl marks from automatic car washes and tends to look newer for longer.
• Yellow: This car color stands out on roadways but hides dust and pollen. However, yellows emphasize mud splashes when you find yourself driving in the rain.
• Gold: The same reason why yellow is hard to keep clean is also why gold is. Like orange, a gold-colored car makes a bold statement.

Bottom Line on Worst Vehicle Colors for Resale

Car color significantly impacts resale value, safety, and maintenance. While uncommon hues, like pink and orange, may retain value better because of niche demand, grayscale colors (black, white, silver) face midrange depreciation but dominate the roads. Some research suggests that black and dark gray shades increase accident risk by 10% or more compared to light colors. Avoid low-demand colors like plain brown and dull green for resale. Balancing aesthetics with safety, upkeep, and depreciation helps ensure a smarter long-term choice.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated since its initial publication.