Cars Painted These Colors Hold Their Value Longer

Cars sold in uncommon colors tend to hold their value better than cars wearing common or mundane hues.

Yellow cars hold their value better than cars of any other color. According to a report from iSeeCars.com that included data from 1.2 million used listings from the 2022 model year, the average car loses 31% of its value after three years on the road. Yellow cars, however, hold on to 10% more of their initial value than cars painted gold (despite the fact that they aren’t too far from one another on the color wheel). Other uncommon colors also tend to hold their value better than average.

“Yellow and orange have been among the best colors for retained value since iSeeCars began tracking depreciation by color,” said iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. “These are not widely popular colors, but they have more demand than supply, and that translates to higher value on the used market.”

The results are a little different with pickup trucks, but still hold a similar pattern. Orange (16.0%) and green (19.3%) perform the highest, followed by gray (24.5%), brown (25.9%) and blue (26.2%). SUVs, which make up the largest percentage of vehicle sales in the United States, also do well in colorful hues, led by orange (27.1%). Green (28.8), yellow (30.2), beige (30.7) and red (31.4) SUVs also perform well on the used market.

“While orange and yellow may be a bit much for many SUV buyers, the second-best color for value retention, green, is pretty tame by comparison,” said Brauer. “Green might be an excellent option for SUV shoppers looking to retain value.”

Green isn’t so popular with four-door sedan buyers, though. Orange (25.3%) again takes the lead for the sedan market, and yellow (24.4%), beige (27.8%), silver (28.0%) and red (28.3%) rounding out the top five. Green (33.8%) was the second worst color for sedan resale value, just in front of gold (37.9%). “Apparently used sedan buyers don’t appreciate a green vehicle,” said Brauer. “New car buyers should keep this in mind when ordering their next sedan.”

Green is apparently a controversial hue, as the color led the minivan segment’s resale value list. Green minivans lost, on average, just 15.3% of their value. That’s an amazing figure considering the segment average, color disregarded, sits at 40.9%. Brown (21.3%), silver (29.2%), red (30.5%) and blue (36.4%) also performed higher than average.

The average coupe lost 22.6% of its initial value after three years, but yellow (14.5%) coupes again fared the best. Orange (18.4%), blue (19.0%), silver (20.1%) and red (21.1%) rounded out the top five. Convertible buyers again favor bright shades, led by orange (19.8%) and yellow (21.4%). Green (27.4%), blue (29.3%) and red (29.6%) made up the remainder of the top five colors for convertibles.

“If you’re driving a convertible, you’ve already chosen a higher-visibility vehicle type,” said Brauer. “Go ahead and get a brightly colored model, put the top down, and revel in your ‘center-of-attention’ status.”

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