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Yellow Best Car Color For Resale Value, Study Finds

Amidst the sea of whites, greys and blacks that currently dominate the vehicle color spectrum, paint colors like red, yellow and blue certainly stand out. Now, a new study has found that yellow vehicles generally boast the best resale value.

According to a report from iSeeCars, vehicles painted in yellow feature the lowest three-year depreciation figures, standing at 60 percent less than the average vehicle. This equates to a $6,588 loss of value during the same timeframe, while the average stands around $9,674.

Front-three-quarter photo of 2023 Corvette Z06 painted in Accelerate Yellow Metallic paint.

“Yellow cars continue to represent the greatest disparity between how many are produced and how many people want one,” iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer was quoted as saying. “While not many people want a yellow car, there are clearly more people who want one than exist, which is why yellow performs so well on the secondary market. The same can be said of orange and green, colors you don’t see often but are obviously in higher demand than supply.”

Notably, General Motors offers quite a few vehicles in some shade of yellow. However, with that in mind, it’s more likely to find the luminous color on high-value vehicles like the Corvette rather than an entry-level crossover like the Chevy Trax.

Model Color Name Color Code
Cadillac CT4-V Cyber Yellow Metallic GCP
Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing Cyber Yellow Metallic GCP
Cadillac CT5-V Cyber Yellow Metallic GCP
Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing Cyber Yellow Metallic GCP
Chevrolet Blazer Nitro Yellow Metallic GCP
Chevrolet Camaro Nitro Yellow Metallic GCP
Chevrolet Colorado Nitro Yellow Metallic GCP
Chevrolet Corvette Accelerate Yellow Metallic GD0
Chevrolet Trailblazer Nitro Yellow Metallic GHS
Chevrolet Trax Nitro Yellow Metallic GHS
GMC Canyon Solar Flare Metallic GCP

It’s worth noting that yellow is a new color offering for the 2024 Chevy Camaro, 2024 Cadillac CT4-V, 2024 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing, 2024 Cadillac CT5-V, and 2024 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing. Furthermore, the table doesn’t include fleet orders for the Chevy Express, GMC Savana, Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra, all of which are available with yellow paint.

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As a typical Florida Man, Trey is a certified GM nutjob who's obsessed with anything and everything Corvette-related.

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Comments

  1. The only problem is you eliminate 90% of the possible buyers.

    Reply
  2. I much prefer the yellow from Corvette Racing, a much better tint than the current greenish yellow currently available.

    Reply
  3. No, it is not. I’ve been dealing with cars and colors for nearly 50 years and yellow has never been a best seller. I ordered a yellow Suburban back in ’93 when the Sport Truck thing was huge and altho I did that custom ST thing to it, I had a very hard time reselling it. My next Sub was White and even with big customization, it sold quickly. As a 45-year custom pinstriper doing every color vehicle on earth, yellow was never a good seller on cars and trucks. Yes, yellow is great in commercial advertising but a very limited number of people want that much flashiness when driving. Other terrible resale colors are golds, browns, greens, purples, etc. Now if you’re talking older hot rods and customs then yellow is a cool and popular choice.

    Reply
    1. That makes a lot of sense. Not wanting to stick out is one of the reasons so many people (myself included) won’t buy a red car anymore.

      Reply
  4. Can we agree that we need a greater color palet? Some Metal Flake Purple, Lizard Green, Bring back Metal Flake Orange, 2 or 3 more Blues. Even a nice copper or two.

    My wife is a trained designer and sadly the boring colors get the love. The dull grays, blacks, and whites. I love what VW did on their 40th yr colors, had 40 colors to choose from. Sadly I tried to order and the dealership wouldnt order the color I wanted. Great in theory HORRIBLE in exicusion.

    Reply
  5. “…the dealership wouldn’t order the color I wanted…” Wouldn’t honor your custom order request? Well, you should feel gratified if you eventually buy that brand…you won’t have to service it with that crappy dealer, as they will likely be out of business by the time your new car needs its first oil change.

    Reply
  6. My first new vehicle was painted a custom shade, the factory order was placed on the showroom floor till I picked it up , the dealer mentioned that they could of sold the vehicle four times.

    Reply

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