UK buyers who make an unwise colour choice when purchasing a new upper-medium prestige car (e.g. BMW 3 series, Audi A4, Mercedes C-class) could face as much as an extra £2,500 in depreciation after one year and 12,000 miles, according to used car pricing experts Glass’s.
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In residual value terms, the best performing colour in the upper-medium prestige sector is now metallic black. Silver used to hold the top spot, but the large number of silver prestige cars on UK roads has meant the colour has now fallen back, albeit to a level that still commands a monetary benefit over most other metallic colours.
“The average one-year-old metallic black upper-medium prestige car is now worth around £200 more than silver,” said Richard Crosthwaite, prestige car editor at Glass’s. “At the other end of the spectrum, an upper-medium prestige car in white typically has a trade value up to £2,500 less than a car of the same specification in silver.”
The impact of colour on residual values can be even greater in other prestige car sectors. For example, depreciation figures is around 20% greater in the large executive car sector (e.g. BMW 5 series, Mercedes E-class, Audi A6).
“There are some extreme examples of how much money can be lost through poor colour choice,” said Crosthwaite. “Buy a luxury roadster, such as a Mercedes SL-Class or Porsche 911, in white and you can easily expect a trade value after 12 months that is £5,000 lower than if it was specified in a desirable metallic.”
There are exceptions to some of the general rules regarding the impact of paint colour on prestige car values.
“The values of flat red on certain sports cars may perform better than on conventional saloons, because buyers feel the colour is more suited to the character of the car,” Crosthwaite noted.
