It seems like a pretty simple concept, doesn’t it? You buy your new car, and you’re asked by the car salesman, “what color would you like?” You might pick your favorite color – maybe blue, or a hideous shade of pink if you’re Nicki Minaj, or you’ll pick silver because you think you should play it safe.
But there’s a little bit more to picking the color of your car than that. The color could be the difference between having a seriously hot car and one that looks like it has a disease.
Let’s take the completely insane and rare Lamborghini Veneno, for example. When that car showed up in its dark grey hue, it looked very mad but not particularly good. There was just something not quite right about it.
Now, however, there’s a new version. And it hasn’t got a roof, it’s called the Veneno Roadster. It’s red. And my god, is it a good-looking machine. The lack of a roof could have something to do with the Veneno Roadster’s cool look, but I think it mostly comes down to the fact that it’s red. The color just suits the car so well:
But what about if we’re talking about the cars that we average Joes might actually be able to afford? This is where it gets interesting. If you go to, say, a BMW dealership and tell the salesman with the slick hair and cheap suit that you’d like a 3 Series with a purple roof, red wheels, and blue window tint, he’ll tell you you’re mad. Indeed, he might be right, but is it his decision to tell you what color car you can and can’t have?
Obviously, I’m being silly; no one buys a car with a purple roof, red wheels, and blue window tint. Hopefully, but if you want a white car with a beige interior, you’ll be urged to reconsider your choice. Reason being, BMW thinks that when you go to trade your white with beige interior BMW in for a new Bimmer in a few years time, it’ll be difficult to sell your now old car on to another customer. It’s the same story at Mercedes and probably Audi as well. So they’re forced to drop the price to get rid of the white with beige interior 3 Series, which means its resale value is poor compared to the obvious black on the black color combo.
Apparently, the color of your car can even change what people think of you! I just thought this was all a bit of psychological nonsense dreamt up by some science chap with fuzzy hair and a patchy beard, but apparently, this is actually a real thing. I won’t list all of the colors and their meanings because, well, you’ll probably doze off, so I’ll just mention the interesting ones:
Brown: powerful and unique – I don’t understand that either
Gold: glamorous – sorry, but a gold Toyota Camry is anything but glamorous
Grey: sober – or boring
Red: dynamic and outgoing
White: pure
Orange: unique. And I think it goes without saying that if you have orange hair, you can’t have an orange car because that’ll just look weird.
So, the color of your car can mean the difference between a good-looking car or one that looks about as nice as a Fiat Multipla (pictured above). Color can affect your resale value and whether people think you’re ‘pure’ or grey as well. So choose carefully.
This is a guest post by Aiden Taylor, Editor and Community Manager at Carhoots.com
