Which car colours are involved in the most accidents?
4 reasons why the colour of your car actually matters:
When you’re choosing a car, there are many factors to take into account. The power of the engine, the vehicle’s fuel economy and the look of your new car are all important elements that will affect your decision process.
The colour of your vehicle is undoubtedly something you’ll consider. Whether you want something professional or fun, colourful and metallic, many drivers may assume that the colour is only really an indication of personal taste.
Also read: These 7 things could be ruining your car’s paint
What if we told you, though, that the colour of your car may have more of an effect on your driving than just how you look? Here are 4 reasons why your choice of vehicle colour can be more important than you think.
Buying, selling and insuring
The colour of your car can have a big effect on price both when you’re buying and if you decide to resell.
A study by ISeeCars.com revealed that cars that are painted with brighter colours such as yellow and green tend to be cheaper on their first purchase. Not only this, but they hold their value better. This may be because of their rarity on the market.
Understandably, production is initially is smaller for these colours, meaning that when they come to be resold they’re in higher demand than more common car colours.
Philip Nothard, CEO of the Black Book, which looks at car resale prices, says that “[the] wrong colour on the wrong car can affect its potential sell-on value. If we see look at a vehicle like an R 572k BMW, for example, there could be a positive or negative swing of up to R 9000 based on colour choice.
“Popular colours such as black or silver are likely to keep the price higher than if you opt for more pastel colours. This may be different when selling a car such as a VW Beetle, a Mini, or a sports car like a Lamborgini, where brighter colours are viewed more favourably.”
According to Andrew Segal from Halo Car Insurance, there is some speculation that, in future, car colour may feature in determining insurance costs. While it may not already be a visible factor, if there is evidence that it affects elements of driving, it could soon be another.
Safety
It may not be immediately obvious, but there is evidence that car colour does correlate with accident rates. There are some indications that this has something to do with the visibility of cars on roads at different times of the day.
For example, according to research by Monash University’s Accident Research Centre, you’re 50% more likely to be involved in an accident if you drive a black car. In contrast, white, gold and yellow are deemed to be the safest.
The study included conditions such as light at the time of the crash, vehicle type, crash severity and state, using police data of over 850,000 accidents covering a 20-year period.
It found that some shades are more visible on the road than others, which goes some way to explaining why, especially at night and on dark road surfaces, black cars are less visible and can, therefore, be more prone to accidents.
Psychology and perceptions
Another element that may affect the safety of drivers and their vehicles could indeed be the perceptions that others have of them.
A study by car dealership network Trusted Dealers found that almost half (45%) of people associate at least one certain car colour with “reckless driving.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, red came first with 21% of the vote, closely followed by black on 17%.
Indeed, there are psychologists dedicated to the psychology of colour in general. According to them, the colours we choose for clothing and in our home are indications of our personality. Therefore it makes sense that these perceived ideas would also translate to the colour of our cars.
Feathered friends
Nothing is more irritating than returning to your vehicle to find it covered in bird droppings, and it can actually cause corrosion on your car. It was previously thought this was as a result of the presence of acidic elements in the droppings, but we now know it is actually because of the contracting and cooling of vehicle paint around the raised texture of bird droppings.
When it comes to car colour, a study by Halfords that was undertaken last year actually found that birds may be more attracted to certain car colours. So if you live in a coastal or inner city region that’s known for having a lot of birds, you may want to take this into account.
Red cars seem to have many downsides, including, it appears, being the most attractive to birds, making up 18% of all cars marked by droppings, with blue in second with 14%.
The colour of your car is an especially personal choice. We can spend hours a day in our vehicles so we all want to travel in something we feel good about. There are, however, some vital considerations when it comes to price and safety. With a good mix of personal style and common sense, you should find the perfect car colour, and for the right reasons.
Source: Halo Car Insurance