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Does the Color of an HD Pickup Make a Difference?

Dadoffourgirls
Explorer
Explorer
I am contemplating if I order a 3500 CC Silverado LTZ. If I do, I plan to sell the truck in a year. When you shop for your truck, is color important? I do not want black, my wife said no to white or bright red. She said blue until she saw the HD in blue. I had built an order with Cherry Red, but was now thinking about Silver or going with the new Greenstone metallic. I have not seen the Greenstone in person, and the two that were at dealers have both been sold and the dealer does not have a real picture of the vehicle.

Does the color matter?
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ktmrfs
Explorer
Explorer
If I am buying a new or used vehicle yes, NO black, white, silver. As far as resale value or time to sell I suspect color doesn't have much effect. Obviously lots of people like the colors I don't like based on colors I see.
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NRALIFR
Explorer
Explorer
atreis wrote:
But how many of the trucks were beige? It's not the total size of the sample, but the size of the sample of each color for each type of vehicle that matters.

And as someone else pointed out, what's "beige" exactly? Does off-white count? It doesn't to me! That's just a shade of white.


It would matter if you were trying to find out something unique to beige vehicles, but when youโ€™re looking for the effect color has on depreciation and resale value (something thatโ€™s common across all vehicles), you count how many of each color are in the total sales for the time period being analyzed. Setting an arbitrary sample size for each color would defeat the purpose of the study, since supply and demand play a definite role in resale values for all colors.

My take is that supply and demand for white, black, and silver are balanced for most vehicle types. There is little to no effect on the used value of a vehicle in those colors.

Apparently, whatever you want to define as beige and yellow for particular vehicles are not in balance regarding supply and demand. The demand is higher than available supply, so they command a higher price. The same can be said for beige, gold and brown on other vehicle types, but for them, the supply/demand relationship would be flipped.

In the case of trucks, Iโ€™m quite certain that the number of white work trucks sold is responsible for that color ending up in the number 2 spot. But as I said, look at the difference in depreciation between the number 1 and number 2 colors. That says thereโ€™s a huge supply, and equal to slightly lower demand.

As for how you define โ€œbeigeโ€, it doesnโ€™t matter as long as you use the same sorting criteria for new sales and used sales.

Now that you mention it, I used to own a vehicle that was variously described as โ€œwhiteโ€, โ€œoff-whiteโ€, โ€œcreamโ€, and โ€œbeigeโ€, depending on whether it was the DMV, my insurance company, a LEO, or a friend doing the describing. I loved that color, and would buy a truck painted that color today, so I guess I WOULD buy a โ€œbeigeโ€ truck after all.

:):)
2001 Lance 1121 on a 2016 F450 โ€˜Scuse me while I whinge.
And for all you Scooby-Doo and Yosemite Sam typesโ€ฆโ€ฆโ€ฆ..Letโ€™s Go Brandon!!!

atreis
Explorer
Explorer
NRALIFR wrote:
โ€œsix million new and used cars between 2017 to 2020โ€

Doesnโ€™t sound small to me.


But how many of the trucks were beige? It's not the total size of the sample, but the size of the sample of each color for each type of vehicle that matters.

And as someone else pointed out, what's "beige" exactly? Does off-white count? It doesn't to me! That's just a shade of white.
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Curly2001
Explorer
Explorer
I think solid white with no metal flake is the best for resale as well as damage repair. It is easier to color match without needing to match the direction of the metal flake.
Curly
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RetiredRealtorR
Explorer
Explorer
2012Coleman wrote:
My 2017 Ram 2500 was a white Bighorn. Took it to the dealership and had them paint the silver two-tone option. Looked pretty sweet.


You're absolutely right.

When I was in the business, many a time did we buy or take in on trade a solid white truck that looked like a commercial vehicle, and 2-toned (usually the rocker panels) in silver or champagne gold, then laid a wide double pinstripe on it at the beltline, matching the 2-tone color, and they literally flew off the lot (and brought more $$ as well). It turned' plain Janes' into very classy looking trucks.
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Groover
Explorer II
Explorer II
atreis wrote:
Beige ........ Small sample size? White yes, but not beige ...


Ford used to have both a bright white and a very slightly tan white. I wonder if the slightly tan white qualified as beige. It was a close match to the Chrysler spinnaker white from the 60's and 70's. I had Ford and Chrysler products in the off-color white and found them very easy to keep up. Didn't fade and didn't show dirt nearly as much as most colors.

2012Coleman
Explorer
Explorer
My 2017 Ram 2500 was a white Bighorn. Took it to the dealership and had them paint the silver two-tone option. Looked pretty sweet.
Experience without good judgment is worthless; good judgment without experience is still good judgment!

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RetiredRealtorR
Explorer
Explorer
Bionic Man wrote:
Look at the average price listed for SUVs. Seems way low to me. Which makes me question the overall data. And the top 4 colors listed for cars are all ones I wouldnโ€™t buy.

I donโ€™t believe the data.


1. The average SUV price looks very accurate to me. For every $60,000+ unnecessarily large SUV that's sold, I'll bet 4 or 5 Kia Souls, Ford EcoSports, or Hyundai Venues are sold. It all averages out.

2. If you don't believe it, then it can't possibly be true, right? :h
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toedtoes
Explorer II
Explorer II
Per the website:

iSeeCars.com analyzed over 5.6 million sales of new model year 2017 cars between January and July of 2017, and over 700 thousand sales of used cars from the same model year between January and July of 2020

I suspect the data is faulty since COVID was in full swing for the "sales of used cars...between January and July of 2020".

Also, looking at new sales between Jan and Jul 2017 for model year 2017 wouldn't take in the higher paid prices for many of the "exotic" colors that would be custom ordered. Yet, the used sales between Jan and Jul 2020 would include those custom ordered vehicles. So that would skew the resale values also.
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Bionic_Man
Explorer
Explorer
Look at the average price listed for SUVs. Seems way low to me. Which makes me question the overall data. And the top 4 colors listed for cars are all ones I wouldnโ€™t buy.

I donโ€™t believe the data.
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NRALIFR
Explorer
Explorer
โ€œsix million new and used cars between 2017 to 2020โ€

Doesnโ€™t sound small to me.

Yellow doesnโ€™t actually surprise me. The bright shades are very exciting and attractive. I see it rarely, but it always catches my eye. I can see myself owning the right vehicle in that color, including a truck.

But beige, never.

:):)
2001 Lance 1121 on a 2016 F450 โ€˜Scuse me while I whinge.
And for all you Scooby-Doo and Yosemite Sam typesโ€ฆโ€ฆโ€ฆ..Letโ€™s Go Brandon!!!

atreis
Explorer
Explorer
Beige ........ Small sample size? White yes, but not beige ...
2021 Four Winds 26B on Chevy 4500

NRALIFR
Explorer
Explorer
TBH, the idea that anyone would pay a premium for a vehicle because itโ€™s white, black, or silver just doesnโ€™t sound plausible to me.

Why? Because if you include gray, those four colors comprise over 50% of the vehicles being bought and sold today. That doesnโ€™t say โ€œpremiumโ€ to me. It says โ€œcommonโ€, โ€œmainstreamโ€, โ€œaverageโ€ and โ€œsafeโ€. Those colors neither add nor detract from the value of a used car.

Because there are so many of them, the chances are very good that youโ€™ll be able to find one with the options you MUST have in a color you like. Thatโ€™s a buyers market, not a sellers.

There are definitely some awful colors that DO hurt the resale value (fluorescent green and purple come to mind), but white, black, and silver are the very definition of โ€œaverageโ€.

โ€œAfter comparing the prices of more than six million new and used cars between 2017 to 2020, iSeeCars.com has determined which colors help, hurt, or have minimal impact on a vehicleโ€™s resale value.โ€

This first chart is for all vehicle types. The color associated with the lowest depreciation: yellow.



This chart is for SUVโ€™s. Again, the number one color with the lowest depreciation: yellow



This chart is for trucks. Itโ€™s the only one that surprised me. The top color: beige (are you freaking kidding me???)

White is number 2, but itโ€™s a full 10% higher depreciation than beige.



OP, you shoulda bought a beige truck. :R

:):)
2001 Lance 1121 on a 2016 F450 โ€˜Scuse me while I whinge.
And for all you Scooby-Doo and Yosemite Sam typesโ€ฆโ€ฆโ€ฆ..Letโ€™s Go Brandon!!!

cummins2014
Explorer
Explorer
MFL wrote:
cummins2014 wrote:
FlatBroke wrote:
Iโ€™ve had one black vehicle in my life. That was about thirty years ago. Iโ€™ll never have a black one again.



I can't say that, had a black 1959 Corvette I would take back .


One black truck for me. One and done!

Who would own a 59 Vette, and get rid of it!!:E

Jerry


In 1970 is wasnโ€™t valued like it is today . I knew lot of guys that had and sold those old Vettes .They were quite a few around . Didnโ€™t realize what I had , wish I had . It sat on a used car lot for months that I drove by every day . Finally I guess Iโ€™m the only one that was interested in it . Bought it in 1968 . Iโ€™ve had several cars built in the 50โ€™s , there were a couple of them I wish I still had .