Hi all
in the UK at least I ask are we becoming too conservative for our own good when it comes to picking a colour for a car?
The vast majority seem to be black or silver and any shade between. True there are a sprinkling of electric blues and still an occasional red but not much else.

I myself chose silver but purely for economical reasons. The choice of colours for my car was silver or a dirty petrol blue shade at a Auto supermarket. I really wanted a red one but that would have been nearly £3500 more at the main dealers.

The fact is its really hard these days picking out your car from the sea of black and greys at the car park.

Any views?

Cheers
Peter

You have to look at this from an economic point of view. Many of the flashy, trendy colors will look very dated in a short while. This will make a car that is only a few years old look "so yesterday", especially when you are trying to sell it later.

Additionally, many cars are listed online. Years ago, buyers looked for cars in their neighborhoods and perhaps a nearby town or city. Today it is possible to find a car a few hundred miles away that may be several thousand dollars cheaper than the exact same car model bought locally. To many folks, it is acceptable to own a more sedate color of the expensive car you want.

It makes more sense to produce these "off the shelf" colors in larger quantities so they are available to a wider market. This is why you end up seeing many of the more traditional colored cars (like black, silver, white or shades in between) than the flashier colors.

Hi Sabot,
I understand what you are saying but I think it may go even a little deeper than that.

I read a report that when the mood of a Nation was pessimistic, the choice of car colours tended to 'dull down', whereas times of optimisim people bought cars in brighter colours.

And the trade reports now that there are so so many silver-grey-black cars, there is a resale price advantage for, say, a red one or one of a more non graphite shade. There are so many silver ones they are ten a penny.
I'm not saying a car in candy pink will fetch top price at resale of course.

Cheers
Peter

Part of the problem is buying in order to resell. If people would buy cars and/ or houses to keep, other choices could/ would be made.

However, it thrills me to see that yellow and orange are available as a color again nowadays.

Still not like it was in the 50's, 60's and 70's when pretty much everything was possible ( and you'd be suprised how many pink cars from the 50's are still around ).

No doubt it is better to buy a color that would appeal to the most people when resale time comes. I've never looked at it that way though. I've bought the color that I wanted at the time. Most times though, it was red, blue or black. I can't stand the silver color which seems to predominate in my area. This last time though when I went shopping, I wanted something new and different. I ended up with this little jewel in Sunburst Orange of all colors.