White cars safest, but lose value faster

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

  • White cars have fewer accidents
  • Pale cars have less severe accidents, too
  • Re-sale values can be up to £500 less

White cars are more likely to avoid an accident - and to have less severe ones if they do occur

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The colour of your car has a direct impact on the likelihood of you being involved in a crash, according to new research.

However, the downside is that the safest colour, white, may lose you money when you come to sell your car on.

The RAC Foundation research was carried out in Australia and analysed vehicle-to-vehicle crashes between 1987 and 2004 that resulted in death, injury or the vehicle being towed away. Vehicle type and light conditions were also taken into account.

White cars were found to be the safest, particularly during daylight hours.

However, colours lower on the visibility index such as black, blue, grey, green, red and silver were up to 12% more likely to be at risk of being involved in an accident.

The severity of accidents involving cars painted in more visible colours was also found to be less.

However, the UK's top-selling car colours are also those that are most likely to be involved in a crash.

Silver is the best-selling new car colour, followed by black, blue, grey and red.