White is coming in from the cold, but still hits used values

After years of languishing near the bottom of the desirable used car colours list, white is at last receiving less of a frosty reaction from customers on the forecourt.

That’s the message from CAP, based on researching the views and experience of experts best placed to know what colours sell best – used car dealers themselves.

But it still spells significantly lower values than other colours in today’s used car market, according to an analysis of 49,000 recent vehicle transactions sampled by CAP Black Book, the industry’s benchmark guide to used car trade prices.

Once dubbed ’60-day white’ by motor trade professionals – a reference to the length of time a white car might remain unsold on the forecourt – dealers and other automotive experts are telling CAP that a resurgence for white is under way.

A growing number of dealers report increasing acceptance of white used cars – although they remain nowhere near as sought after by customers as cars in silver, black or many metallic finishes.

Almost half of the dealers researched by CAP for their views on retail customer colour preferences described white as ‘more popular’ today than five years ago. They also confirmed that the most popular colours remain silver, black and blue – mirroring the colours of choice for new car registrations, according to statistics from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

However, white still has a long way to go if it is to become as popular in the UK as it is in Italy, for example, where one in three cars sold new is white.

In general, car colour trends across Europe see white enjoying more popularity in the hotter, southern climates. Twenty years ago it had a 20 per cent share of the European market, leading automotive paint manufacturer BASF Coatings said in a recent CAP newsletter. In Germany, for example, this figure has fallen to below three per cent.

According to BASF Coatings, 40 per cent of retail new car customers say colour is important enough for them to consider looking at a completely different make and model if their preferred colour choice is not available.

In Britain, although white may be slowly coming in from the cold it still spells significantly lower residual values in the used car market. Experts from CAP Black Book analysed 49,000 used vehicle transactions over recent months to identify the used value variance between white and non-white cars. The average values of non-white cars on ten registration plates were indexed to 100 and then compared with the average value of white vehicles. Their findings clearly demonstrate that white still carries a penalty, depending on plate, ranging from five to more than 20 per cent.