BCA reveals silver as the top used car colour

British Car Auctions (BCA), has published details of the most popular used car colours sold in the first three months of 2009. Once it was any colour as long as it's black - now the list stretches to some 2,000 plus shades and variations

With data covering over 125,000 vehicles, Silver took the number one position at nearly 25%, posting a 1.5-point increase since last year. Blue was toppled from the top spot, falling by two points to 21.4%.

Black gained the biggest increase in share, moving from fourth to third place and from 12.5% to nearly 18% of the total. Grey meanwhile - popular on new cars three or four years ago - leapt from seventh in 2008 to fourth in 2009, going from under 7% to over 10% of the total. But Red, a favourite in the 80's and 90's only just made it into the top five after coming third last year and dropped from 12% to 9%.

The list also features more unusual colours, as manufacturers use increasingly subtle shades to make their vehicles more appealing - Amethyst, Aluminium and Avalon, or Morello, Mulberry, Mushroom, for example, while Psychedelic Azure and Carbon Quartz typify the new generation of colours, where one word just isn't enough to convey the shade of the actual colour.

BCA's Tim Naylor commented "When it comes to colours, manufacturers are clearly flexing their artistic muscles and fashion sensibilities to deliver a bewildering choice of colours and shades. And underlining the growing numbers of women buying cars, we are also seeing softer colours and finishes such as lilac, mauve and pearlescent becoming more popular on certain models."

"Despite that, most motorists appear fairly conservative when it comes to colour with silver, blue and black dominating. With most used cars staying in the same ownership for six years or more, it makes sense to choose a colour that isn't going to date."

He added "While fashionable colours - such as the current high-impact white finishes - are very appealing now, the worry is that they can just as quickly become deeply unfashionable. In the same way, Limited Editions with over fussy colour schemes tend to date quickly."

Naylor concluded "There is of course an element of the self-fulfilling prophecy when it comes to the colours of used cars. But motorists can - and do - choose between different colours on similar models when buying used. For major vendors such as fleet operators and leasing companies, getting the right colours on the cars they purchase new will make them a lot more appealing to buyers when they are sold as used cars."

Source: Autowired

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