Study Says Men and Women Like Different Car Colors

Sometimes going for the gold isn’t a good idea. Gold-colored cars rank low in residual values.

Steve Finlay, Contributing Editor

November 27, 2013

1 Min Read
Orange not popular with either gender
Orange not popular with either gender.

Men and women are different in many ways, including which car colors they prefer.

Men have a stronger preference for red cars than do women by 12.3%, for orange cars by 11.8% and for black cars by 9.6%.

Conversely, women have a stronger preference for silver cars than do men by 9.2%, brown cars by 9.1% and gold cars by 7.3%.

That’s according to a first-of-its-kind study by iSeeCars, a used-car listing website. The firm tracked and analyzed the colors and types of cars male and female website visitors seriously inquired about.

“It’s one thing to say you like a car color, and another to actually move forward in the used-car shopping process to contact the seller about that color car,” says iSeeCars CEO Phong Ly.

Among the top color choices by men, red and black are the most popular colors for used sports cars. White, fourth most-preferred by men than women, is the most popular hue for pickup trucks. 

Orange, an uncommon color option representing only 0.4% of 30 million used-car listings, adorns sports cars and coupes more than any other model.

For women’s car color choices, used minivans, sedans and wagons are the most popular car types for silver. Brown and gold/beige are not common car colors, only making up about 4% of the listings. But those colors are on more minivans and SUVs than other types of vehicle.

For average used car prices, black cars ($21,719), white cars ($20,026) and brown cars ($20,019) ranked the highest. The lowest: green cars ($13,194), beige cars ($14,472) and gold cars ($14,953).

The average price of the cars for the colors women preferred is about 8% less than those favored by men.

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About the Author

Steve Finlay

Contributing Editor

Steve Finlay is a former longtime editor for WardsAuto. He writes about a range of topics including automotive dealers and issues that impact their business.

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