With all the safety features in modern vehicles, you probably wouldn’t even consider “paint color” to be important – but it is. Your vehicle’s color may be a reflection of your personal preferences – or, maybe, it just happened to be what was available when you were ready to buy.
That being said, you should understand how your vehicle’s color contributes to your chances of an accident. Here’s what you should know:
High-contrast colors are the key
If you want to be on the safe side, pick a vehicle that’s white, cream, yellow, orange or gold. While these tend to be the least popular color choices for vehicles, they’re distinctly less likely to be an accident than their darker counterparts.
It’s all about contrast. Bright colors are more visible in both daylight and darkness. White, off-white and cream shades offer the best contrast against gray roads and both urban and rural surroundings – especially in transitional light (dusk or dawn) or when it is raining.
Colors that can be difficult to see
By comparison, silver, gray and black vehicles – which are the three most popular colors – are inherently difficult to see in any condition. Black cars are 12% more likely overall to end up in a crash than white ones and a whopping 47% more likely to be involved in crashes around dusk or dawn.
Gray vehicles don’t fare much better. Silver vehicles may seem safer to a lot of people because they’re lighter, but they are 10% more likely to end up in an accident than white vehicles. Similarly, you may want to eschew blue, green and red vehicles, as well. Most of the shades on the market (even for red cars) are muted in a way that makes them harder to spot in low light.
If you’re in the market for a new vehicle and you have safety in mind, this is just one more thing to consider. If you do end up in a collision, however, make sure that you learn everything you can about your right to fair compensation for your losses.