5 things to consider when choosing your car colour.
Everyone hates finding their car covered in bird droppings, so which car colours do birds choose? Halfords research of 1,140 vehicles indicated that red ones topped the table as bird toilets (18%) with blue cars coming in second (14%) and green cars the lowest (1%).
In terms of damage to paintwork it seems to matter which birds are defecating on your car. According to car polish experts at Autoglym, seed eating birds such as pigeons produce droppings with a grainy texture which is the most damaging for car paintwork.
Looking for a colour that won't show the dirt? Top-gear tip sheets recommend white, silver, shades of grey and other light colours. The hardest to keep clean are black, red and some shades of pearl and metallic paint where scratches, smears and smudges can be clearly visible.
Studies that investigate the link between car colour and accident rates invariably draw the conclusion that black cars are more likely to be involved in collisions as they are less visible in poor light and against dark backgrounds. Opinion about the safest colour (as indicated by an AA poll) deem yellow to be the safest colour. However, other factors need to be considered, such as the risk profile of motorists who choose certain car colours.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) state that the most popular colours for new cars in 2017 were black (20.3% of market share), Grey (19.7% of market share) and white (19% of market share). Black has held the top spot for four years, while brown and silver have seen a decline in fortunes. Interestingly the country's most popular colour for its most popular car, the Ford Fiesta, is blue.
If you are thinking of changing the colour of your car, you can spend a couple of thousand pounds having it resprayed or wrapped (which preserves the original colour). Not all insurance companies need to know that the colour of your car has changed but you must update your V5C registration certificate by marking the colour changes on section 7 of your registration certificate, signing and sending it to DVLA.
