Choose the right colour for your car

Choosing the right colour for your vehicle can be a harrowing task. Most decisions revolve around relatively 'safe' colours such as white, silver and black. We all like the bright reds and lime greens, but when it comes to our vehicle, we tend to play it safe, for the underlying reason is that a vehicle's colour happens to be a vital factor that can affect the resale value of your vehicle and at that time you don't want to get stuck with a bad deal just because of a colour.

Having said that, how do you go about choosing the right colour for your vehicle? Research might point towards white and silver being the most popular colours on sale, but that doesn't necessarily help you on an individual choice. One way to go about it is to take a look around or even visit a large parking lot to get an idea of which colours are finding their way into acceptance. Today we see more than just white and silver; black, red and blue are definitely gaining popularity.

Even manufacturers choose their colour palate carefully when it comes to their products. Alright, mistakes like a lime green Xylo do happen, but in general most manufacturers spend a lot of time understanding how a colour will sit on their vehicle. A monoform design, basically something that is shaped like a pebble, can carry of just about any design; however a more edgy design might need to stick with more conventional colours in order to bring out the edges and lines of the vehicle. High end sports cars and SUVs need to carry off their flashy persona in style and their colour is an important element that helps them make that statement, so that is why we find Ferraris in Red, Lamborghinis in bright yellow and Hummers in a bright orange. Just imagine a Ferrari in a dull champagne brown; it would be automotive hara-kiri! However that same dull champagne brown would work extremely well on a 4x4 jeep.

The trick is to understand how a colour eventually makes your car look. The Indian market is definitely opening up to different colours. GM has introduced the Spark and the Beat in a lime green that actually suits the cars very well. The Ford Figo is also found in a neat green shade that does wonders in improving its otherwise conventional looks. On the same note the lime green Mahindra Xylo is just a big 'no no' in terms of colour choice. While the Spark, Beat and Figo will find acceptance easily in the second hand market with their green colour, the Xylo may take a lot of convincing and negotiating, which brings us back to the element of colour vs. resale value.

The bottom line is to choose wisely. A whim or a fancy might lead you to buy a disastrous colour. Be smart, ask the dealer on which colours are doing well, get onto internet forums and ask around about colours and their effect on a vehicle's value.