Black cars lead used car market

Black cars are outperforming all other colours in the used car market, although drivers search for white models more often, according to research from AA Cars.

The AA’s used car website shows that silver is no longer best-selling car colour, despite its dominance in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Black vehicles have since dominated the market, with the colour accounting for more than a fifth (21%) of sales on the AA Cars website so far this year.

Silver is now only the fifth highest-selling colour, with 13% of sales, behind black, white (20.3%), grey (14.9%) and blue (14.3%).

James Fairclough, CEO of AA Cars, said: “Colour clearly makes no difference to a car’s performance, but since a vehicle is likely to sit outside a person’s home or workplace every day, aesthetic considerations still play a big part in many drivers’ decision-making process when they buy a used car.

“It is surprising that silver, once the most popular colour, has fallen so far behind black and white.

“White cars especially have become incredibly popular in recent years, so much so that they have a large market share and even top drivers’ searches on the AA Cars website.”

White has become a more popular colour during the last decade.

It’s still a popular colour choice for searches, with 27.3% of colour searches on the platform being for white cars in August 2019.

Black cars followed with 26.5% people searching for the colour. Grey was the next most searched for colour, with 15%, followed by blue (11.9%) and silver (7.7%).

Fairclough concluded: “Style, make and colour are big determining factors when it comes to buying a used car, but it is vital that drivers do not overlook other factors when they purchase their vehicle.

“Pre-sale vehicle inspections will ensure a car is up to scratch inside as well as out. Just as importantly, motorists should also get a history check, which are available for free for AA Cars-listed vehicles, which will provide important background information on the cars they are considering buying.”

Also, recently it was revealed that demand for petrol and diesel models declined in the second quarter, down by 3.7% and 2.5% respectively. However, combined sales of the fuel types still made up 98.3% of the market, according to new figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).