If you're leaning toward white as the color of your next new car, you're not alone. In their annual color popularity study, the automotive paint manufacturer found that white is the No. 1 choice in both North America and worldwide.
Globally, silvers are right behind. Worldwide they're tied with white, but in the states, those metal-colored hues are in second or third place depending on the segment.
Some experts think they might be more popular than brighter colors because they stay looking nicer for longer.
"After a couple of months, a couple of years with that car, it sort of dies off, so we see a lot of silvers and dark grays," said David Champion of Consumer Reports.
There's also the issue of resale. Wild colors might hurt you at trade-in time.
"You have to think about how much you're going to lose on that car when you come to sell it," Champion said.
Sometimes it doesn't matter what the trends say. People will choose a certain color because it's associated a certain brand.
Porsche just took the wraps off a 911. The examples on display at the Los Angeles Auto Show were in silver, the traditional racing color of Germany. It's popular with Porsche buyers now, but it wasn't always.
"For a time there, guards red was our most popular color, for years it was our most popular color. Then we started to see black and silver rise up as popular colors and we think that had to do with the rise in leasing," said Gary Fong of Porsche North America. "It was a very conservative color."
Color samples were everywhere at the Auto Show, as were some brightly colored cars. But when it comes to actually picking the car you're going to park in your own garage, keep resale time in mind.
White and silver rule the showrooms these days.
