What does your car colour say about you?

What does your car colour say about you?

Have you ever thought about what the colour of your car says about you? Research out today reveals that both your personality and age are identifiable from that one distinguishing feature.

Drivers of black and white cars tend to be among the youngest on the roads. That's one of the key findings in the study that cross referenced colours with personality traits and other lifestyle demographics.

With an average age of 38, white car drivers are five years younger than average. They are also most likely to be working in higher management positions and least likely to be involved in semi-skilled roles. Black car drivers were slightly older with an average age of 41.

However, according to the research, black car drivers see themselves as more open to new experiences than average, are more intelligent and tend to be more creative than the average car owner.

"When it comes to car colour choices, we might expect younger buyers to favour less conservative options," said Robert Pieczka, Marketing & Insurance Director at Arval, who commissioned the research. "However, the findings of this research point to something quite different. Some of the most conservative shades seem to be favoured by the youngest and most extroverted drivers and their growing popularity is reflected in the number of halo new cars coming to market in these launch colours."

In 2004 registrations of new white cars were so low that they weren't reported separately by industry trade body SMMT. However, fast forward ten years and new white cars account for more than a fifth (22 per cent) of all new cars registered, more than any other car colour. The next most popular colour, or rather shade, was black taking 19.1 per cent of new car registrations, up from 17.1 per cent in 2004.

Their findings revealed that blue car drivers are slightly older than average and tend to be good listeners who are able to see things from another's perspective.

While taking one of the smallest sample sizes, Brown and Beige car drivers tend to be far younger than average at 38 years, but see themselves as more introverted than average.

Green drivers are five years older than average and are the least materialistic of all the groups, but they are the most introverted.

Drivers of grey cars tend to be around average age and happier than average
Perhaps surprisingly red car drivers tend to be more introverted than most and, less surprisingly, tend to be impulsive.

Silver car drives are two years older than average and tend to be emotionally stable, relaxed and have a lower risk of developing anxiety. They are also more conscientious, organised and are less impulsive.

Asking drivers how they perceive themselves, the research was carried out for Arval by Mindlab, intelligent insights. Their survey of 1,016 adults cross-checked an index of five personality measures against a series of standard questions about car ownership, as well as other demographic information looking at areas like age, gender and occupation.

by: Rebecca Chaplin