Does Your Car’s Color Affect Your Insurance Rates?

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Written by Michelle Lambright Black Edited by Nick Versaw

Updated February 26, 2024

Companies calculate your auto insurance rates using a variety of factors, including the make, model, and age of the vehicle you drive. But the idea that the color of your car affects insurance premiums is a myth.

You may have heard that red cars cost more to insure, but in fact, insurers pay little attention to your car’s color. Some unique or custom paint jobs can play a small role in your overall premiums, but those situations are relatively rare.

Here’s everything you need to know about how a vehicle’s color pertains to auto insurance.

Do Red Cars Really Cost More to Insure?

Red cars don’t cost any more to insure than white, blue, silver, or any other color vehicle. Unless you have a custom paint job that you agree to pay extra money to protect, your insurance rates have little to do with the paint that covers your vehicle. And even in this situation, the color of your custom paint job doesn’t matter, merely the fact that you have one.

Debunking the Myth of Car Color and Higher Insurance Rates

It’s unclear where the myth that red cars cost more to insure started, but this common myth persists. One possibility is that since many sports cars are red and insurers tend to set higher premiums for sports cars, drivers perceive this as a consequence of having a red car.

Still, owning a red vehicle may cost you extra money in unexpected ways. Even though red cars won’t make your insurance premiums increase compared to other colors, here are some additional expenses you might face if you purchase a red car instead of a vehicle with a standard color.

Repair costs for brightly colored cars

Most economy cars come in standard colors — white, black, silver, beige, or gray. Since cheaper vehicles tend to cost less to repair and replace, they often come with cheaper insurance rates.

On the other end of the spectrum, bright colors commonly appear on more expensive vehicles with higher trim levels.

Sports cars, for example, tend to offer more bright colors than vans or trucks — two of the cheapest body styles to insure, according to Compare.com data. And when you compare sports cars to vans or trucks, it’s no surprise that the often brightly colored sports cars are typically more expensive to repair or replace when something goes wrong.

Likelihood of tickets and accidents

The color of your car doesn’t affect your insurance rates, but tickets and accidents are another story. When you have speeding tickets or accidents on your driving record, it increases the likelihood that you could be involved in a future accident that could cost your insurer money.

As a result, if you get a ticket or are responsible for a car accident, you should expect to pay higher insurance rates in most cases.

In fact, we’ve found that rates tend to increase substantially for either infraction:

• One speeding ticket increases average insurance rates by 37%.
• One at-fault accident increases average rates by 44%.

You may have heard the old urban myth that red cars get more speeding tickets compared to other vehicle colors. But, somewhat surprisingly, a recent study found law enforcement officers write more tickets for white cars than for vehicles of other colors.

It’s worth noting that drivers who are more inclined to break traffic laws may be more attracted to sports cars compared to other types of vehicles. A recent study by Insurify found that five of the 10 vehicle models with the most speeding tickets are sports cars.

On the other hand, bright cars could sometimes be an advantage while driving. Since bright colors tend to stand out, driving a vehicle with a bright or unusual paint color might make you less likely to get into certain types of accidents.

Vehicle theft rates

Theft rates are another factor that can affect your insurance rates. If you own a vehicle that’s more likely to be stolen, your insurance premium could be higher as a result.

And car color seems to matter when it comes to stolen vehicles. A bright car color that stands out is actually less likely to be stolen compared to a car with a neutral color that blends into a crowd. As a result, silver, white, and gray cars are reported to have higher theft rates, according to some studies.

Are There Any Exceptions Where Color Does Matter?

In some cases, certain vehicle models come in colors that can be more expensive to repaint. If you purchase one of these models, it could lead to higher insurance rates. But your higher premiums wouldn’t be tied to a specific color of the vehicle, just to the higher potential repair costs of the model in general. A red Subaru WRX, for example, doesn’t cost more to insure than a blue one if they’re the same year, trim package, etc.

That being said, insuring a vehicle with a custom paint job can be another story. But, again, it doesn’t matter whether your custom paint job is purple, red, or green. It’s the additional cost that could be associated with potential repairs or replacement that causes your insurance rates to increase in this situation.

So if you have a custom paint job and want it covered, be sure to let your insurer know so that it can be included in your policy.

Factors That Actually Affect Your Insurance Rates

While your car color doesn’t matter where car insurance rates are concerned, many other details come into play. Below are some of the top factors that determine your car insurance rates.

Age

Your age can have a meaningful effect on your car insurance rates. Younger drivers pay more for car insurance than older drivers due to inexperience behind the wheel. Teen drivers, in particular, pay some of the highest insurance rates of all.

Driving record

A clean driving record could save you quite a bit on your car insurance premiums. But if you’re a high-risk driver with recent infractions, expect to pay more for coverage.

The table below shows the exact effect many of the common infractions have on your monthly premiums, according to Compare.com data.

Unsurprisingly, drivers with clean records get the best rates, but even something as minor as a speeding ticket can lead to a substantial rate hike. A more serious infraction, like a DUI or DWI conviction, can cause your rates to double.

Location

Where you live can also affect the price of your car insurance policy. Urban areas, for example, tend to have higher rates of theft, vandalism, and accidents that lead to higher average rates. But your insurance costs may be lower if you live in a rural area with less traffic.

Insurance history

Car insurance companies research your history and previous claims when calculating your rates. If you’ve filed insurance claims that have resulted in losses for your current or previous insurance companies, there’s a higher risk that you’ll do so again in the future. As a result, you might pay higher insurance premiums.

Vehicle make and model

The type of car you drive will have a big effect on the cost of your insurance. Certain vehicle makes and models are more expensive to repair or replace if damage occurs, and some vehicles are more likely to be stolen than others. On the other hand, if you purchase a car with advanced safety features, you might qualify for additional discounts.

Other factors

In addition to the details above, your car insurance company may consider other factors when setting your car insurance premiums. Your credit history, gender, marital status, and occupation are just a few examples of other factors that could affect your car insurance rates.

FAQs About Car Color and Insurance Rates

Below are answers to several common questions about car color and the effect it has on insurance premiums.

What car colors make your insurance more expensive?

Vehicle color doesn’t affect your car insurance rates. Many insurance companies won’t even ask about the color of your vehicle. You’ll pay the same insurance premiums for red cars as you would for white cars, silver cars, or another car color.

Do white cars cost more to insure?

No, the idea that one car color costs more to insure is a myth. White cars don’t have higher insurance premiums than any other vehicle color.

Why don’t car insurance companies take color into account?

The color of your vehicle doesn’t increase risk for insurance companies. And aside from custom paint jobs, vehicle color doesn’t affect repair or replacement costs for insurance companies either. As a result, car color doesn’t affect your auto insurance premiums.

Do you have to tell your insurance company if you paint your car?

Only if you have a custom paint job you want extra coverage for. If you repaint your car, your insurance company will treat it just like the original paint job and will pay for repairs as if it were original if you file a claim. But like for other customizations and vehicle modifications, you’ll need to work with your insurance company if you want additional coverage.

Methodology

Data scientists at Compare.com analyzed more than 50 million real-time auto insurance rates from more than 75 partner insurance providers in order to compile the quotes and statistics seen in this article. Compare.com’s auto insurance data includes coverage analysis and details on drivers’ vehicles, driving records, insurance histories, and demographic information.

All the quotes listed in this article have been gathered from a combination of real Compare.com quotes and external insurance rate data gathered in collaboration with Quadrant Information Services. Compare.com uses these observations to provide drivers with insight into how auto insurance companies determine their premiums.

Sources

1. Insurance Information Institute, “8 auto insurance myths,” Accessed February 15, 2024.
2. CJ Pony Parts, “Most and Least Ticketed Types, Makes and Colors of Cars,” Accessed February 15, 2024.
3. MotorBiscuit, “What Car Colors Are Least Likely to Be Stolen: The Facts and the Fiction,” Accessed February 15, 2024.

Michelle Lambright Black Personal Finance Writer

Michelle Lambright Black is a credit expert, freelance writer, and founder of CreditWriter.com. She has more than 20 years of experience writing and speaking about credit and money, and focuses on helping families and small business owners make smart, informed decisions about their credit, money, and financial products (including insurance). Michelle's work has appeared in publications such as Yahoo! Finance, Reader's Digest, Parents, FICO, Forbes, Bankrate, The Seattle Times, MarketWatch, BuySide from Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and more.