They say the way you dress reveals many things about your character, personality, and even subconscious. By that logic, the color of your car is also of great significance in the what others think of you, and especially in forming those all-important first impressions. 

This was not the case in the olden days when automobiles came in a few different shades. The paint job has become an industry unto itself for only a few decades, with the special treatments, such as matte or glossy finishes, dating back to only a few years ago. Of course, that doesn’t mean people didn’t care about the color of their cars back then. It was the demand for more interesting colors that drove the industry forward. It’s just that the technology was slow to catch up.

So people understood that one’s car color did not necessarily represent one’s taste. But these days, with all the personalization and customization options available, the color you choose for your car reflects intimate details about you. This has to do with the stereotypes associated with each of the major colors. But another important factor is the correlation between the type and make of your car and its paint work. For example, yellow is considered by many a vulgar color for a luxury sedan, but on a sports car it is perfectly acceptable. On the other hand silver, which is a color that reflects wealth and wisdom, is more at home on a sedan than on a sports car. If you choose a silver sports car people will think you are boring and have no imagination.

Now, as mentioned a lot of are dumb stereotypes with no little support from sciences like psychology. But there is no getting away form the fact that that’s how the majority of people make judgement about others: based on stereotypes and prevalent social profiles. A color that is considered the very peak of class and prestige in one culture is completely neutral in another, and frowned upon in yet another. White is a good example of this. In some ‘third world’ countries any car you can imagine is more salable in white because of the qualities associated with this color: cleanliness, purity, beauty. But students of modern art know that the same color has a negative image, especially in architecture but also for cars, in most European countries thanks mainly to Fascism and the whole Hitler thing. And in America people think of white as bland and boring.

Some people use the color of their cars as a way to publicize themselves. It’s not just a celebrity prerogative. You don’t have to be Paris Hilton to make proper use of a pink car. Drive around your neighborhood in one, and in a few days you become the talk of the town. This is why car color is so important. Different types of people go for different shades. Say you are about to do business with someone and you know nothing about them. If they turn up at the meeting in a car with a vivid and cheery paint job (bright blue, verde green, metallic red, etc.,) you can safely assume they are of a cheery disposition. If they drive around in a black or grey car, chances are they are reserved and introverted and somewhat mysterious. Mind you, you need to take into account the cultural connotations of each color relative to where you are.

With all the options available to a customer these days, which in most cases enable you to create your own unique color,  it behooves one to be extra careful and consider the message their choice of color sends out to the world about them. This does not the freedom of choice should be curbed. This is more a question of etiquette and decorum.