16 September 2014
 Categories: , Articles

If you are tired of the color of your car, you may be thinking about painting it. This can help hide the age of the car, improve its appearance or make you happier with your car. However, before you select an auto paint color, there are a few factors you should keep in mind. This helps ensure the paint color is ideal for your situation.

Whether the Color Will Affect Your Auto Insurance Costs

Believe or not but the color of your car can affect how much your auto insurance company charges you for car insurance. As such, before you paint your car, talk to your insurance company and find out what colors may end up costing you more, and what colors cost less.

While the exact colors vary from insurance company to insurance company, generally speaking, bold colors, such as red and orange, will cost you more. This is because these color cars tend to get pulled over more often, which may impact your driving record. Darker colored cars, such as black and navy, may also cost you more. This is because these cars are harder to see in the dark, which increases the risk of them being involved in an accident. Light colors of automobiles, such as white and silver, have low rates associated with them because they are easy to spot in the dark, yet don't stand out to police officers.

How Much Time and Money You Want to Invest in Painting Your Car

Another factor to carefully consider as you shop for an auto paint color is how much time and money you want to invest in painting your car. The paint type and color you select has an impact on both of these factors. Keep these tips in mind as you select a paint color:

• The darker you go, the more coats of paint you will have to place on your car. Because of this, dark colors often use more paint and take longer to apply. 
• Factory one-tone colors are the fastest and cheapest to apply.
• Specialized paints or paint jobs, such as two-tone paint jobs, metal flakes, metallics, pearl or chameleon colors, are more expensive and take longer to apply. 
• The lighter you go in color, the more obvious minor dent and dings will be. Due to this, you may have to fill in more dents and dings if you select a lighter color than if you select a darker color. This ultimately increases the length of time it takes to prep your car for painting. 

The Climate Where you Live

The last factor you want to keep in mind as you shop for a new paint color for your car is the climate where you currently reside. The color of your car can help your car stay a tad warmer in the winter or a touch cooler in the summer. 

If you live somewhere where it gets hot in the summer, you may want to stick to a light color for your automobile. White, silver and light tan cars stay up to ten degrees cooler on a hot day than black or navy cars. On the flip side, dark colors retain heat, which can help them stay a few degrees warmer on a cool day, based on how much sunlight is present. 

Painting your car a new color can increase your overall satisfaction with the way the car looks, improve its resale value, or cover up flaws with the existing paint job. However, the color of paint you select has an impact on many things that you may not realize. Before you select a paint color, take time to find out if the color will increase your auto insurance costs, cause you to spend more time and money than you expected, or cause your car to be hotter or colder based on the weather.