a question of color

[marleyfan]

I realize this has nothing to do with the Versa specifically but I figured this is a good community to ask. I was told today by a local body shop dude that many states charge a higher insurance rate for red cars. Just wondering if there's any truth to that, and if so, what is the rationale. Thanks

[bulld0g]

my insurance never asked for the color of the car.......as far as I know the VIN doesn't contain color info either....

[Ever Victorious]

Washington doesn't.

the rationale is that people who own red cars tend to speed more.

[RitzburyGD3]

i think it has to do with red being far off the colour spectrum. some weird nonsense about how red is not as visible as other colours such as yellow or white. notice how fire trucks and emergency vehicles are going to the colour yellow?

don't quote me on any of that, but i think it's proved by science big shots that red is not as visible right away.

and if that's the reason for insurance rates.... that i don't know. perhaps.

i think the vin carries the colour

[msb0b]

When you consider a great majority of cars out on the road is a shade of white (silver, gray, black), any other color end up to be more attention grabbing. Especially to the police. With that said, I do not buy into the notion that red car owners are more likely to speed.

Pretty sure the color is coded in VIN or there exists a service that allows look up. The body shops were able to pull up all the information about my versa including color using just VIN.

[Rockhound]

When you consider a great majority of cars out on the road is a shade of white (silver, gray, black), any other color end up to be more attention grabbing. Especially to the police. With that said, I do not buy into the notion that red car owners are more likely to speed.

Pretty sure the color is coded in VIN or there exists a service that allows look up. The body shops were able to pull up all the information about my versa including color using just VIN.

Well, like EV said, I believe the whole red-car-premium comes from the idea that red cars are 'sportier' and thus more likely to be driven fast. Similar rationale is behind higher insurance rates for 2-door cars, which is similarly silly, because not all 2-doors are sports coupes.

On the Paint Scratch touch-up paint forum, an admin said that only certain makes include color information in the VIN.

[Ever Victorious]

i think it has to do with red being far off the colour spectrum. some weird nonsense about how red is not as visible as other colours such as yellow or white. notice how fire trucks and emergency vehicles are going to the colour yellow?

don't quote me on any of that, but i think it's proved by science big shots that red is not as visible right away.

That's actually the exact opposite of the truth. Red is the single highest impact color to the human eye, it is the first color that we are able to pick out, especially when things start to come out of your peripheral vision. Right now I'm looking at my screen and I can tell you that, while most thing in my periph are very blurred, and just look like "something", I can VERY clearly see my orange nalgene bottle contrasting against the black mass of computers above me.

This is also why the company I used to work for made us wear red shirts... so we'd be easy to pick out.

Purple is actually the hardest color to see, because it is on the end of the spectrum where UV light is, and excites our rods and cones the least.

Some fire departments paint their trucks yellow, yes, but it's not for visibility reasons. Also, still the majority of emergency vehicles in the US (at least as far as ambulances and fire trucks go) are still red.

[marleyfan]

Ok so biophysics of color aside....can anybody confirm that there is even one state that charges higher premiums for red cars?

[bulld0g]

Ok so biophysics of color aside....can anybody confirm that there is even one state that charges higher premiums for red cars?

I talked to my insurance today and they said color is not a factor for your rate

[marleyfan]

Thanks. Were they speaking for insurance companies in general or for CA only?

[bulld0g]

its a nationwide company

[Ever Victorious]

I also called my company (a nationwide carrier) and they do not charge a premium for color.