2 of my parents' friends are insurance agents. They said that they (State Farm) has done extensive studies with car color and insurance risks. Here's a rough breakdown:

Black: Harder to see in the dark, so the accident risk increases(I guess they ignored the headlights).

Grey/Silver/Brown: Match road color, so they're more likely to be struck by an inattentive driver.

White: Harder to see in snow, and thus more accident prone.

Red/Yellow: More visible, and thus more likely to be pulled over for speeding, etc.

So, no matter what color your car is, you're SOL if the above is true. There are additional (hidden) premiums based on model, color, and geographic region - like white in Wisconsin. But, overall, the premium adjustments are small, so get whatever color you like best.

 

I can't really disagree since they're actually agents. But you know what's strange about that?

The low-visibility colors are all about how you are less visible, and more likely to be struck by an inattentive driver. Well, in that case, it's the OTHER GUY'S insurance who pays. Has anyone seen an accident report that assigns blame based on your car being harder to see?

Red/Yellow - more likely to be pulled over. That gives the insurance another excuse to raise your rates. So is this color less expensive to start because they know they'll be raising it after you get caught?

 

Let me clarify things a bit. Insurance companies do correlation studies to create statistical models so they can predict risk factors and adjust premium plans. But, statisitics can be used to prove anything - 40% of all people know that.

The study I cited was an internal study to improve their premium models in order to maximize profits, minimize losses, and out perform the competition. So, you'll probably never see car color cited as the fault for an accident. It just seems like a weak, far fetched argument.

In my opinion, there are no insurance friendly colors because 1 benefit will have a complimentary disadvantage. In the case of red and yellow, you may be less likely to be struck by an inattentive driver, but you're more likely to get pulled over. If this is true (I'm not 100% certain), problems associated w/ car color should average out in the long run, and thus have neglible effect on your premium. So, get whatever color you like best.

 

State Farm rapes people daily so it really doesn't surprise me they would do this study so they could jack the rates on people.