When looking at the average automobile, chances are it’s going to fall into a strictly monochromatic scale. In fact, half of all cars sold in America are either Silver (23%), White (15%), or Black (12%). The rest of the automotive fleet covers much of the color spectrum, including reds, blues, browns, yellows, and even gold, what if you wanted something really crazy, like a pink car? Would you paint your car pink? Should you wrap your car in pink? As Valentine's Day comes around, we contemplate adorning our vehicles in the festive color.

When it comes to painting and wrapping cars, there are a couple of things to think about. Depending on the quality of the wrap and the paint, they can cost about the same, but there are two big caveats. First, your existing paint will determine what you should use, paint or wrap, for your new dazzling pink color scheme.

When to Wrap in Pink and When to Paint

Basically, if you have good paint, wrap to your heart’s content. A beautiful canvas results in a beautiful wrap, so no bubbles, bumps, or wrinkles. When it comes to removing the wrap later, to change the look or to resell the vehicle, your buyer will be none the wiser that it used to be wrapped in fabulous pink.

If you have bad paint, wrapping is a bad idea. First, chips and rust and imperfect paint surfaces will show right through the wrap as bubbles and wrinkles. Second, if you remove the wrap from bad paint, it might just rip the paint right off the car. If you have bad paint, good paint is the only real solution, but think about the consequences of a pink paint job before you start sanding.

Color vs Resale Value

A car is a car, but even when considering two exact vehicles of differing colors, research shows that color plays an important part in resale value. Some colors just depreciate less, and it’s all just skin deep. The most-common vehicles in the most-common colors, the 50-percent-monochrome and some of the Reds and Blues, depreciate an average of 20% the first year and about 10% every year after.

Interestingly, some colors depreciate less. Yellow or Orange vehicles tend to depreciate less than their monochromatic brethren, but that might be because they’re scarcer and not necessarily more desirable. We’re not sure if the same holds true for a Hello Kitty Pink car, but if you can dream it, you can do it. If a pink car is what you dream of, then go for it! If you decide to wrap your car in pink, though, it’ll be much easier to restore its un-fabulous factory color and sell it faster than if you painted it.