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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not want a white car

64 replies

cakesandphotos · 20/05/2017 17:38

DH and I went car shopping today. Found a lovely Vauxhall Insignia, all the bells and whistles, high spec car, within budget but it's white.
It has everything we need with space and gadgets and boot size but I don't want a white car. All the other non white cars are a lower spec but for the same price.
AIBU to not want a white car or am I being ridiculous and precious?

OP posts:
Original poster
cakesandphotos · 21/05/2017 07:44

Ooh cats… when I had my first job I was looking for a Micra and they offered me a "cappuccino" coloured one. It was beige. I said thanks but no thanks. What I want to know is who are the people buying a brand new car, looking at all the available colours and thinking beige is the best option?! Hmm
Perhaps I'll have another look at the white one if I can't find one in another colour

OP posts:
EllaHen · 21/05/2017 07:49

My dh has a white car - I like it.

Oblomov17 · 21/05/2017 07:50

I have a white car. I probably wouldn't have chosen it as my first colour choice, that's for sure, I prefer silver. But it has everything I wanted and now I've got it, I'm totally fine with it.

ceeveebee · 21/05/2017 07:56

Er - I have a cappuccino fiat 500 with cream leather interior and I love it!
I don't really get what the objection is with white, unless you also have blacked out windows then no one will think drug dealer.

Why not look online and find the one you want in the colour you want, autotrader has over 5,000 Vauxhall insignias!

eurochick · 21/05/2017 07:57

I'd wait. I had one white car. It was crashed into whilst parked. My parents had a white car that was rammed by a crane lorry whilst parked. My family no longer buys white cars! They seem to be invisible to certain drivers. I was recently car shopping and waited for a non white one to come along.

flamencia · 21/05/2017 08:01

I'd struggle with this too. It's not about cleanliness, it's that somehow white cars look plasticky to me. Like big toy cars. And chavvy. It's not logical. The other colour car I'd hate to buy is gold/champagne coloured. Looks like piss.

There's a car that goes around near me and each panel is a different colour but it's quite new so I don't think it's due to getting cheap replacements. So one door is red, one purple, one black etc. It's very different and I quite like it. Sorry that was totally unhelpful to your aibu!

Could you afford to respray it?

somewhereovertherain · 21/05/2017 08:04

You lost me a nice Vauxhall insignia - hateful beast.

As far as white goes I has a pearl white car for 3 years always looked filthy except when just washed - other times just like a bra I'd washed too much. Now gone for Red as people say there's bugger all choice bar white, grey and black.

FiaMarrow · 21/05/2017 08:23

Thought it wouldn't take long for someone to say chavvy Hmm

I have a white car - not what I would have chosen because my commute involves dusty country lanes. But, as PP have said, it doesn't show up the dirt more than any other colour does.

It gets washed every few weeks and still looks brand new. It's 3 years old.

Unusual colours can be harder to sell on so it depends how long you are going to keep the car for if you intend to pay for a custom finish.

juls1888 · 21/05/2017 08:32

Could you not explore getting a wrap in the colour you do want? Not sure of the costing of them but maybe a good compromise. My DH is always going on about petrol head friends getting rare cars "wrapped" in a colour that suits them. Just a suggestion...

JustMyLuckUnfortunately · 21/05/2017 08:43

I love white cars

Lokisglowstickofdestiny · 21/05/2017 08:47

I don't know why but I think white looks good on small cars - it doesn't work on larger cars - it looks a bit naff. However I don't think they show up the dirt any worse, I have black car and it never looks clean!

LadySalmakia · 21/05/2017 08:52

I don't like white either, and I wouldn't buy a car in a colour I don't like. I don't care if that makes me a unwise shopper, I'm not losing thousands of pounds for something I think "urgh" about every time I get in it.

Also: white new expensive 4x4s are the worst and their drivers are often aggressive nobs. This insight has been brought to you by frequent travel of the entire M6. #tebay4lyfe

allegretto · 21/05/2017 08:56

I didn't want a white car either but when I saw the price for a non-white car, I decided I could live with white. Three of us have the same model in white on my road which makes it really hard to spot!

Tulipblank · 21/05/2017 09:00

I have a white BMW with tinted windows and black leather interior. I love it; even if do look like a chavvy drug dealer when driving it! Chose white (could have had a range of colours) and I don't think it looks particularly dirty.

Apart from this car, I've always had second hand and never been swayed by colour, always spec.

Cheepandorm · 21/05/2017 09:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BarbaraofSeville · 21/05/2017 09:05

Someone mentioned beige upthread, which reminded me that sludgy dull colours like beige and grey (not silver, which was very popular for a while) seem to be the current 'in' colour, which I think is a mistake, because a lot of people can still probably remember the 1980s when these colours were fashionable then, but unpopular shortly afterwards and resale values will probably be poor - when I learnt to drive in the early 90s a lot of my peers had 10/15 YO cars in 'grandad' colours like beige or brown, because that was the cheap teenagers car of the day - I had a beige Mini Metro.

Cars in inoffensive colours like silver, black, white or red are likely to sell easier in the future rather than niche colours like beige, yellow or pink.

I'm expecting to go back into our company car scheme in a few months after using my own car or hire cars for a few years and my
current car is black and I've already decided that I'm getting a bright blue Skoda, like I had a few years ago, because as well as liking the colour, it's a damn sight easier to find in a carpark than a black or silver and probably a white car.

BarbRoyle · 21/05/2017 09:07

Not a fan of white cars either - make me think 'footballers wives' rather than drug dealers tho

User067493929 · 21/05/2017 09:18

I'd be more upset about it being a Vauxhall than being white.

MissJSays · 21/05/2017 09:22

I didn't really want a white car but that's what I ended up with and it doesn't actually bother me at all. I'd just go for it

SidekickSally · 21/05/2017 09:26

I actually chose a white car, I had no idea people thought this about the colour. I love it. I suppose it is a huge purchase so you have to be happy with the colour but I think you'll get used to it and are probably over thinking it now.

JennyGreenteeth · 21/05/2017 09:52

Yanbu- I would choose a car based on colour too. That might be because I don't know anything about cars though so colour is the first/ main thing I notice about them.

specialsubject · 21/05/2017 10:19

Red for practicality and visibililty. Nothing in the brown spectrum, I had one of those and it was apparently invisible. Now have a gold one ( I buy second hand so no colour choice) and while it is that stupid metallic paint the near miss rate has plummeted. Same driver, same area, just more visible.

Lot of distracted drivers about so you need to defend yourself.

White does get dirty but as I almost never wash a car I wouldn't care.

NavyandWhite · 21/05/2017 10:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Mulberry72 · 21/05/2017 10:43

We had a white car many moons ago, the dealer told us that the white cars are just the big standard colour and the other colours are more expensive Confused

Anyway, I hated it, it was always filthy so we got rid of it after 6 months.

OneWildNightWithJBJ · 21/05/2017 10:48

When I went to buy my car 3 years ago the salesman asked what colour I didn't want and I said white... Turned out they only had white ones. I really wanted the car so went for it anyway. I find it really doesn't get dirty quicker than any other colour, which was my main reason for not wanting white. I love it now!