Blue is the most popular car colour with drivers, an AA/Populus survey shows, but drivers in London favour silver. However a number of motorists end up with their second-choice colour, the poll of 15,860 AA members revealed.
The survey results came as the new 61-plate registration numbers went on sale.
Given a choice of colour, drivers opted first for blue, followed by silver, black then red.
Hardly anyone voted for a brown car, although around 1% of those polled own a vehicle of that colour. The most popular colour already owned was silver followed by blue, black and red.
Black was particularly popular with 18 to 34-year-olds but only around half that number actually drove a black vehicle.
Just 13% of drivers in that age group would pick a silver car, yet 22% had one. Silver was the favourite of older drivers, being the number one choice among those aged 55 or more.
The top region for those driving blue cars was the West Midlands, while the urge to buy a silver car was strongest in London.
Silver was seen as the most dirt-resistant colour, while gold, yellow, green and white were voted the least easy to keep clean. Silver-hued vehicles were also rated as the easiest to sell, followed by black.
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