by Gabrielle DeSantis

The color of your vehicle should be a strong consideration during the car buying process. However, some are harder to live with than others. According to KBB, your car’s color can have a massive effect on both your resale value and your ownership experience. A color that is both popular and easy to clean makes care a breeze and helps the value of your ride. Conversely, a harder color to maintain will likely show more wear over time, and at the best be difficult to maintain. Ideally, it’s best to find the latter. Bearing that in mind, this is a list of the colors best left for others.

Orange cars hide filth and stick out at a cost

Color is all about personal preference. However, some cars just look right in certain colors. Ferraris for example. Red paint on a Ferrari is called “resale red” for a reason. Speaking of hues of red, that brings us to orange cars. If you want to be seen, an orange car is just about as loud as it gets, even in the muted shade shown above. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the hardest car colors to maintain.

This is due in large part to, you guessed it, color. Lighter colors show dirt, dust, and grime. They’ll also show any micro-scratches caused by anything from car washes to your keys. There are corrective processes to help bring back the shine of orange paint, but those can often be time-consuming, expensive, or both. Bearing that in mind, it’s best to start with an orange car with good-looking paint from the get-go. It’ll be less work to maintain that than to fix it.

Green is one of the hardest car colors to maintain

Our next candidate is green. Green cars can certainly stick out, like the Lambo above. Or, they can blend in. Fans of British Racing Green will know what I’m on about. So, best to pick a shade of green based on what you want out of your vehicle. Darker shades will hide imperfections and grime better, but they’ll show those fine white scratches a lot more than a bright shade.

However, if a bright shade of green is what you want, be prepared to pay for it. Bright green is often found on high-end exotics and sports cars. There are some exceptions, like newer Volkswagen Golf R models. Just know that green paint will show structural imperfections particularly well, and finding touch-up paint to repair or correct any damage can be a difficult task.

Blue can be difficult but worth the extra work

Blue is perhaps the safest color on this list. But, and it’s a big “but”, it can be harder to maintain than either of the colors on this list depending on the shade. As with green, light shades and dark shades have similar pros and cons. Once again, it’s best to start with a good condition paint job if you want to live in a blue world. The upshot of blue paint is its phenomenal resale value. There’s a reason blue Subaru Impreza WRX models command a premium. Bearing this advice in mind, make sure to choose the color you want above all else. Money is great, but the experience you have with a vehicle is golden. Make sure you turn around and look at yours when you’re walking away.

RELATED: Avoid Matte Paint If You Like Your Car – Do This Instead

The post These Are the Hardest Car Colors to Maintain appeared first on MotorBiscuit.

by Gabrielle DeSantis

When UberCab began picking up passengers in San Francisco in 2010, a new era of smartphone-enabled ride-sharing began. Lyft joined the private transportation scene two years later. Today, Uber and Lyft cars provide transportation to millions of passengers every year.

If you’re thinking about joining the gig economy, you might be concerned that being an Uber or Lyft driver is dangerous. Here are the pros and cons and how you can stay safe.

The pros and cons to driving for Uber and Lyft

Drivers who don’t want to be locked down to a full-time taxi job can make decent money driving with Uber, especially if they pick up passengers during peak hours. You don’t necessarily have to own a great car to drive for Uber. In some cities, drivers can rent an insured Uber car by the hour or week.

A friendly driver with a clean, fresh-smelling car who offers a few amenities such as water, snacks, and access to an AUX cord can make good tips, Dollarsprout reports. Ridesharing is a convenient way to earn money as a driver, but it does come with drawbacks.

In 2019, Uber released its first data compilation relating to safety and violence, and the results were frightening and astounding. According to Wired, the ride-hailing service reported nine murders, almost 60 crash-related deaths, and thousands of assaults related to its service. At least one criminologist called the results “highly alarming.”

How drivers view the dangers of ridesharing

Although a recent Reddit thread describing the dangers of cannibalistic riders is probably bogus, plenty of drivers related their own horror stories regarding passengers on the discussion website.

One driver who asked Reddit if it’s dangerous to drive for Uber received dozens of replies, ranging from “I have never had a problem” to “not much different from taxi driving” to “if you do [drive for Uber] long enough, you will be assaulted.”

Several drivers at UberPeople said they wouldn’t pick up fares at strip clubs because they tend to be bad passengers. A few female drivers on the same thread noted they carry pepper spray and don’t allow passengers in the front seat to lessen the risk of rowdy riders.

Because rideshare drivers are considered independent contractors, Uber and Lyft offer little to no safety training. In fact, both rideshare companies have fought tooth and nail to resist classifying drivers as employees. One former driver who asked to remain anonymous told Wired that he always felt untrained and unsafe even though he carried a gun while driving in Seattle.

Uber’s 2019 report revealed numerous sexual assaults perpetrated by drivers. According to NBC News, the assaults included inappropriate groping, unwanted kissing, and 235 rapes of passengers by Uber drivers in 2018.

Uber’s employment model might be to blame

Because Uber doesn’t hire drivers as full-time employees, they might view their time behind the wheel without professionalism or without fear of losing their job. John Roman, a criminologist and social research scientist at the University of Chicago, explained:

“There’s a big literature in criminology that finds people are less likely to commit crimes if they fear losing their job because of it.”

How drivers can protect themselves

Despite the inherent danger of picking up strangers, there are a few things drivers can do to lessen the risk of passenger wrongdoing. The Rideshare Guy advises installing a two-way dash cam that automatically sends images to the cloud. A privacy partition such as those found in taxis and limousines can also reduce the risk for rideshare drivers.

Gig workers are also encouraged to take a self-defense class, memorize the locations of police stations, and always trust their instincts. If a ride request feels dodgy in any way, cancel it. After all, driver safety is more important than a missed ride.

RELATED: The Top 4 Cars for Lyft and Uber Drivers

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