Maybe people prefer (red, green, bright blue), but they fear that they won't be able to sell their car because of its color. So they buy white.
(I read somewhere [so take this with a grain of salt] that this effect happens with marble kitchen countertops: not that many homeowners actually like them, but they believe that potential buyers might, so an overproportional amount of people put them in their kitchens - leading everybody else to believe that they're actually very popular.)
As it is, the housing market in the Netherlands is completely overheated (seller's market due to a housing shortage), so I could paint every room hot pink and it won't affect the price one bit, but even when that settles down I won't choose boring colours just to push up the price a few thousand Euro.
My kitchen: red walls matched with off white cabinets and shelving; living room: bespoke teal wall filling book case matched with patterned wallpaper (in grays) and an oxblood red sofa and seat (a complimentary colour to the teal); and so on.
I have to live in it and maximizing the joy I get from my house is important to me.
If I were to renovate in a style which doesn't appeal to me, but has broader market appeal, it's still for me. The only difference is that I value the long term potential future income more than I value the loss of short term adherence to my taste.
There's definitely location/cultural variety here, people would worry a white car wouldn't sell, due to the increased visibility of dirt and scratches, so only gets 5% of sales here. The top colours here are silver (24%), black (22%) and blue (17%, mostly darker shades).
I'm not sure why silver cars escape the stigma of white cars here since they have the same issues, but they do.
After the size of vehicles and number of pickups, the amount of white cars was the next thing that stood out to me about the cars when I first went to california
Most cars ads show off new models in some variation of metalic grey. Perhaps this creates a subliminal impression in how people perceive metalic grey as an 'elegant' car colour.
As for showing dirt/scratches/dents, from what I've read black is the worst actually, followed by other very dark colors. Best is relatively light gray, brownish/beige kind of colors.
They are really confused and in disbelief when I tell them that no, it was intentional.
The advantage (other than me just liking fancier colors and disliking the prevalence of grey in cars) is that I can find my car in even the largest parking lot from very far away, and that people instantly recognize me as it's seemingly the only yellow Mercedes-Benz in the town where I live (~100.000 inhabitants) ;-)
Recently I overheard two kids (a boy and a girl, around 7 or so) who drove by my car on bicycles, loudly proclaiming "I would never drive a yellow Mercedes". I wanted to ask them why, but they were too quick (and probably embarassed that I overheard them). I would really love to know if it was their own (genuuine) dislike of the color yellow, or if it was something they acquired from their parents or something like that.
https://uploads.carandclassic.co.uk/uploads/cars/triumph/118...
Have to also add; if self-driving cars saved everyone from gawker blocks and other annoyances that'd be a net gain for nearly never driving again, at least in more highly regulated areas (presumably interstates and highways first).