Almost a third of used cars purchased over the last 12 months with car finance were black according to new data from creditplus.co.uk.

The previous most popular colour silver, which has held the number one spot over the last three years, has dropped to second place with 23% of sales.

Creditplus.co.uk has also identified an increase in the popularity of blue, which took 20% of sales.

Grey, which was very popular on new cars four to five years ago, now sits in fourth place at 10%.

Another previously coveted colour, red, only just made it into the top five with 7%.

Shaun Armstrong, managing director of creditplus.co.uk, said: "Car buyers are faced with a bewildering choice of colours and shades in new and used cars.

"Despite this, motorists appear fairly conservative when it comes to colour and are more comfortable choosing black over diamond black or carbon quartz.

"While trendy colours – such as the striking white finishes we are seeing on Range Rover Sport for example – are very appealing now, the worry is that they can just as quickly become deeply ‘uncool’.

"And when that happens, their value can drop and they can take longer to sell.

"Car buyers looking at brighter and more exotic colours like pink, yellow and orange need to think carefully about the resale value – these colours do not suit the palette of most motorists."