Extra: Car Colors & Storage Units

Freakonomics Radio

Presenting two stories from The Economics of Everyday Things: Why does it seem like every car is black, white, or gray these days? And: How self-storage took over America.

• SOURCES:
  • Tom Crockett, classic car enthusiast.
  • Zachary Dickens, executive vice president and chief investment officer of Extra Space Storage.
  • Mark Gutjahr, global head of design at BASF.
  • Kara Kolodziej, self-storage unit tenant.
  • Anne Mari DeCoster, self-storage consultant.
  • Nikkie Riedel, carline planning manager at Subaru of America.

• RESOURCES:
  • “A Fifth Of Americans Rent Self Storage, With Millennials Overtaking Gen Xers In Generational Storage Wars,” by Francis Chantree (Storage Cafe, 2024).
  • “Lessors of Mini Warehouses and Self-Storage Units Show Significant Financial Gains During COVID-19 Pandemic,” by Ben Chandler and Robin Enlow (United States Census Bureau, 2024).
  • BASF Color Report 2023 for Automotive OEM Coatings, (2023).
  • “The Fate of Oversupplied Self-Storage Markets and How to Pull Back From the Brink,” by Frank DeSalvo and David Perlleshi (Inside Self Storage, 2023).
  • “A Pandemic Space Race: Self-Storage Roars Back,” by Ellen Rosen (The New York Times, 2021).
  • “Beige on an S.U.V. Will Cost You, but for Pickups It’s Golden,” by Roy Furchgott (The New York Times, 2021).
  • “A Brief History Of Car Colors — And Why Are We So Boring Now?” (Consumer Reports, 2018).
  • “The Link Between the Colour of Cars and the Economy,” (The Economist, 2018).
  • “Need to Store That? Booming Self-Storage Industry Says No Problem,” by Liam Pleven (The Wall Street Journal, 2015).

• EXTRAS:
  • “Car Washes,” by The Economics of Everyday Things (2023).
  • Storage Wars, TV series (2010-present).
  • Auction Hunters, TV series (2010-2015).