Do Bumper Stickers Devalue Your Car? (Little Know Facts)

Bumper stickers are somewhat popular because of how they allow car owners to have a more unique vehicle in the sense that they can basically customize the car’s aesthetics with these stickers.

However, there are some people who would actually tell you that it is best to avoid using bumper stickers for various reasons.

So, are bumper stickers bad for your car? And do they devalue the vehicle?

Do bumper stickers devalue the vehical?

It is true that bumper stickers can affect the resale value of your car. That is why you never see any car in a second-hand dealership with a bumper sticker on it. On top of that, there are also plenty of other reasons why you might want to avoid putting bumper stickers on your vehicle.

Table Of Contents

Do bumper stickers devalue the vehical?
Is it bad to put bumper stickers on your car?
Do bumper stickers devalue your car?
Do stickers affect car insurance?
Sources

Even though it might be tempting to put a bumper sticker on your vehicle, what you should know is that it isn’t the best idea.

We are not even talking about the car’s resale value alone because there are plenty of other reasons why you might want to keep bumper stickers away from your vehicle. And that is what we are here to look at.

Related:

Is it bad to put bumper stickers on your car?

Bumper stickers are quite popular among different car owners because it gives them a sense of ownership and uniqueness when it comes to their cars. There are also car owners that like to display their love for certain topics and things and their political and religious views through their bumper stickers.

But what you should know is that there are some reasons that bumper stickers can be bad for your car. That is why some experts do not recommend that you put bumper stickers on your vehicle for whatever reason you may have. With that said, let’s look at some of the reasons why bumper stickers can be bad for your vehicle.

They put you and your family at risk

One of the biggest reasons why some experts don’t recommend putting bumper stickers on your car is that it exposes your family to certain risks. For example, if you put a bumper sticker of one of your favorite places to visit, people all over the vicinity can easily see the places where you often go to. This can easily expose your family to certain risks such as thieves, robbers, or even stalkers that can easily cause harm to the entire family.

Your children can be put in danger

Plenty of parents love to have personalized bumper stickers of their children’s names so that they can display their love for their offspring. However, that can put the children at risk to child predators because you are basically exposing their names to the general public. This can easily catch the attention of a stalker, who can make use of your children’s names to try to find a way to gain your kids’ trust specifically because they know the children’s names.

You are telling people what is inside your car

This problem tends to be quite common among gun and weapons owners, who aren’t afraid of putting bumper stickers that say that they have guns and weapons inside their vehicles. While that can end up scaring some people away, it can also have an opposite effect in the sense that you are attracting people who might want to use your guns and weapons against you if they break into your car. So, before screaming to the public that you love guns, think about the possible consequences of putting that sticker on your car.

They tell you where you work, go to school, or live

Some companies, schools, and neighborhoods tend to have personalized bumper stickers that carry their branding. This is quite common among people who are proud of where they work, go to school, or live. However, putting such stickers on the car will basically expose you to stalkers and other types of people with bad intentions because of how you are basically telling them some of your personal information. Some of these people may try to get into your personal life or steal something from you because they know where you work, go to school, or live.

Do bumper stickers devalue your car?

While you do know that bumper stickers can be bad for your car due to the abovementioned reasons that we stated, there are still some people who don’t end up in any sort of trouble because they live in neighborhoods or cities that tend to be safer than most. Or maybe they are just lucky enough that no one ever tried to use their personal information against them.

However, even if you do insist on putting bumper stickers on your car because you are not worrying about the safety and security risks associated with doing so, there is still a better reason why you might want to avoid putting stickers on your car. And we are talking about the practical and financial side here.

You have probably already guessed it by now. Bumper stickers are bad on the practical and financial side of the conversation here because they can affect the resale value of your car. So, yes, bumper stickers can devalue your car, and that is why you might want to avoid putting them on your car or, at the very least, remove them once you are ready to have your car appraised.

Yes, we get it that you are proud of where you work or went to school. You are also proud of your wonderful family. You are probably also proud of being pro firearms or of being a Republican or Democrat, whichever of the two may apply. However, putting any kind of bumper sticker about anything that is personal to you will devalue your car.

Selling a car with a bumper sticker to a friend or family member who doesn’t care about the bumper sticker will not affect the car’s value in any way. But you can’t say the same about a random person who saw your car at the dealership. As such, selling your car through a second-hand dealership is the worst way to go if you have bumper stickers and you did not remove them before having your car appraised.

The simple reason why bumper stickers can pull down a car’s value is that it makes your car stand out in the worst way possible. Car buyers do not care about your political views or your religion. And the worst-case scenario here is when your personalized bumper stickers have statements and beliefs that go against the potential buyer’s own beliefs.

For example, having a Republican-leaning bumper sticker will always turn away a potential buyer who is a Democrat. Meanwhile, if you are proud of being a Duke Blue Devil, no one who went or goes to Kentucky would ever want to buy your vehicle. The same concept applies to when you put a bumper sticker of the Lakers on your car and most of the people who went over to look at your car in the dealership are Clippers fans.

Essentially, the reason why any kind of bumper sticker will pull your car’s value down is that the sticker just seems to be something that people don’t want to have on a car that they are planning to buy. That is why, when you go to a second-hand dealership, you will almost never see cars with bumper stickers on them, as the dealership people themselves probably removed the bumper stickers or told the first owners to remove the stickers.

So, even if you are not concerned about the safety and security risks associated with bumper stickers, you also have to look at the practical side of things. You don’t want to potentially lose hundreds or thousands of dollars off of your car’s value just because you wanted to show off that you are a fan of the Los Angeles Angels through a bumper sticker.

Do stickers affect car insurance?

Lastly, even if you are not planning on selling your car because you want to keep it for as long as you can, there is another good reason why you shouldn’t put any bumper sticker on the vehicle. Again, we are looking at the practical and financial side once more.

So, the reason why stickers should be avoided when it comes to your car is that they can affect your insurance. Some insurance companies actually void car insurance whenever the cars have any kind of modifications such as bumper stickers. And this is usually the case when you didn’t declare the modification to your insurance company before you tried to claim insurance for it.

The reason why some insurance companies void the insurance on a vehicle with a bumper sticker is that the bumper sticker itself might have been the reason why the car was put in a dangerous situation.

For example, if you placed a sticker that says you have a gun in your vehicle, your car will be more attractive to thieves. And that is something that isn’t a mere accident because it was something that was within your control.

Even stickers that show your adherence to a sports team or a political candidate can void your insurance, especially if such stickers were the reasons why your car was damaged or stolen in the first place.

All that said, always think twice before putting a bumper sticker on your car because a lot of things can happen just by putting a simple and seemingly harmless sticker on your vehicle.