This flashback scene from I Am Legend (2007) is a good example of omnipresent lighting in a nighttime setting. The SUV is in Ford’s Solid Black Clearcoat colur. If you look just above the windshield of the vehicle, you will see a overpowered set light from back behind the white monument. This lighting helps to set the tone for the scene and provide extra illumination. Of course the Expedition EL SUVs are clean and polished to reflect their surroundings and to look good for the camera.

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_149558-Ford-Expedition-EL-U324-2007.html

Indeed, and in the same logic, they often remove headrests, which is not very realistic...

Not to mention favorable weather in Hollywood

STAR TREK did that back in the day: Different "palettes" and color schemes for the makeup/costume colors/ sets for the Cardassians, the Romulans, the Klingons, etc.

In a related topic, I suppose one of the reasons so many movie characters drive convertibles is because they're easier to shoot. A full 360 degrees, with no a-,b-, or c-pillarsin the shot.

Back on topic, if you restrain yourself, then having a coloured theme for each character is a nice subtle way of linking together characters & their props. Your protagonists colour might be blue, so maybe his appartment has walls painted in one shade of blue, wears a blue jacket in one scene, has a blue car. Easy to over-do though I suppose.

Not necessarily car specific, but a general night-time technique is to strongly back light so the characters (or car is this case) appears clearly, but in silhouette. Also, if for example the car was approaching the camera for a close-up on the driver - perhaps to deliver dialog or to observe an event then you could have a some sort of soft, highly diffused light into which the car pulled up.

Reflections are a nightmare in these situations, but something you can do to smooth over that is to use a practical light source (a bar or shop-front maybe) and boost it's light output to light the foreground. Or rig a large practical light such as a discharge flood to make it look like a street light in your wide shot.

'Christine' was painted blood red. The book told us of this, and red is the more suitable colour for horror movies don't you think?

Most films shot in Las Vegas would employ this idea. I've come to recognize that many films that are shot there include an obiligatory montage of Vegas location shots upon the characters' entry into the city. I secretly hold the belief that this is done to earn some sort of tax break or discount on the filming costs of the studios from the local government entities.

Interesting point-- instead of lighting the car itself, you're lighting its surroundings so they can be reflected off the car.

I suppose it depends on the theme of the character and the look you wanted. And how important a clear shot of the car is.

At night a well polished dark car can be used to great effect to highlight the reflections of the things around it, although I can't think of a good example off the top of my head