Interestingly, the latest quarterly road traffic stats from the Department for Transport actually show that the number of miles driven by light goods vehicles – typically white vans – has increased by 5.1%, which suggests that tradesmen have been quiet during the recession and have simply kept their vans on the drive.
Davis said: “These traffic figures are really interesting and do suggest that there’s more to the apparent lack of white vans on our roads than meets the eye.
“It is probably a mixture of marginally falling sales, an increase on other colour vans such as silver and the impact of the downturn that has created the impression that the classic white van is on the wane.”
Manheim also highlights the role colour can play in the used wholesale market.
Davis continues: “It’s common for retail buyers to associate colour with well-known and instantly recognisable household names.
“These customer facing van fleets operate in the full visibility of communities across the UK. Take The AA, British Gas, RAC and Royal Mail. Used buyers recognise this “corporate uniform” and assign a value in terms of a positive perception about the quality of these vans and their provenance.
“That’s not to say white vans are worth less; condition is key and impacts values more than colour in isolation.”
Manheim is the biggest global player in vehicle remarketing and it has auction houses all around the UK.
Many companies use wrapping for livery these days covering the original base colour. But white is still the biggest selling colour along with red. White is also still the colour of our own fleet of vans. Unfortunately negative statements such as ‘white van man’ are usually created by non professional drivers who cover far fewer yearly miles than our own 80k + miles per van per year.
Even though these guys drive a lot less miles they are involved in far more accidents than professional drivers (those who drive for a living as their primary or main job) Unsafe drivers don’t frequent one particular mode or colour of transport, they drive all vehicles badly.