Why white?

A white vehicle does not show dirt and scratches as bad as a darker one, and is a whole lot cooler in the summer. That really counts in Texas. Ron

White is cooler inside, because it reflects the sun's rays. White doesn't show dirt too bad, believe it or not, so it's pretty easy to keep up. White is probably cheap, and probably the default paint code, since it has little pigment.

CJB

white is the #1 seller, always has been

Why not white?

It's one of those few colors that can be elegant, utilitarian, neutral, and distinguished all at the same time.

;-)

I got my F350 CC 4WD long bed in white for two reasons:

I knew it'd never fit in any garage unless I built a custom home. White keeps the interior cooler than a darker color and it doesn't show the dirt and scratches as much.

I go to the desert a lot and want to be able to actually touch my truck when I'm out there. My buddy has the same truck in black and it literally cooks out there.

I think it is because of a few main reasons:

- White trucks are easiest to adapt to company signage and a huge number of trucks are destined to become company fleet vehicles.

- I believe white is the cheapest paint colour

- White is very practical in terms of looking clean longer and staying cooler in sunny regions.

- It's easier to blend paint if a fleet vehicle gets smacked.

I noticed the same thing about the number of white pickups when I was looking for a truck. I kinda figured used trucks that were white were likely ex-fleet or rental vehicles.

Stephen N.

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

All of your replies make entirely too much sense! I thought it was strictly because of cost on the fleet side, but thought it might do better with scratches (and repainting) like silver, but never thought of the fact it stays cool in the summer sun AND looks good, too. Probably helps keep things cool under the hood too.

It's going to be white or silver for me. I have an '89 Tempo beater with

202k and it still doesn't look -that- bad even though it's rusty and has been backed into three times

I don't know about "always". I remember in the 1970s they were giving away white vehicles. Vehicle colours have more to do with public mood and temperament than anything else, and white comes and goes out of style.

HR.

a.. If you're in the market for a new car, choose one that is silver. Why? Silver cars are involved in far fewer crashes than cars of other colors, reports Reuters. According to a study by researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand that assessed the effect of car colors on the risk of serious injury in over 1,000 Auckland drivers between 1998-99, silver cars were 50 percent less likely to be involved in a crash resulting in a serious injury when compared with white cars.

a.. The least safe car colors are brown, black, and green. The risk factor for white, yellow, gray, red, and blue cars is in the middle range and about the same for each.

I've been hit 4 times in my truck. 3 of them were very minor taps on my trailer hitch with no damage to my truck. The last one was a doozy.. Guy rear ended me at a stoplight. He hit me doing 45, destroyed his min-van and pushed me 20 feet uphill into another car (Honda Civic) and then pushed the both of us another 20 feet or so.

My truck lost a bumper and the trailer hitch and slightly spread the "C" channel of the frame - from twisting the hitch under the truck.

Front end got a small ding in the bumper. My light bar crumpled the hell out of the trunk deck of the car in front of me.

No sheet metal damage at all to my truck.

My truck is lifted with big tires. I asked the guy how he didn't see the 22 foot long, 8 foot tall bright white truck and the 15 or so cars stopped in both lanes in front of me. "I don't know"

Oh, his van was blue. Mabe I should trade this one in on a silver one?

These studies are bunk because they suggest a causal relationship between color and accident rate, ticket rate, mortality, or whatever else is measured. That is ludicrous. You may as well throw in teen pregnancy rate, because it's just that meaningless.

At the very best, it indicates which car colors are more popular (thereby increasing the frequency of accidents, because there are more of them around), and even a further stretch would be to say it

-implies- a -weak- correlation between car color and driving habits. But, people don't always buy, inherit or steal the color of car they want, and other random or incidental events introduce for too much error.

Red cars are said to get more tickets. Tell me that a color blind cop gives out fewer tickets to red cars, ceteris paribus, than a non color blind cop, and I'll tell you that you can never hold everything else constant.

Some of the least safe cars are green? I have two of them, should I sell my wife's Saturn and my restored '67 Mustang, or I am just foolish for having bought a green car and having '67 in painted in Dark Highland Green? What have I done!? Am I supposed to suddenly feel safer in my crappy old silver Tempo in driving rain and heavy traffic with old wiper blades, a binding left front brake caliper and a drunk driver swerving at me, than in my Mustang on a clear day and an open road?. Are you beginning to see some of the problems here?

I'm sorry, I know it sounds interesting, but I just cannot put any stock in these "studies", and I cannot imagine a serious academic wanting his or her reputation marred by being associated with the publication of them.

In foggy areas, the two worst colors I've seen are "british racing green" and deep red. In low light conditions, combined with fog, those colors almost make the cars disappear.

White is so reflective that it does not show dents as much as other colors as well as it is easier to match/blend. dave

After everyone's recommendations, and looking at them, I bought a white Ranger three days ago.