What the Color of Your Truck Says About Your Field Service Business

As a field service software company, we meet with a lot of mobile service companies. When you speak to as many as we do, you start to notice patterns, like how often companies use similar colors — and it got us to thinking: What do these colors mean? Why are some used more often than others? So we set out to do some research on color psychology, to find out more about what the color of your fleet says about your business.

Your Chance to Be Unique

We’ve come a long way since the days of Henry Ford’s maxim: “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it is black.” Now we can order cars in any color or shade we like, yet we still see conformity and tradition in certain organizations. Fire trucks are red. School buses are yellow (actually that orange-ish school bus yellow). For Joe Civilian, the classics are still classic: white, black and silver are big sellers every year.

What about your field service fleet? Why is a moving truck white or green? Why is a cleaning company’s fleet pink or blue? Whether you knew it or not when you were buying and painting your fleet of vehicles, the psychology and hidden meanings of colors may have influenced your decision more than you realized.

Why Moving Companies Like to Use White Trucks

White is bright. It’s pure. It signals a fresh start, full of possibilities, like when you’re looking at a blank page. Those kind of characteristics no doubt appealed to Apple when it created its branding, but it’s also a great fit for moving companies.

From national brands like U-Haul to more regional companies like Nice Guy Movers and Hernia Movers Inc., movers use white to signal that clean, new beginning that their customers can feel when the job is done.

Why Junk Removal Companies Like to Use Green Vehicles

Green used to be a color to avoid in your vehicles, if only to keep up the resale value of your fleet. But in today’s branding competition, green is the color of responsible stewardship and environmental awareness.

These are positive associations: a dark forest green instils the calm of a walk in the forest, while lime green is more associated with green energy. Potentially, they highlight a way for a company to advertise its eco-friendly business processes such as recycling programs, or its use of electric vehicles.

505 Junk incorporates green into its vehicle color scheme, along with competitors like Junk Away, Green Junk Removal, Junk4Good and many others.

Why Many Mobile Service Companies Like to Use Blue

Blue is a calming color. It’s the color of a water and sky. It is cool. It is tranquil. It’s also the color of royalty, simultaneously evoking trust in authority.

For companies that come to a customer’s home or place of business to fix a technical problem, such as the furnace or air conditioning, ‘calm’ is exactly the emotion you want instilled in your customer. These customers need their problem fixed right now. That’s why many such companies, from electricians to plumbers and HVAC technicians, will put at least some blue onto their vehicles. From Best Home Services and Comfort Crew to Air Authority and Straight Up Plumbing, plenty of companies have got onto the blue bandwagon.

Mixing Colors on Your Field Service Vehicles

There’s nothing stopping an eco-friendly, top-quality customer service moving company from using green, blue and white on their fleet. Or a plumbing company that uses red. If it’s time to give your fleet a refresh, mix and match as it fits your brand — and take advantage of the meaning behind the colors that best suit your company’s unique identity.

What the Colour of Your Trucks Says About Your Business

Looking for some ideas? Check out this handy infographic that will help you choose the colors that best represent your brand on the road: