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'White is the new black', 'pay the extra for metallic' and 'don't buy a flat red 3-series'. They're just a few of the anecdotes you regularly hear about the dos and don'ts of colour selection.
It seems ironic then, that it will make no difference to the first operator while the vehicle is in use. Okay, you might pay extra for a particular type or colour of paint in the first place, but that's it until resale time, and as long as you and the driver(s) are happy, there's nothing to worry about.
It's the second-hand market where the wisdom of the fleet operator's taste in paintwork is put to the test. Get it right and your chances of shifting the vehicle quickly and getting a solid return increase dramatically. Get it wrong and you're potentially looking at less money back and an agonising wait to shift it.
On the whole though, fleets tend to veer on the conservative side when it comes to the colour of the vehicles they're procuring - something that serves them well according to Simon Henstock, operations director at BCA.
"Fleets generally provide a more consistent mix of colours across the range of cars being offered," he says. "With greater numbers of upper medium and executive models coming from fleet and lease sources, we see larger volumes of metallic blues and silvers, for example. However, move away from the user-chooser fleets and the business sector also provides a volume of utilitarian and corporate colours into the used market."
It's an area where the auction giant has conducted extensive research. BCA analysed more than 125,000 vehicles that went to auction from a variety of sources and, once the results had been collated into "broad constituent colour groups", blue and silver were revealed to be the most popular shades, accounting for 23.4% and 23.3% of the mix respectively.
Henstock adds: "As a general rule, good metallic colours always sell well, particularly when paired with a decent set of alloy wheels. Bright white finishes have proved to be very popular over several years now, and are seen across a wide range of makes and models."
It's a view echoed by the rest of the industry: that you're better off with a sober, metallic shade than anything else. Aled Williams, director at leasing firm Days Contract Hire, believes the same.
He says: "If someone chose the car when new, someone will want it as a used car. Garish and contrasting paint and interior schemes can be a problem, and as ever, metallic paint is far better than flat colours."
He agrees with BCA that fleet sellers tend to be better tuned in to the kinds of paint schemes that will consistently perform well on the second-hand market: "Fleet choices tend to be a bit more conservative - you won't find many bright yellow cars on fleets, for example."
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