Nice thread Pete, We just aim to stand out. My Grandad who set the company up in 1971 said to himself, what colour stands out the most so that other motorists will see our vehicles and therefore reduce the risk we and them might pose, it was a toss up between red and yellow, heads it was and they got painted yellow!
I think WTTS that have the Actros painted beautifully is not aimed at attracting customers as it goes down the road, its a vehicle to take to truck shows, let the kids climb all over it and chat up their dads/mums. Which is a very good idea, I have just emailed WTTS to see if we can join up at a few shows if I get some chrome on our FH, see what they say.
Funny thing is, our trucks are made as ugly as possible to get noticed, it really isn’t a pretty colour but it works. When we got our now old artic from Volvo a few years ago it was an ex-volvo driver training truck in Warrick (infact its the truck used by the DSA in the theory book!) it was painted metallic silver - looked beautiful, and they we made the salesman cry by painting it a yucky yellow! See pictures.
If was setting up a driving school I would paint the trucks bright green, the colour of success, that would work really well on all levels.
As for buying fancy cabs, i understand keeping it simple but one thing people might not realise is that the big cabs are simpler to drive than the little cabs. For example our big Volvo FH is automatic everything, gearbox is auto, handbrake comes off automatically, goes on automatically too, hill hold so no rolling back on the hill start, auto lights, auto wipers its all auto - where as the little cabs don’t get that. If I could have afforded it I would have bought the FH as rigid trucks too, rather than the FE’s.
So my advice, buy a big cab, they are easier to drive and paint it a yucky colour, cab wraps are ok but more expensive and as we keep our trucks 10 years so it doesn’t last long enough in my experience. As for what customers want, well they are all different and will always keep us guessing. The only catch is that our rigid trucks cost £75,000 each and the artic £85,000!!! but it’s lovely to drive, nicer inside than my car! Not sure all driving schools could buy a proper trucks like we do, we have a bit a reputation and customers are willing to pay that little extra to train with us because of what we offer, if price is your customers primary concern after passing the test, best stick with smaller cheaper cabs like our FE’s, although MAN trucks do come in £10,000 less than Volvo because they are recycled Bedfords!
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