What Does Your Car Colour Reveal?

Does the colour of the car you drive say anything about your chosen profession? Do the police have a bias for blue or undertakers have a predisposition for black?

Car insurance expert elephant.co.uk looked at data from over one million drivers to find out if particular professions prefer certain colour cars and discovered that you just might be able to tell someone’s job by looking at their car.

Blue proved to be the most popular colour all round with a quarter of motorists choosing the calming shade for their vehicle. However, living up to their ‘boys in blue’ name, the colour proved even more popular with the police who are over 7 per cent more likely to drive a blue car than the average motorist.

elephant.co.uk managing director, Brian Martin said, “Although just for fun, the results were quite interesting as they showed that certain professions do seem to have a tendency to drive a colour of car associated with their profession. However, some of the results were surprising.”

Undertakers are often associated with black but you may want to think again if you imagined they’d choose a sombre colour for their car. Surprisingly, the survey found that undertakers are twice as likely as the average motorist to drive a yellow car.

Brian Martin continued, “Maybe undertakers are keen to dispel their sombre professional nature once they leave work and aim to cheer up their lives with a more unusual and cheerful colour car.”

The research also showed that chefs, used to dressing in their kitchen whites for work, tend to stick to the same colour for their car as well. They are more than twice as likely to drive a white car than the average driver.

Based on research into car insurance policies, elephant.co.uk also discovered that barristers were four times more likely than the average motorist to choose a brown car. With few modern brown cars around, could this be that our well-paid lawyers prefer classic cars which are more commonly seen in brown and bronze shades?

Brian Martin added, “Another interesting finding was that debt collectors seem to be steering clear of red cars, perhaps choosing their car colour in order to remain as inconspicuous as possible. We found that they are 19 per cent less likely than average to choose striking red and instead favour unassuming silver cars which would certainly be less noticeable when pulling up outside debtor’s homes.”

The research also revealed that surgeons are partial to surgical silver and stockbrokers tend to favour classically understated black cars. However, party planners, who you might expect to be more outgoing in their choice, are 82 per cent more likely than average to drive a grey car. And red cars are most popular with journalists who are 60 per cent more likely to drive this racy shade rather appropriate to their fast-paced, deadline-loaded lifestyles.

1. Results Summary

• Policemen are 7 per cent more likely than average to drive a blue car.
• Undertakers are 115 per cent more likely than average to drive a yellow car.
• Chefs are 127 per cent more likely than average to drive a white car.
• Barristers are 457 per cent more likely than average to drive a brown car.
• Debt collectors 19 per cent less likely than average to drive a red car.
• Surgeons 62 per cent more likely than average to drive a silver car.
• Stockbrokers 84 per cent more likely than average to drive a black car.
• Party planners are 82 per cent more likely than average to drive a grey car.
• Journalists are 60 per cent more likely than average to drive a red car.