Blue Cars, Big Problems: Survey Finds Blue Car Owners Most Likely to Ignore Paint Damage

One out of three British car owners are avoiding crucial paint repairs, risking long-term damage to their vehicles.

53% of British car owners cite the cost of repairs as too high, leaving their vehicles vulnerable to further damage, according to a comprehensive survey carried out by car touch up paint supplier, Car Paint Colours. 25% say it’s an inconvenience to repair small paintwork imperfections.

While almost 50% of British car owners would still prefer to have their local body shop or mechanic carry out their small car paint repairs, 24% are willing to do it themselves at home.

The percentage is higher depending on the region too, with 29% of those surveyed from the South East willing to carryout the repairs themselves.

Is car colour a factor?

The survey revealed that British adults who own a blue were most likely to have damaged paintwork with black cars coming in second. Blue cars accounted for 48% of the less than pristine vehicles on our roads with black cars close behind at 43%. While white cars seem to be the safer mainstream colour to drive with only 35% reporting a blemish that needs small car paint repair on their automobile.

51% of those with unrepaired blue cars said they haven’t had their car’s body paint done because it’s too expensive with 24% saying it’s inconvenient. While 49% of blue car owners would take their car to a body shop for repairs if they were going to, 30% said they would do it themselves.

Owner of Car Paint Colours, Paul O’Reilly said: “We wanted to understand the reasons fewer people are opting to repair their car’s paintwork when they have scuffs, scrapes or see the inevitable effects of road rash.

“The data collected was slightly surprising for a nation of car lovers, who ranked cost and convenience as one of the key reasons they’ve gone without these repairs in the past 12 months.

“It even boiled down to colour, brands and age groups which were more or less likely to take pride in their car’s paint work.

“What I found interesting was that the data also shows there is an appetite from drivers to do the repairs themselves. 24% of car owners would be willing to make the repairs themselves with 48% saying they would go to a body repair shop for the damage to be fixed.

“It’s one of the reasons we have introduced Car Paint Colours to the market by offering body shops and dealerships a product which they can upsell to their customers. We know repairing small paint work is time consuming for mechanics and car technicians, which is often not reflected in the value of the job. By offering an at home repair kit, they can accommodate their customers well and reduce the amount of small tasks, opening up time for more lucrative jobs.”

Car Paint Colours commission the YouGov survey in a bid to understand car owners better. The brand launched a platform using DVLA assisted technology that allows suppliers to enter their customer’s reg number and order a perfect colour matched aerosols or smart chip pen on their behalf.

Download our region-by-region breakdown to see where your area stands in car maintenance habits. https://carpaintcolours.co.uk/resources/the-state-of-the-nations-car-paint/