Four Steps to Calculate Cost for a Commercial Vehicle Wrap

If you’re considering applying vinyl wrap advertising to your company vehicles for the first time, congratulations; you’re about to embark on a very profitable marketing strategy. Next comes the pricing question, and the short answer is that an average cost is $2,000 to $4,000 per vehicle. But here’s the thing: your particular wrap could cost $800, or it could cost $6,000. Every wrap is different, and there’s certainly no shortage of options that can alter the price by thousands of dollars, so—sorry—there’s no fast answer to the question, “How much does a commercial vehicle wrap cost?”

But you can make a pretty good guess. You’ll need to break down your specific requirements a bit to rough out some numbers, and this article will walk you through a simple, four-step process.

1 How Vehicle Size Affects Commercial Vinyl Wrap Cost

Generally speaking, the bigger they are, the more they cost. Plan on an average of $3,500 for a mid-sized vehicle. Now let’s talk cost variations, some of them common sense stuff, some of them not so much. Really small vehicles can hover in the $2,500 range for a full wrap. Really big ones may run $5,000 or more, especially if they require a lot of detail application over complex contours. But size isn’t everything; a cargo van may cost less than a compact car if it has fewer detailed trim areas to work around.

So, you see, there are two types of cost happening here: materials and labor. The more vinyl you need to cover the vehicle, the higher the price. The more time it takes to apply the vinyl, the higher the price.

2 How Different Vinyl Films Affect Wrap Cost

Adhesive vinyl film has come a long way since it was invented. These ultra-thin materials offer incredible protection against the elements, road debris, and ultraviolet radiation (UV radiation is paint’s worst enemy, except maybe an angry spouse with a hammer. Or a meteor strike. Those are worse.)

Okay, so vinyl film is this tough, beautiful, amazing stuff that can replace paint while protecting the actual paint. It’s as stretchy as a Band Aid, but it stays adhered for years. This miracle of science is made by pouring a brew of ingredients onto a moving web, then heating it. Pretty straightforward stuff, if a bit sci-fi, but the process gets considerably more complicated when you try to produce a glossy chrome finish, or a carbon fiber look, or an iridescent undertone. Because special finishes are more difficult to manufacture, you may pay up to $7,000 per mid-sized vehicle for them. But, hot-diggety-dog, they look sharp.

3 Partial Wrap Cost Versus Full Wrap Cost

The price really drops when you leave most of the paint visible and wrap only parts of each vehicle. So what do you wrap? It can be anything from a set of decals on the back to a photorealistic graphic swept along the sides. These kinds of vinyl applications can be done with quick turnaround, and they’re easy on the pocketbook, with prices drifting down into the $300 to $500 range. And with a little help from a graphic designer, they can be every bit as a effective as full wraps, in terms of positive brand presence.

4 Poor Paint Condition Can Cost You When Wrapping A Car

Vinyl sticks to every bump and blemish on a painted surface, adjusting to almost microscopic contours. It won’t hide bad spots. It won’t stick to them very well, either, so good luck getting a warranty on your wrap if you insist on applying it to less than excellent paint. You have to repair the blemishes. Minor collision repair shops specialize in cosmetic damage, and they work cheaper than full-service shops when you need dings and dents removed or paint areas touched up. Not much guidance we can give here except the very general range of $200 to $700 per vehicle for this type of repair. So take a good look at your fleet before you commit to wrapping it, and recognize that you may run into some outside costs for some vehicles. On the bright side, most minor collision shops are happy to discuss fleet discounts, and that can save you big.

I Just Takes a Phone Call

If you’ve read all this, and you’re still considering vehicle advertising, the next step is to give us a call. It’s free, and it won’t take long to get a clear idea of, both, what your cost will be, and what you can expect to accomplish with this new advertising channel. Good luck!

If you’re in the Wichita, Kansas, area, Mighty Wraps (a US Logo company) is the place to go. The shop is a spacious warehouse that gives us plenty of room to wrap anything from food trucks to big-rigs. If you’re located elsewhere, we can design and print your wrap for you, then ship it for third-party installation. Give us a call! (316) 264-1321.