Fleet and Commercial
Fleet Graphics and Vinyl Wrap
In short: Vinyl on a fleet vehicle in Southern California lasts five to seven years before it needs replacing, and the removal of the old set is frequently a larger job than the application of the new one.
- Typical range
- $800 to $9,500+
- Labor hours
- 5 to 45 hours
- Updated
Fleet graphics are the cheapest advertising a service business owns and the most commonly neglected asset it has. A van with faded, peeling, half-removed branding is communicating something about the business, and it is not the intended message.
Vinyl or paint
For fleet work, vinyl wins almost every time.
It costs substantially less. It applies in days rather than weeks. It is reversible, which matters at end of lease and at resale. It is replaceable panel by panel when one panel gets damaged, where a painted graphic means repainting and blending. And it protects the paint underneath, so a wrapped van frequently has better paint at five years than an unwrapped one.
Painted graphics make sense when branding will never change, when the finish needs to outlast a vinyl cycle, or when the design cannot be reproduced in vinyl.
Material, and why the cheap option costs more
Cast vinyl is the professional material. Thin, conformable over curves and rivets, dimensionally stable, five to seven years on vertical surfaces here.
Calendered vinyl is cheaper, thicker, less conformable, and it shrinks as it ages. Shrinkage is the important part: it pulls edges back from where they were applied, leaving a visible outline and an entry point for dirt and water.
On a fleet the material premium for cast is small against the cost of a rewrap cycle, which is why we specify it as standard and will explain the difference rather than quoting the cheaper option to win on price.
Southern California is harder on vinyl than most of the country. Horizontal surfaces, hoods and roofs, take far more UV than vertical ones and fail first, which is worth knowing when planning a replacement cycle.
Removal is a real job
Removing an old wrap is frequently a larger job than applying the new one, and it is quoted separately rather than absorbed.
Fresh vinyl comes off cleanly with heat. Vinyl that has been on for eight years in this climate is brittle, comes off in fragments, and leaves adhesive that has to be removed chemically without damaging the paint underneath.
Where a wrap was applied over paint that was already failing, removal will lift the failing clearcoat with it. That is not caused by the removal, it is revealed by it, and it means the vehicle needs paint work before it can be rewrapped.
What we do
Full vehicle wraps, partial wraps, cut vinyl lettering and logos, window graphics including perforated one-way vision film, colour change wraps, fleet rebranding across mixed vehicle types, removal and surface restoration, DOT reflective marking and compliance graphics, and paint protection film on high-impact areas.
Fleet consistency
The main advantage of vinyl for a fleet is that it brings vehicles of different models, colours and ages to one visual standard.
That requires a per-model template set rather than one design stretched to fit everything. A logo scaled to fit a Transit door and the same logo scaled to a box truck side should read at the same visual weight, which means designing per surface rather than scaling one file.
We build and keep that template set, so vehicles added to the fleet next year match the ones done this year without redesigning anything.
Scheduling around operations
Fleet operators cannot take every vehicle off the road at once. We schedule in batches sized so you are never short more than an agreed number, and we can usually turn a straightforward wrap in one to two days per vehicle once artwork is approved.
For operators with a rolling replacement cycle, doing a few vehicles at each service interval spreads both the cost and the downtime.
What it costs
| Job | Typical range | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Lettering and logos | $800 to $2,000 | 5 to 11 |
| Partial wrap | $2,000 to $4,500 | 11 to 22 |
| Full wrap, van or box truck | $3,500 to $9,500 | 20 to 45 |
| Wrap removal | $600 to $2,500 | 4 to 14 |
| Window graphics | $400 to $1,500 | 3 to 8 |
Labor is $210 per hour. See the pricing page.
Estimates are $150 and credited back against an authorized repair.
Surface preparation, which decides everything
A wrap fails at its edges, and edges fail because of what was underneath them.
Vinyl needs a clean, sound, fully cured surface. That rules out three things people frequently want to skip past. Fresh paint needs to gas out before it is wrapped, which takes days rather than hours, or the trapped solvent lifts the adhesive later. Wax and silicone from previous detailing has to be removed chemically, not just washed, because adhesive will not bond through it. And failing clearcoat has to be dealt with rather than covered, since vinyl applied over paint that is already delaminating will take that paint with it when it comes off.
Rivets, corrugations and deep recesses on box bodies and commercial vans need heat and post-heating to set the vinyl into shape permanently. Skipping the post-heat produces vinyl that looks correct on delivery and lifts out of every recess within a few months as it tries to return to flat.
We inspect and prepare rather than wrapping over problems, and where a vehicle needs paint work before it can be wrapped we say so at quote rather than discovering it on the day.