Vehicle Painting vs. Car Wrapping

Advertisers have long sought better and more ample opportunities to get their brands, messages, and promotions out to their customers without breaking the bank.  As many have found out, vehicle graphics on company fleet vehicles is a great example of a fixed expense, long-term option that their customers will see and identify with.  However, many marketers and small business owners often toil with which medium to choose in applying their vehicle graphics, car wraps or paint.

Versatility

Car wraps allow for a wide variety of vehicle graphics, as do custom paint jobs.  There are virtually no limits on the design possibilities within both mediums.  However, car wraps can be utilized for long-term advertising or short-term promotions.  In the case of promotional advertising, installers can utilize low cost vinyl materials that will lessen the fiscal impact while still highlighting marketing efforts.  Graphics can be removed in as little as a month or less and quickly replaced with new promotional graphics.  A painted vehicle, while impressive from an aesthetic standpoint, does not offer that kind of versatility.

Resale Value

Reselling a fleet or company vehicle can be difficult at times due to unique usage, options, and various customizations that don't appeal to all audiences.  An additional variable that can prove costly when it comes to replacing older vehicles is the advertising messages that often come along with them via graphics and logos.  In the case of painted vehicle advertising the only viable option is repainting the vehicles at the cost of the company.  Using car wraps allows for the same dynamic advertising capabilities while offering the advantage of simply removing the vehicle graphics.  Additionally, the vinyl material used in applying car wraps actually protects the original paint job, increasing the resale value as opposed to lowering it.

In the case of leased vehicles, the headaches associated with painted graphics can become more painful due to the possibility of lost deposits or penalties.  A painted graphic can be considered damage to the vehicle whereas a car wrap is, again, simply removed leaving the original paint in outstanding condition.

Fleet Consistency

Company logos and associated artwork are often closely guarded by marketing professionals for the consistency and quality that comes with good branding practices.  The artwork used to brand their company vehicles is no different.  Car wrap advertising allows marketers to simply provide a digital computer file in varying formats to create logos, marketing messages and other designs for fleet vehicles, maintaining consistency within the fleet as well as with other, traditional marketing materials.  Custom painted vehicles often end up with just that, custom paint jobs that vary from one vehicle to another due artist variables and human error.

Another aspect of fleet consistency that car wraps can enhance is matching designs for all sizes of vehicles including large delivery trucks and tractor trailers.  Scaling graphics is not always a simple task, especially when using varying surfaces and shapes.  Doing so the old fashioned way, by the hand of the artist painting the vehicle, risks variables that can have undesirable effects on advertising efforts and brand consistency.  Vinyl vehicle graphics are quality controlled digitally, utilizing the same source graphics and artwork for both large and small vehicles, guaranteeing the consistency and quality that marketers and small business owners demand from their fleets.

Vehicle graphics can enhance virtually any marketing or branding campaign while adding a consistent, aesthetic quality to fleet vehicles.  By utilizing car wraps instead of traditional vehicle paint business owners gain the additional benefits of versatility to use both short and long term advertising, maintaining resale value and limiting lease return expenses, as well as providing a means to maintain consistency within their fleet vehicles.  Car wrap technology enables business owners to limit their expenses while providing a quality medium for advertising on their own vehicles.