I am SO saving for a car wrap. How much will I need, do you think?

I don't know why but I keep thinking that a wrap of the back end of my car (a Toyota Sienna minivan) will be around $600-800 (if I do a lot of the design work). And that a full car wrap where I get extensive design help (which I very well might need LOL) will be around $2,000-2,500. Does this sound around right?

My minivan is a gold color. I always see car wraps on white cars/vans and think they look so spiffy, but I wonder if the gold will mute everything or not make it stand out.

Has anyone looked into car wraps? Would anyone have any thoughts on this? I would welcome and appreciate any input...

Warm regards,
Barbie

ps: stupid question, but are the wraps easily removable if I want to sell my van later? It is almost 5 years old and I want to keep it for 3-4 more (now that it is paid off), then sell it.

Hey Barbie,

I have been seriously considering this as well. I contacted a place by me called innovative signs & graphics to get prices and they told me for my two rear side windows and back window on the minivan it would cost $600-1000 for my info and maybe pics of 2 faces. It would include the design fee and installation fee. For a full wrap on the back of the van with design fee and installation fee I would be looking at $2500. I think I may just do the 3 windows instead of the wrap.

Oh my, is it *that* much?

removing a bad idea

I have a Lexus Rx 330 and momentarily thought of doing that..

but decided to go with the large door panel magnets instead and they have proven to be very effective. So funny when I am driving I always see people trying to quickly jot down my info.

I leave them on the majority of the time...removing only If I am going to a special event/dinner

Those things have stuck on through hurricances and gale force winds that took down trees. I can't tell you how many times after a bad storm I had expected to go out to my car and NOT see them there....lolol they haven't failed me yet.

I eventually want to get a wrap, but decided that I should hook a husband before work-izing my car

Thought about magnets, but I hate the idea of taking them off and seeing the dirty outline of where they were, and don't you have to clean before putting them back on so you don't scratch the paint with any dirt etc?

Also my parents used magnets on their van ages ago, and the blasted things kept getting stolen.

I only take mine off when I am going to the car wash anyway. I know the guy there so he cleans my signs as my car is going through...so not a big hassle.

I have the magnets & actually did a party for a family that does the wraps(wish I'd known & could have worked a trade...). I'm considering just the back window for around $300. I still might offer it up for trade....

Hmmmmmmm now that's an idea. I have a large back window so something like that could work very nicely and I could have something permanent or semi permanent and then the sides removable.

I HAD magnets.... one got stolen, the other got ripped. So much for that idea.

I believe Shannon Fennell has a car wrap. She said she gets a lot of bookings from it because it is so graphic to have the back end of her car with some of her best work on it. You may want to talk to her about it. I believe that if you do that to your car though, you need to have commercial car insurance instead of regular insurance (at least in Canada).

This cost me $1300. Back end sides from the back edge of the back doors, to the edge of the rear door, and the spare cover.

It will come off with heat - use a hair dryer and peel it off. It is the same 3M material that they now sell you when you buy a new car as a "clear protector wrap" to protect the front end from rock chips, etc.

To do a full wrap on a RAV4 was quoted at $6000 in 2007. Toyota's are more expensive as they have to remove trim to apply the wrap which is harder on Toyota's than on other makes.

And I had to register as a commercial vehicle and get business use insurance. Commercial registration is based on vehicle weight so it only costs me $84/year for the registration (the lowest category) and business insurance is less than personal.

I have a Toyota Sienna and the back window is wrapped. I designed it and ordered it on-line and did it myself for about $150. It's more common now than when I did it a few years ago, so there are lots of on-line places where you can purchase a custom printed perforated adhesive "banner". The hardest part was figuring out how to design it to fit the window. You need to order a larger size and then cut it down to fit since the window isn't square. They are fairly easy to apply, and peel right off when you want to remove them.

Negatives are that when it rains you can't see out of the back at all (water collects in the little holes), and after a while dirt collects in the holes, making visibility more difficult.

But all in all, a great value for nice looking a advertisement. People recognize me all over town, and I've gotten several jobs from it even though I live in a rural area.

Do you have photos of your wrap Angie, sounds like a great idea!~

$2k+ sounds quite a bit much for a wrap on only the rear of your vehicle. I own an advertising & promotions business (my day job and while they can certainly be pricey it still sounds a little steep. A much cheaper alternative would be to get an estimate for single color decals and accenting with a few full color ones to show your work. It's not considered a wrap, but would have basically the same effect.

mmmh quote I got in my town was $60.00 a window and they would help me with final graphic placement after i finished the design.

The company I used did the design too... I just gave them a cd of photos I liked, a pencil sketch of what I thought I would like and their designer did it and chose which photos to use.

I just looked back through my bookkeeping records (I am working on my books as I type this ) the exact cost of my wrap was $1,160.70 for design and installation. So I remembered it a little more than it was.

It has paid for itself many times over. And I can't be bothered to do stuff like that myself...

$60 is a good deal, I'd definitely go for that if they installed it. Sounds like things have gotten a bit more affordable.

I lost my original pics of my window wrap when my 'puter crashed a while back, but I can take some new ones once I've washed my van. It's embarrassingly dirty right now. LOL. It basically looks like my website banner, with a face on each side and the name/website/number in the middle.

Shannon I think you got a GREAT deal. I would be delighted to pay $1200 for the result you got. And I can see that it would pay off quickly. That is why I want one

I am not so good at graphic things. I am afraid I will need a lot of help with this I will give the decal thing a genuine effort, but in the end I am thinking I will need to pay the higher price. Although money is tight, I am convinced it will pay off rather quickly - within months, if not quicker!

Barbie

Shannon your car looks fabulous!!! LOVE IT...I want one!! oh man.....thanks for all the great ideas guys...this is my favourite place to visit!

I'd really like to see yours Angie. A couple hundred dollars seems very affordable for such great advertisement.

Thanks for the pic Shannon, I also have a Rav4, and wish I could put some advertising on the back wheel cover, so seeing yours is really inspiring! I'm going to look into getting something made that I can put on that.

I already have 2 small door magnets and 1 large (the small from when I had my little car last year), and today for the first time I lost one of the small ones. I'm thinking it blew off or something rather than getting stolen since I had both small ones on that side of the car and the other one was still there. Oh well... I was planning on ordering another big magnet for that side anyway.

Oh, this is so embarrassing. Please keep in mind that I haven't washed my van in MONTHS and it is extremely dusty/dirty and has pollen all over it. (I've been soooo busy, no time to breathe, much less wash my vehicle, lol.) So, this is the worst it's ever looked, but here's the window wrap. It has faded over time, but since I want to change and update it every couple of years anyway, it's no biggie.

That is beautiful Angie!

Toyota's RULE!!

Shannon Fennell wrote:Toyota's RULE!!

Das right!!