Wraptastic Marketing Blog - All About Vehicle Wraps, Graphics, and Sign Education

Buyer Beware: Cheap Car Wraps Come to Philadelphia Area

Paging Dr. Wraps! A few months ago, a client called to ask if we ‘doctored' wraps.  When I asked what he meant, he said the bumpers hadn't been done yet and he had ‘stripes' of car showing through the bottom of the wrap.  I asked him to stop by and show me what he meant so we could be perfectly clear what kind of scalpel my people were going to need..... Let's just say that once I finally saw the mustard yellow car showing through the lemon yellow wrap, I almost screamed...except I was so distracted by the floating head on the rear tailgate and naked front bumper.  That's right...someone left his mustard bumpers completely unwrapped because they didn't want to do them. (Due to the curvature, bumpers, especially grills, are the most difficult part of a wrap.)

When did this car wrap trap rear its ugly head? That's hard to say, but most likely it was due to the growing popularity of car wraps in the Philadelphia area.  They have the lowest cost per impression among other forms of advertising such as billboards, television and print media with the highest recall rate as well.

Now everyone is getting into vehicle wrapping and we see it happening all the time: a company chooses the lowest price (and I mean lowest) then ponders why there are bubbles, mismatched sides, exposed red door handles in a blue wrap and, well, naked bumpers.  Vehicle wrapping is a specialty field in itself and only a qualified, certified professional should perform a full vehicle wrap.  Why, you ask? Wrap material is vinyl.  Vinyl is fickle.  If you don't lay her down in a certain way, use the correct primers and smooth into the cracks correctly, there can be many problems. 

Further, there are different brands of wrap material.  To lower the price, some companies try to swap out the material for a cheap imported copy.  They may also use a laminate that is not suited for the material.  I recently reviewed an estimate that included cut vinyl (solid color) laid over the full color digital print wrap material.  I'm still not sure what that meant.  As a standard rule, you usually don't mix media on the same vehicle - unless you need to cut corners to save on costs, maybe?

I want to leave you with a final thought: if you've gotten a few quotes (say three), take a moment to consider why the cheapest is the cheapest.  Maybe a new or inexperienced installer, or they'll use all scrap material and leave several noticeable seams on your vehicle? While the weight of your brochure paper might not matter, with a car wrap, poor installation can mean major issues later on.  I won't tell you what happened when a cheap car wrap was removed from one company's car.....

Or should I? Ok - if you're considering a car wrap in Philadelphia, New Jersey, or anywhere coast to coast, give us a shout and we'll tell you what we know!

Download Your Free Car Wrap Essentials Kit Here 

 

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Sunrise Signs - Custom Wraps and Graphics is a national provider of high quality, creative vehicle wraps, signs and graphics. Located in Gloucester City NJ, and part of Greater Philadelphia, Sunrise can design, print, and install your graphics from points coast to coast wherever the sun may rise. Contact us today at 877-54-SIGNS (74467) for all of your fleet vehicle graphics and signage needs.