Should you make your company vehicles stand out?

If you decide that this is something you would like to do with your fleet, there are many ways to achieve it. I am going to start with the least common and in my opinion the least effective of the three ways for the majority of companies: ordering a custom color vehicle from the factory. This might seem like a simple solution to make your fleet of trucks stand out, just make them orange or some other flashy color.  The biggest problem with this is you are limiting your resale value in most cases. Especially if you are purchasing work truck types of vehicles, most people in the market for used commercial vehicles are going to be looking for white. Any other color will be limiting the potential customer base to sell this vehicle to and that will most likely lower the value. In some cases that I have seen, a commercial vehicle that is an off color will go unsold at the auto auction for 4-8 weeks in a row.  In order to sell it, the price is usually greatly discounted or the vehicle has to be transported to another state Colors like black or silver are not affected as much, but it is important to keep in mind most people looking for used commercial vehicles are looking for white.  There is one situation where resale value does not matter.  If you run your commercial vehicles until they are dead, orange scrap metal sells for the same amount as white scrap metal. I do not think that this is a very efficient way to manage company vehicles. In most cases, upkeep, and safety, become more of an issue the older a vehicle gets, but that topic deserves another discussion to itself.

The most common way companies advertise on their vehicles is adding decals on the doors or flat panels of their vehicles.  Most of the time these decals are vinyl but sometimes they are large magnets.  The magnets were designed to be easily removable but in my experience. If the magnets are strong enough to hold the sign  to the vehicle, you run the risk of causing damage by taking the sign off and on, and if the magnets are not strong enough they will be lost.  This is the fate of the majority of these magnet signs that I have ever seen. Vinyl decals are reasonably priced. $10 to $15 per square foot will get your vinyl printed, cut, and installed in most places, and if you need graphic design done, most artists charge $50-$100 per hour.  Most of the time, decals are put on the doors or side panels of vehicles, but many companies will also label individual vehicles with unit numbers or some sort of differentiating mark elsewhere on the vehicle. We help our customers dispose of thousands of used commercial vehicles each year, and one of the most time-consuming and expensive parts of getting rid of these vehicles is removing decals and the “halo” left behind by them.  After a vehicle is in the sun and elements long enough the paint gets worn and discolored but the paint underneath the decal will remain like new.  This will cause the outline of the vinyl decal to remain even after the decal is removed.  This is something you will want to take very seriously as you can open yourself up to bad publicity with your name on a vehicle, imagine your company being tied to a random person that bought a used commercial vehicle.  These halos are able to be removed by buffing the panel the decal was on. In most cases this can run several hundred dollars, as there will most likely be multiple panels that will have to be buffed out.  Also make sure you do not buy extremely cheap vinyl as it can melt in high heat and harm your paint job permanently. As you can see, there is a lot to think about before just slapping $100 worth of vinyl on a vehicle.

The last situation I will go over is a full vinyl wrap.  This is by far the catchiest and most customizable way to make your vehicles stand out.  This also comes with the highest price tag as well. Most vinyl shops across the country charge between $2,000 to $4,000 for a sedan, and $3,000 to $5,000 for a full wrap of commercial sized vehicles like a Chevrolet Express van or crew cab truck.  This is a very time-consuming install and requires someone with a lot of skill to complete. If you have ever seen a bad vinyl wrap you know what I mean.  They start chipping from the places where there were bubbles, and if it was cheap vinyl the colors will fade in a matter of months. Even with a good installer and design, not all vehicles work well with vinyl.  There are many vehicles that have curved panels or sharp edges that make any graphics put on them look distorted and funny from a lot of perspectives. Make sure if you do choose to do a full wrap that you have a professional do the design for you and make sure you can see a mock up before spending thousands of dollars on vinyl that does not have the effect you are looking for.  One good thing about doing a full wrap is that the “halo” effect will be all over the vehicle and can actually help to preserve the paint of the vehicle, but again, before you sell them you will have to remove all of the vinyl. This is also a slow painful process and can cost hundreds of dollars to remove.

I think that a lot of companies could better use their marketing money elsewhere.  Here are just some examples of things to think about when considering making a change to your fleet.  In my experience people seem to be much more impressed with well-maintained and organized company vehicles.  If you are able to make your fleet work better with organizational or navigational equipment, I believe that is much more impressive than a vehicle covered in advertisements that shows up late and does work inefficiently.