How to Price a Vehicle Wrap: Complete Guide for Wrap Shops
Pricing vehicle wraps is one of the most consequential decisions a wrap shop makes. Price too low and you erode your margins. Price too high without justification and you lose the job. This guide walks through every factor that goes into an accurate, profitable wrap quote.
Why Accurate Pricing Matters for Wrap Shops
Most wrap shops that struggle financially aren't struggling because they lack skill. They're struggling because their pricing doesn't reflect their actual costs. A wrap that takes 14 hours to install, uses 80 square feet of premium cast vinyl, and requires two installers to complete is not a $1,200 job. But without a clear pricing framework, it's easy to quote it that way.
Accurate pricing does three things. It protects your margins so you can pay your team, cover overhead, and reinvest in the business. It sets clear expectations with customers so there are no surprises at pickup. And it positions your shop correctly in the market. Shops that price confidently and explain their pricing tend to attract better customers.
The vehicle wrap industry has grown significantly over the past decade. Fleet graphics, color change wraps, and commercial vehicle branding are all in high demand. That demand gives shops leverage. But only shops with solid pricing systems can actually capture that value.
This guide gives you the framework to build that system.
Understanding Your Costs
Before you can price a wrap, you need to know what it actually costs you to produce one. There are four cost categories every wrap shop needs to track.
Material Costs
Vinyl is your primary material cost. Cast vinyl films from major manufacturers typically run between $2.50 and $5.00 per square foot depending on the product line, finish, and supplier pricing. Specialty films like chrome, brushed metal, or color-shift materials can run $8.00 to $15.00 per square foot or more.
Don't forget laminate. Many color change and commercial wraps require an overlaminate for protection, adding another $1.00 to $2.50 per square foot. Print costs for custom graphics vary widely based on your equipment, ink, and media.
Always build in a waste factor. A realistic waste factor for most wraps is 15 to 25 percent. Complex vehicles with deep recesses, compound curves, and tight panel gaps will push that higher. Flat-sided commercial vans are on the lower end.
Other material costs to track: application fluid, squeegees and tools that wear out, cleaning supplies, primer for difficult surfaces, and any surface prep materials.
Labor Costs
Labor is often the largest cost in a wrap job and the most commonly underestimated. Start with your installer's fully loaded hourly cost. If you pay an installer $22/hour, their fully loaded cost including payroll taxes, benefits, and workers' comp is closer to $28 to $32/hour.
Track your actual install times by vehicle type. A compact sedan full wrap might take 8 to 12 hours for an experienced installer. A full-size pickup truck can take 12 to 18 hours. A transit van with complex graphics can run 20 to 30 hours. These numbers vary by installer skill, vehicle condition, and design complexity.
Also account for non-install labor: design time, print time, vehicle prep and cleaning, quality inspection, and customer communication. These hours add up and need to be in your pricing.
Overhead Costs
Overhead includes everything that keeps your shop running regardless of how many wraps you install. Rent or mortgage on your shop space. Utilities. Equipment payments on your printer, laminator, and plotter. Software subscriptions. Insurance. Vehicle costs if you have a company vehicle. Marketing and advertising.
To allocate overhead to individual jobs, divide your monthly overhead by the number of billable hours your shop produces per month. If your overhead is $8,000/month and you produce 200 billable hours, your overhead rate is $40/hour. That needs to be built into your shop rate.
Your Shop Rate
Your shop rate is the hourly rate you need to charge to cover labor, overhead, and profit. A common formula: (fully loaded labor cost + overhead per hour) divided by (1 minus your target profit margin).
For example: $30 labor + $40 overhead = $70 cost per hour. At a 30% profit margin: $70 / 0.70 = $100/hour shop rate. Most professional wrap shops charge between $75 and $150 per hour depending on market, skill level, and specialization.
Know your number. Don't guess. And revisit it at least annually as costs change.
Vehicle Size Categories and Pricing
Vehicle size is one of the primary drivers of wrap cost. More surface area means more material and more labor. Here are typical price ranges for full wraps by vehicle category. These are market averages. Your actual pricing will depend on your costs, market, and positioning.
| Vehicle Category | Examples | Typical Full Wrap Range |
|---|---|---|
| Compact Car | Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, VW Golf | $2,000 - $3,500 |
| Mid-Size Sedan | Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima | $2,500 - $4,000 |
| Compact SUV | Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Ford Escape | $3,000 - $4,500 |
| Full-Size SUV | Chevy Suburban, Ford Expedition, Tahoe | $4,000 - $6,500 |
| Pickup Truck (Standard Cab) | Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado, Ram 1500 | $3,500 - $5,000 |
| Pickup Truck (Crew Cab) | F-150 SuperCrew, Ram 1500 Crew Cab | $4,000 - $6,000 |
| Cargo Van (Standard) | Ford Transit Connect, Ram ProMaster City | $3,500 - $5,500 |
| Full-Size Cargo Van | Ford Transit, Mercedes Sprinter, Ram ProMaster | $4,500 - $7,500 |
| Box Truck / Step Van | Varies by size | $5,000 - $12,000+ |
These ranges assume standard cast vinyl, professional installation, and no complex design work. Specialty materials, intricate designs, or difficult vehicle geometry will push prices higher.
One thing that catches shops off guard: two vehicles in the same category can have very different surface areas. A Ford F-150 SuperCrew with a long bed has significantly more surface area than a standard cab short bed. Accurate measurements matter more than category assumptions.
Wrap Types and Pricing
Not every wrap job is a full vehicle wrap. Understanding the different wrap types and how to price each one is essential for running a complete wrap business.
Full Wrap
A full wrap covers the entire exterior of the vehicle. This is the most labor-intensive job type and commands the highest price. Full wraps require precise panel-by-panel installation, careful handling of door jambs, mirrors, bumpers, and trim pieces. Pricing is based on total surface area plus labor hours. Full wraps are popular for both color change and commercial branding applications.
Partial Wrap
Partial wraps cover a defined portion of the vehicle. Common configurations include hood and roof, rear quarter panels, or a full side graphic that doesn't wrap around the front and rear. Partial wraps are popular for commercial vehicles where the customer wants branding without the cost of a full wrap. Pricing is proportional to coverage area, but don't discount the design and setup time, which is often similar to a full wrap.
Color Change Wrap
Color change wraps transform the vehicle's appearance using a solid or textured vinyl film. These jobs are typically full wraps and require meticulous attention to panel edges, door jambs, and any visible factory paint. Customers expect a seamless, factory-like finish. Color change wraps often command a premium because the quality standard is higher. Satin, matte, and gloss finishes are standard. Specialty finishes like brushed metal, carbon fiber, or color-shift films add significant material cost.
Commercial and Fleet Graphics
Commercial wraps are typically printed graphics applied to business vehicles. These range from simple door decals to full vehicle branding. Fleet work involves multiple vehicles, often with consistent branding across a company's entire fleet. Fleet pricing typically involves volume discounts, but the per-unit margin can still be strong because of the repeatability and reduced design time after the first vehicle. Fleet contracts are also excellent for cash flow predictability.
Specialty Films: Chrome, Satin, and Beyond
Chrome and mirror-finish wraps are among the most technically demanding and most expensive. The material itself costs significantly more, and the installation requires exceptional skill to avoid visible seams and imperfections. These jobs should carry a substantial premium. Satin and matte finishes are more forgiving but still require care. Textured films like carbon fiber or brushed aluminum are popular for accents and partial applications. Price specialty materials at a higher markup than standard cast vinyl to reflect both the material cost and the skill required.
How to Calculate Your Quote
With your costs understood, here's a practical formula for building a wrap quote.
The Basic Formula
Total Quote = Material Cost + Labor Cost + Overhead Allocation + Profit Margin
Where:
Material Cost = (Surface Area x Material Price/sqft) x Waste Factor
Labor Cost = Estimated Hours x Fully Loaded Labor Rate
Overhead Allocation = Estimated Hours x Overhead Rate/Hour
Profit Margin = Applied as a percentage markup on total costs
A Worked Example
Let's price a full color change wrap on a mid-size SUV using cast vinyl at $3.50/sqft.
- -Surface area: 200 sqft (typical for a mid-size SUV)
- -Material cost with 20% waste: 200 x 1.20 x $3.50 = $840
- -Laminate (if applicable): 200 x 1.20 x $1.50 = $360
- -Estimated install hours: 14 hours
- -Labor cost: 14 x $30 = $420
- -Overhead allocation: 14 x $40 = $560
- -Total cost: $840 + $360 + $420 + $560 = $2,180
- -30% profit margin: $2,180 / 0.70 = $3,114
So a reasonable quote for this job is around $3,100 to $3,200. That's well within market range for a mid-size SUV color change wrap.
The Importance of Accurate Vehicle Measurements
The formula only works if your surface area number is accurate. Guessing vehicle dimensions is one of the most common sources of pricing errors. A vehicle that's 10% larger than you estimated means 10% more material and potentially more labor. On a $3,000 job, that's $300 you didn't account for.
The best approach is to use a database of actual vehicle measurements rather than estimating from memory or general category averages. Different trim levels, cab configurations, and bed lengths on the same model can have meaningfully different surface areas.
WrapQuotes maintains a database of over 2,900 vehicle makes and models with accurate surface area data. When you build a quote in WrapQuotes, you select the exact vehicle and the measurements are pulled automatically. That eliminates one of the biggest sources of pricing error.
Markup Strategies
There are two common approaches to markup: cost-plus and value-based pricing.
Cost-plus pricing applies a fixed percentage markup to your total costs. It's simple and ensures you always cover costs. The downside is it doesn't account for market conditions or the perceived value of the job.
Value-based pricing sets the price based on what the customer values and what the market will bear. A chrome wrap on a luxury vehicle for a high-profile client might command a higher price than the cost-plus formula suggests. A fleet contract for a local business might require more competitive pricing to win the work.
Most successful shops use cost-plus as a floor and value-based thinking to determine where above that floor to price. Never go below your cost-plus number. How far above it you go depends on the job, the customer, and your market position.
Common Pricing Mistakes to Avoid
Underestimating Install Time
New shops almost always underestimate how long installs take. Track your actual hours on every job for at least six months. You'll likely find your estimates are consistently low. Adjust your time estimates based on real data, not optimism.
Forgetting Non-Install Labor
Design time, print time, vehicle prep, quality checks, and customer communication all take time. If you're not billing for these hours, you're working for free. Build them into your quotes explicitly or roll them into your shop rate.
Using Retail Material Prices Instead of Your Actual Cost
Your material cost is what you pay, not what the material retails for. If you're buying at a discount, your cost is lower. If you're paying full retail, your cost is higher. Use your actual invoiced cost when building quotes.
Not Accounting for Waste
Ordering exactly the square footage of the vehicle surface area will leave you short. Always apply a waste factor. For complex vehicles, 25% is not unreasonable. Running out of material mid-install is expensive and unprofessional.
Matching Competitor Prices Without Knowing Their Costs
If a competitor is pricing lower than you, you don't know if they're profitable at that price. They might be losing money. Pricing to match competitors without understanding your own costs is a race to the bottom.
Quoting from Memory Instead of Measurement
Every vehicle is different. Quoting based on what you remember from the last similar job is imprecise. Use actual vehicle data for every quote. The few minutes it takes to look up accurate measurements can save you from a costly underquote.
Not Revisiting Your Pricing Annually
Material costs change. Labor costs change. Overhead changes. A pricing structure that worked two years ago may be leaving money on the table or losing you money today. Review your costs and pricing at least once a year.
Using Software to Streamline Pricing
Building quotes manually in a spreadsheet works when you're doing a handful of jobs a month. As your volume grows, manual quoting becomes a bottleneck. It's slow, error-prone, and inconsistent. Two different people in your shop will quote the same job differently.
Wrap shop quoting software solves this by standardizing your pricing logic, pulling in accurate vehicle data automatically, and generating professional quotes in minutes instead of hours.
WrapQuotes was built specifically for vehicle wrap shops. It's not a generic quoting tool adapted for wraps. Every feature is designed around how wrap shops actually work.
The vehicle database covers over 2,900 makes and models with accurate surface area data. When you start a quote, you select the vehicle and the measurements populate automatically. You set your material costs, labor rates, and markup once. Every quote after that is consistent and accurate.
The built-in calculator handles the math. You see a clear breakdown of material cost, labor cost, and total price. You can adjust any variable and see the impact on the quote in real time. That makes it easy to offer options to customers. "Here's the price for standard cast vinyl, and here's the price if you want the satin finish."
WrapQuotes also handles customer management and scheduling, so your quoting, customer records, and job calendar are all in one place. No more digging through email threads to find what you quoted a customer three weeks ago.
There's a free tier that includes 5 quotes per month, 25 customers, and 1 seat. That's enough to get started and see how the software fits your workflow. The Pro plan is $49/month and includes unlimited quotes, 3 seats, and the full feature set.
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See how WrapQuotes calculates wrap pricing. Select a vehicle, set your material costs, and get an instant quote breakdown.
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