Wrap or paint – What’s the best option for your car?

The car wrapping industry has been rapidly growing in recent years. That trend is not expected to stop any time soon. Now that wrapping technology offers a high-quality finish comparable to painting you may have to ask to help yourself, which would you choose, wrap or paint?

Those looking to change their car’s look might be considering to wrap it, but is it right for you? We are here to tell you all about it.

Design complexity

If you want your car to have custom designs, animated characters or elaborate company logos, then wrapping your car is probably going to be cheaper and faster than painting it.

This is because car wraps are printed, so they can have many different colors without altering the price significantly. Painting, on the other hand, means that each color you add to your design adds a coat of paint to the process.

Pricing

Painting your car can be achieved for as little as $1000 using low-quality paint.

A decent quality paint job can range from $3000 to $7000, assuming no bodywork is needed, this is all for single-color paint jobs.

If you are looking for metallic colors or custom art, it could cost you in excess of $20.000, depending on the complexity.

A very popular color is “candy apple red” which as metallic red paint. It costs around $5000 to paint an average pickup truck in this color.

A full wrap of your car can cost from $3000 up to $6000. You could use metallic vinyl, or as many colors and complex art as you wish.

The customization options are infinite and for a fraction of the price that it would cost to paint them.

Durability

A quality paint job can outlast the car itself. An average wrapping job will last, on average, five years.

You can add a protective coat to your vinyl that can make it last considerably longer. It can protect it from sun damage and scratches, but it could cost you up to $2000.

Resellability

Wrapping is temporary. When the day to sell your car arrives, doing it with your company logo or custom art painted all over it can make it harder to sell. Luckily you can remove all the vinyl from your car in a few hours without damaging the paint underneath.

In fact, if installed properly, the wrapping will protect the paint from sun damage and light scratching. You’ll be able to sell your car with its paint in pristine condition.

Time

Wrapping your car is usually faster than painting it, especially if its a complex design. A single color paint job can take from four days to a full week. Wrapping your car should take no more than two to three days.

Conclusion (TLDR)

When we compare wrap vs paint on a single non-custom color, it’s going to be cheaper to have it painted than wrapped.

If it’s a complex design, then wrapping it will be the cheaper option. But wrapping will only last five years on average. A paint job could last forever if done right.

Repainting is permanent. You cant go back to the original color, with wrapping you can with little effort. This can be useful whenever you want to sell your car.

If you want to get in touch with a professional to paint or wrap your car you can do so here and get a quote.