Commercial Vehicle Wrap Pricing & Planning Guide
How businesses across Montréal and Québec plan, budget and schedule fleet wraps, paint protection film and window tint — straight from the shop floor.
A commercial vehicle wrap is one of the few marketing investments that keeps working every kilometre the vehicle drives. For most local businesses it delivers thousands of daily impressions at a fraction of the cost of paid search or billboards, and no ad blocker can switch it off. The catch is that quotes vary widely between shops, and the cheapest one is rarely the cheapest over five years.
This guide covers what actually drives the price of a wrap, the four levels of coverage we install, why film quality matters more than the quote itself, what the production calendar looks like, and how to keep a wrap sharp through a Québec winter. Everything below comes from work we do every week in Saint-Laurent, on everything from a single work van to a sixty-vehicle fleet.
What actually determines the price of a wrap
Two vehicles of the same size can come in at very different prices, and it is almost never because one shop is being generous. Five things move the number:
- Coverage — a door-panel logo set and a full colour change are two completely different jobs, with different material volume and very different labour hours.
- Vehicle geometry — a cargo van is a set of flat panels. A Sprinter with recessed handles, roof ribs and rivets takes far longer to install cleanly.
- Film — cast vinyl from a premium manufacturer costs more per roll than an economy calendered film, but it conforms to curves without lifting and holds its colour through years of sun and salt.
- Artwork — print-ready vector files take minutes to lay out. A logo pulled from a website screenshot has to be redrawn before it can be printed at vehicle scale.
- Prep and removal — rust, peeling paint, old decals and adhesive residue all have to be dealt with first, because a wrap laid over failing paint fails with it.
The four levels of coverage
Most projects fit into one of four buckets. Knowing which one you need is what keeps a quote honest.
Spot graphics
Logo, phone number and essential detail on doors and rear panels. Fastest turnaround, lowest investment, ideal for owner-operators and service vans.
Partial wrap
Colour and graphics across the most visible panels — doors, hood and one or two body sides — leaving the rest of the factory paint. The sweet spot for most small businesses.
Full wrap
Complete colour change or full-body design, including jambs and recessed areas on request. The most impact per vehicle and the longest install time.
Fleet program
A repeatable spec applied across every vehicle in the fleet, with consistent colours, numbered units and a maintenance plan for damaged panels.
Film quality decides the lifespan
The biggest difference between a wrap that still looks new after five years and one that is peeling at eighteen months is the film, not how fast the installer worked. We install cast vinyl from established manufacturers, laminated with a UV and abrasion-resistant top layer, and every vehicle leaves with a written warranty at handover.
An economy calendered film might quote thirty percent lower and still cost more per year of service — and when it fails, it often takes paint with it. Ask any shop for the film brand, the series and the warranty terms in writing before you compare prices.
Timeline: from approval to keys back
A typical single-vehicle project runs two to three weeks of calendar time, and most of that is not installation.
- Design and proof — three to five business days, including one round of revisions.
- Printing and curing — one to two days, depending on ink coverage.
- Installation — one to three days in the bay for a partial or full wrap.
- Post-heat and inspection — same day, then a short cure period before the first wash.
Fleet work is scheduled in waves so that not every vehicle is off the road at once, and pending units are tracked until the whole fleet matches spec.
Living with a wrap through a Québec winter
Road salt, freeze-thaw cycles and automated brush washes are the three things that age a wrap fastest. Hand wash or touchless wash only, and no brush tunnels. Rinse the salt off the lower panels weekly between December and March.
Skip wax on matte finishes, and never pressure-wash within a hand width of an edge or a seam. Park where the sun can dry the panels whenever you can: a wrap that stays wet and salty at its seams is a wrap that starts to lift.
Fleet wraps and the real cost per impression
A wrapped service van running a normal route in the Montréal area logs somewhere between twenty and forty thousand visual impressions a day. Even on conservative estimates, a full wrap pays for itself within months against a comparable spend on digital ads, and it keeps working long after a campaign budget is gone.
That is why we build fleet programs around a single repeatable specification instead of a one-off design per vehicle — consistent colour, consistent placement and a maintenance plan are what make a fleet read as one company.
Frequently asked questions
The questions we hear most before a project starts.
Next step
Tell us the vehicle, the coverage you have in mind and when it has to be back on the road. We will come back with a written quote, a film specification and a production slot.
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From Montreal to Quebec City, Laval, Longueuil, Sherbrooke and everywhere in between — Wraptek Media delivers commercial-grade wraps across all of Quebec.