It’s essential to know how NOT to cut costs on fleet graphics. There are legitimate ways to save money on fleet graphics, as we shared here, 7 Answers to How to Save Money on Vehicle Graphics. Unfortunately, there are ways businesses try to cut costs on fleet graphics that are terrible ideas. Here are 10 ways NOT to cut costs on fleet graphics.
10 Ways NOT to Cut Costs on Fleet Graphics
1. Hiring an Inexperienced Vehicle Graphics Designer
I don’t only mean hiring your cousin Bob’s neighbor, a freshman in college taking a graphic design course. I also mean experienced graphic designers who aren’t experienced in 3D, large format, vehicle graphic design. Even competent design agencies that aren’t familiar with fleet graphic design will make mistakes. What might look like a good design on a 2D computer screen can become a mess when it’s formed around corners and curves. Hiring an inexperienced designer isn’t a recommended way to cut costs on fleet graphics.
2. Using the Wrong Material
Adhesive vinyl graphic material isn’t one size fits all. There are materials designed only for flat surfaces which are never meant to conform to a fender or wheel well. Some materials are intended only for temporary use, and others for a couple of years, and still others for five to seven years or longer. Knowing what material fits your purposes is critical.
3. Attempting to Cover Damage
Vehicle graphics don’t fix damage to your car or truck. And unless it’s a minor scratch, they don’t even hide damage very well. Not only don’t vehicle graphics hide body damage, but they could also make it worse. If the adhesive vinyl holds moisture against a damaged surface, it could speed up corrosive activity. It’s always recommended to repair and paint any damage before applying vehicle graphics
4. Hiring Inexperienced Installers or Attempting to DIY
Cutting costs by trying to save money on installation can cost you more in the long run. At TKO Graphix, we spend hours training our installers, and the training never stops. Installing vehicle graphics isn’t something you watch a couple of YouTube videos and suddenly become an expert. It takes time to learn the best practices and a lot of training.
We recommend that you trust vehicle graphic installation only to certified installers and not someone who thinks it doesn’t look that hard to do. If you’d like to learn more, read our article, How to Find the Best Vehicle Graphics Installers.
5. Not focusing on a Professional Logo
Your logo is never a place to cut costs. It needs to represent your brand across all media, and a low-cost, unprofessional logo will not do the job. The experts at Entrepreneur.com explain, “Your logo should work as well on a business card as on the side of a truck. A good logo should be scalable, easy to reproduce, memorable, and distinctive.”
6. Thinking of Vehicle Graphics as Identification Instead of What They Are — Advertising
Don’t try to save money but cutting your fleet graphics to the essentials such as your name, logo, and phone number, that’s not much more than identification. Fleet graphics can be much more than just identification. Your fleet of tractor trailers, cars, and trucks can be rolling billboards promoting your business 24/7.
A white paper shared by the ATA (American Trucking Association) discovered that 75% of people developed a first impression about a company and its products from truck advertising. Furthermore, an impressive 91% of people stated that they not only noticed adverts on the side of trucks but could also remember them days later. Most importantly, however, the survey revealed that almost a third of people would base a buying decision on the impression they got from vehicle advertisements.
7. The Lowest Bid Mistake
How bad could the lowest bid be? Here’s an example shared by a local news affiliate. “The owner of the vehicle took photos of his car after the wrap. There were warped spots, patched areas, and knife cuts in the paint. When he picked up his car, it was full of trash, including someone’s credit cards, tools, and a pair of socks. The car was nearly out of gas, had 200 miles on it, and there is a video on Instagram of the vehicle being driven full of people dancing in their seats. It made the car owner feel as if his new car was no longer new.” — Fox 59 News.
If you’d like to read more, click this, Vehicle Graphics Gone Bad
8. Fonts Too Small to Read
This might not seem like a “big” deal, but nearly everywhere I look, I see vehicle graphics with fonts too small to read. Often the design is too small to see from ten feet away when the car or truck is parked. What good is sharing your contact information on your fleet vehicles if consumers can’t read it? Vehicle graphics copy not only needs to be large enough to be decipherable when it’s parked but also when it’s moving. If you’d like to learn more, read this FAQ: What’s the Best Font Size for Vehicle Graphics
9. Not Following Printing Procedures
There are many levels of printers. Some produce higher quality output than others. However, it’s not only the quality of the printer but how it’s used. Large format printing is complicated. It’s not like hitting print on your office copier. To begin with, proper color calibration of digital printers can make the difference between printing a graphic that matched the branded colors of a customer or missing it by a mile. Here’s more, Digital Print Color Calibration.
10. Not Following Manufacturers Guidelines
A lower price might be because a graphics provider isn’t following proper guidelines. Before committing to a graphics provider for your graphics, ask if they follow warranty guidelines such as the 3M MCS Warranty.
Adhesive vinyl manufacturers’ guidelines and warranties are about more than the vinyl. The guidelines include what inks to use and not to use, how to prepare the vinyl before and after printing, and other procedures like overlaminating the finished print. A provider that doesn’t follow the manufacturer’s guidelines puts your fleet graphics at risk.
Don’t Make the Wrong Cut Costs on Fleet Graphics
Eliminating the wrong elements to cut costs on fleet graphics is a mistake. If you’d like to learn how to cut costs on fleet graphics and fit a project into your budget the right way, let us know. If you’d like fleet graphics designed to capture attention, printed on state-of-the-art equipment, and installed by expert 3M certified installers, we’re here to help.
For more information or advice, be sure to contact us or get a free estimate for your fleet or vehicle graphics project.
TKO Graphix is a national fleet and vehicle graphics company helping customers since 1985. We provide full-service graphic design, digital printing, screen printing, graphics installation, and removal of large format graphics.
We’ve been helping businesses, large and small, brand their fleet of tractor-trailers, work trucks, and company vehicles. Whether you have a fleet of thousands or a few vehicles, we are here to lead you through the vehicle branding process.
TKO Graphix is proud to be a 3M™ MCS™ Warranty graphics manufacturer. We employ the largest 3M Certified installation crew in the country. If you’d like to learn more and get a free quote, contact us today.
