Truck Graphics

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I want to put graphics on my van.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
What do you put on your vehicles?
Do you Paint or do Vinyl?
Should it look like a billboard or keep it simple?
I'm thinking of just my company name & number with a big Lightning bolt.
What about Colors? I read that Yellow & black are the most eye grabbing from a distance. (freeway caution signs? Best Buy?)
What about catchy sayings?... "Let me remove your shorts"
 
I contacted a sign shop and discussed ideas with the boss. I decided I didn't want to do anything too fancy, so I just went with my phone number, business name, and license number (the last two are required under state law). My business name is a little bit "designed" (offset lettering, two-tone color), but otherwise it's pretty straightforward. I stay away from catchy slogans, but that's a personal preference.

You definitely want to pick a good high-contrast color scheme. I have a green truck with light tan lettering -- very visible. The lettering itself is some kind of vinyl with adhesive on back. The sign shop sent a guy to my house and he spent about an hour and a half putting them on. I really like how it turned out, and it only cost me a bit over $100.

Stay away from magnetic signs if you can. They tend to look cheesy, and my experience was that they don't weather well (one fused to my truck last summer and had to be chipped off). They are also expensive, about triple what I paid for the permanent signs.
 
jeff43222 said:
Stay away from magnetic signs if you can. They tend to look cheesy, and my experience was that they don't weather well (one fused to my truck last summer and had to be chipped off). They are also expensive, about triple what I paid for the permanent signs.
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Magnetic signs work fine, you just need to clean them and take them off of the truck every now and then. The magnet has metal in it and can rust if not cares for.

It costs about $600 to letter my trucks and $100 for the magnetic signs. I would recommend magnetic signs if you don't always want a name on the truck, around here we have parkways that your not allowed to drive on them with business name on them.
 
There are roads in NY that you can't drive on if you have a business name and number on your truck??? That's about the weirdest thing I've ever heard! What if it's painted on, how do you get anywhere? What about UPS or FedEx, are their trucks allowed on?

A lot of trucks out this way are required to have business name and DOT number on them. It doesn't apply for vans, but I think box trucks and over have to have it now.
 
mhulbert said:
There are roads in NY that you can't drive on if you have a business name and number on your truck??? That's about the weirdest thing I've ever heard! What if it's painted on, how do you get anywhere? What about UPS or FedEx, are their trucks allowed on?
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Even UPS nor fedex is allowed on certain roads. We have so much traffic in NY that we have roads that only passenger cars are allowed on. NY is not the sticks.

So yes some roads prohibit commercial traffic on.
 
Go to a good sign shop. The owner may be a graphic artist. He/she could design a nice logo for you. Some shops are just vinyl letter installers. This may be ok if that is what you want.
My trucks run about $400/ea.

name (logo), phone number.

Black letters on yellow trucks.
 


Letter your van. You will look much more professional. I think it is important to have a logo of your own. too many lightbulbs out there. a friend of mine does graphics work and did mine for me. I think tag lines are good too. but mine is cheesy as are all of them. Plug Into Quality.

My van cost me 525.00 to letter I have that perferated vinyl on the side and rear windows.
 
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This is on all of our trucks, letterheads and business cards and even in the carpet in the main office.
 
around here we have parkways that your not allowed to drive on them with business name on them.

What steams me even more is people who try to get around this any way they can.

My van is lettered and has ladders on the roof. My truck is PROPERLY registered. Because of that it often takes me twice as much time to get from one area to another since I can't use the parkways. If I do I'll get pulled over and ticketed.

I want to strangle the SOB's who illegally register their trucks as passenger vehicles so they can use the parkways. It' not just a matter of your business name being on the truck. A van is not a passenger vehicle unless it has seats or seat mountings in the rear with seatbelts or a stove and a bed which would make it a camper. They busted a bunch of new car dealers for misregistering new vans last year because that's what the customer wanted.

So speedystevie, you got seats or a stove and bed in the back of your van with them passenger plates or are you one of those scofflaws that thinks all you have to do is use magnetic signs?

-Hal
 
When I first started out I had magnetic signs on my truck because that's all I could afford. I had the same truck for about 8 years and when I sold it I used those $$ to get my new truck lettered. I now have vinyl lettering on my van and bug shield.

In my opinion, if you have the $$ - letter your truck with your company name, phone # and logo. Let potential customers know you're doing well. It doesn't matter if you're an "A" rated mechanic or not, pulling up to a job with a beat up truck and a magnetic sign probably won't get you more work.

Vinyl letters come off easier when you go to sell the truck.

Stay away from catchy phrases like "checking your shorts". :oops: You may have to explain what it means to a young child while you're at their parents' house doing work.

Just my opinion !!!
 
I have 2 vans with painted letters, and 2 with vinyl. I'd recommend the vinyl. Paint looks a little better, but doesn't last as well. Especially red. Vinyl graphics have come a long way in the last 5 years.

I've heard that magnetic signs are not "legal". Something with DOT requirements. I have no substantiation on this, though. It came from my sign guy.

I don't like slogans on the van. We used to have one, but stopped using it around 1997.
 
hbiss said:
So speedystevie, you got seats or a stove and bed in the back of your van with them passenger plates or are you one of those scofflaws that thinks all you have to do is use magnetic signs?

-Hal
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I only use magnetic signs on my foreman truck which is a Jeep Grand Cherokee that also happens to have passenger plates. Our work vans are all lettered up and have commercial plates and all need to avoid parkways. So you can aim your very angry and aggressive hands at someone else to strangle. I don't usually pay much attention to what others are doing nor do I care, I have enough stuff to worry about on my end.

In NY any vehicles with out passenger seating or ladders on them must be registered commercial.
 
So you can aim your very angry and aggressive hands at someone else to strangle. I don't usually pay much attention to what others are doing nor do I care...

It doesn't bother you when you are legally on a parkway and some jackleg in a van that has passenger plates and has ladders on top and shelves inside that you can see through the windows blows by you in the left lane doing 70?

It doesn't bother you that because you are law abiding you sometimes have to drive twice as far to get to and from a job as the jackleg?

With the price of gas the way it is I think it would be justifiable homicide. :twisted:

-Hal
 
Indeed it has and for that I apologize.

Back on topic, I would offer the advice to use vinyl rather than paint for whatever you decide to do. I think you would have a hard time finding a "sign painter" today anyway. Vinyl is so much more versatile and more importantly can be easily removed with a heat gun if you decide to sell the vehicle. That means the resale value is going to be a lot more since it doesn't have to be repainted to get rid of your lettering.

-Hal
 
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