• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Need Help Car Wrap Vinyl Removal - How to sell it? Explaining the high price to customers

CSOCSO

CSOCSO

I don't hate paint, I just overlay it.
How do you guys approach this subject? I have done plenty enough removals and I usually charge $75 + price of chemicals. This includes the removal of the vinyl. scrubbing off the glue and also washing the car at the end.
In my experience it's impossible to tell time or price of the removal. Especially if the vinyl is cracked or someone else wrapped the vehicle. I have run in to issues where the installer primered every single edge.
Also had a chinese vinyl removal where all the glue was left behind and took 2 of us 10 hours and 5 gallons of rapid remover ( cost on that itself was $225!)
After trying to charge the customer over $1000 for the time and the chemical the customer refused to pay the full price They said if they knew it will take this much time they would have come help me. Lol. I told them that would have saved time and money but what's done is done. Ended up eating the price of the chemical and still wanted a few hundred dollars off of the removal price.
The other week I had a customer who brought a huge sprinter in. They removed %90 of the vinyl. They had primer and glue here and there. Front top piece above the windshield wasn't removed. That piece was all cracked. They used a rubber wheel on the cracked hood graphics so there was still a lot of glue everywhere. I told them I have to charge for it. They asked how much. Told them it's $75 and can't tell how long it will take. They got pissed, took the vehicle never heard from them since. Why is that people can't understand how pain in the ass removal is? They should know. They have removed almost all the vinyl.
What is a good tactic to explain to the customer that in my experience every removal is different? Some vinyl leaves more glue than other. Also the age of the vinyl matters too. How much glue it leaves and how much primer was used. Yet customers still want exact numbers and they look very frustrated if I tell them I don't know.

Also had a customer who decided to remove the wrap themselves and after 3 days of removal the customer told me that he wouldn't even do this for $75 and hour.
 
Last edited:
untitled

untitled

New Member
I usually don't try to "sell" it to much as I don't really like doing it anyway. Anytime they ask for removal I tell them it's my hourly rate and I cannot quote how long it will take. I tell them I won't even be able to give them a rough estimate of time as there are a lot of factors involved such as vinyl type, if primer was used, how long it's been on for etc... Normally I just get the go ahead to do it as they are putting new graphics on anyway and it has to be done.

I know the majority of my clients quite well at this point and they usually just trust me on it. I could see how someone who doesn't know you would be a bit skeptical as they probably have never done it before. It is what it is and if I don't get the job I'm not to upset about it.

I did have one client want a wrap removed and we explained it, he gave us a budgeted amount of time to spend on then what was left he would try and do himself. I think it was around 8 hours, we had all the vinyl off but whoever installed the wrap put 4-6 inches of primer along all of the edges. So there was still some vinyl in those areas to remove and still the adhesive left to remove. He bought a jug of Rapid Remover from us and finished it himself.
 
Texas_Signmaker

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
I charge a flat rate to remove graphics.

I will say this, I aim for $150-$200 (because I hate removing graphics) and I only remove graphics if it's part of a larger job, like installing new graphics. I always test the removal BEFORE coming up with the flat rate, and I always OVER estimate my removal time.

I find that this method almost always guarantees me a higher hourly rate.
 
eahicks

eahicks

Magna Cum Laude - School of Hard Knocks
We don't do removals unless we installed it. We know what we put on our vehicles, how we did it, and how long the graphics have been on. Too many variables with other's work and prefer not to deal with 'those people' that balk and whine about the cost.
 
I

iPrintStuff

Prints stuff
Worth remembering these are the same customers that want their wrap to live forever and would come back in an instant if it came off too easy. Basically just tell them that the vinyls are meant to be permanent and thus are hard to remove. Emphasis on permanent.

Would always either test the vinyls before quoting or just stick to removing the ones your company has put on!
 
Southpaw1

Southpaw1

New Member
I agree with eahicks. A lot of people that complain about the price of removal that's such a good deal on the front end because they didn't use the proper wrap vinyl to begin with. That's not your fault. I usually hand them a little chisler and tell them they're welcome to start themselves.
I had one client that ended up having to have his entire van color sanded and buffed to get all the glue off which was an additional 1500. He said he paid a little over then for the whole vehicle to be wrapped and now he knows why he got such a good deal
 
2B

2B

Active Member
removals are ALWAYS by the hour + cost of materials/chemicals

For the "tire kicker" / "price shoppers", we are blunt.
Telling them our price is costly. If they want quality work, the costs will reflect what they get

If they bring the vehicle to the shop, we hand them rapid remover, lil chizel and have them try to remove some material.
this usually gets the point across, that removal is done by time.

You can refer them to a paint/body shop for a another source for removal cost
 
gabagoo

gabagoo

New Member
It's one of those services whereby you can't give them a real price until the job is done... Customers will assume you are adding time when it takes 8 hours legit. I personally hate removing vehicle graphics...even at $80 per hour I can be making more money designing / printing or cutting...and enjoy it.

someone should open a company strictly vinyl removals...every shop would call them in!!!
 
mmblarg

mmblarg

New Member
We charge the same price per hour and will tell them the same thing that we can't accurately estimate the time. However, with that said, we do give them a very very rough estimate to give them a ball park and then offer to call them when we hit half that time but are not half way done so they have a chance to say "I understand it will cost more, go ahead" or "no, I'll try myself" without the pain of paying the full estimated cost for an unfinished job. This gets the price-huffers out of the office before we waste the time into labor and getting them to pay, and it gives the good customers a sense that their time, money, and opinion is valued in the process.

As far as softening that pricey blow in the first place, we don't. We just explain that that is our installation/removal rate and all costs are dependent on time. If clients don't like this or think it's crazy, we offer them printed instructions on installation and removal. A good 50% of the time, these clients will be ecstatic to be given a way to do something themselves, mess it up, and then come back to you with a new found appreciation for your line of work and will then happily pay for the install / removal.
 
jriley

jriley

New Member
CSOCSO said:
How do you guys approach this subject? I have done plenty enough removals and I usually charge $75 + price of chemicals. This includes the removal of the vinyl. scrubbing off the glue and also washing the car at the end.
In my experience it's impossible to tell time or price of the removal. Especially if the vinyl is cracked or someone else wrapped the vehicle. I have run in to issues where the installer primered every single edge.
Also had a chinese vinyl removal where all the glue was left behind and took 2 of us 10 hours and 5 gallons of rapid remover ( cost on that itself was $225!)
After trying to charge the customer over $1000 for the time and the chemical the customer refused to pay the full price They said if they knew it will take this much time they would have come help me. Lol. I told them that would have saved time and money but what's done is done. Ended up eating the price of the chemical and still wanted a few hundred dollars off of the removal price.
The other week I had a customer who brought me a huge sprinter. They removed %90 of the viny. Primer and glue here and there. Front top piece above the windshield wasn't removed. Vinyl all cracked. They used a rubber wheel on the cracked hood graphics so there was still a lot of glue everywhere. I told them I have to charge for it. They asked how much. Told them it's $75 and can't tell how long it will take. They got pissed took the vehicle never heard from them since. Why is that people can't understand how pain in the *** removal is? They should know. They have removed almost all the vinyl.
What is a good tactics to explain the customer that in my experience every removal is different. Some vinyl leaves more glue than other. Also matters how old is the vinyl. How much glue it leaves and how much primer was used. Yet customers still want exact numbers and they look very frustrated if i tell them i don't know.

Also had a customer who decided to remove the wrap themselves and after 3 days of removal the customer told me that he wouldn't even do this for $75 and hour.
Click to expand...

Seems like you just wrote a rough draft for a Wrap Removal Information & FAQ that you should hand to your customers and have them read before you even start a conversation, haha!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top