Paying employees to wrap their personal cars to advertise for the company???

[Cale Frederick]

Not sure where I should post this... but my question is does anyone get paid or pay their employees to advertise on their personal vehicles? My boss is looking for ways to boost our wrap business and he was curious if any employees would be willing to wrap their cars. Pretty much everyone here either said no or not unless we get some kind of mileage compensation. We have about 25 employees (we have a full offset print shop running along side our large format and we also have a quick print type storefront operation) and I understand that paying a mileage fee for that many people would add up fast. Are there any other shops that do this or something similar? I being the manager of our Large Format side was willing to wrap my car and not worried about mileage compensation. Everyone was offered free reign over what they could put on their vehicle to, only to have maybe one or two small company logos and a phone number/web address.

 

[wildside]

Not sure where I should post this... but my question is does anyone get paid or pay their employees to advertise on their personal vehicles? My boss is looking for ways to boost our wrap business and he was curious if any employees would be willing to wrap their cars. Pretty much everyone here either said no or not unless we get some kind of mileage compensation. We have about 25 employees (we have a full offset print shop running along side our large format and we also have a quick print type storefront operation) and I understand that paying a mileage fee for that many people would add up fast. Are there any other shops that do this or something similar? I being the manager of our Large Format side was willing to wrap my car and not worried about mileage compensation. Everyone was offered free reign over what they could put on their vehicle to, only to have maybe one or two small company logos and a phone number/web address.

once you put the company name and contact info it becomes a liability to the company, insurance premiums go up for the business and for the persons insurance as you will have to claim it as a business vehicle, and then of course the commercial license plates to put on all of them......

see where this is headed, not a good idea at all......

 

[Fatboy]

I personally think that it would be a bit unfair to ask

 

[Gino]

That's the main reason company's provide vehicles to their employees, so they can advertise.

Besides, do you want your business being advertised if one of them goes to an undesirable hangout or near a bad location ??

This is a very bad idea, plus the legal aspect as mentioned with insurance and liability.

Also, sometimes, you can't advertise on a regular vehicle unless it's properly registered.

 

[Cale Frederick]

once you put the company name and contact info it becomes a liability to the company, insurance premiums go up for the business and for the persons insurance as you will have to claim it as a business vehicle, and then of course the commercial license plates to put on all of them......

see where this is headed, not a good idea at all......

Hadn't thought about it that way, however I know on several customer vehicles that we have customized we may add, at the customers request, the same logo number and website on the lower corner of a bumper or in the back windshield. Would doing similar to that still constitute the vehicle be a commercial vehicle and have commercial licenses?

 

[wildside]

check your local laws on it, here commercial plates are not needed unless over 10,000lbs, however, listing the contact info does create a commercial vehicle to be owned by a "dba' or whatever registered with the state

leave the contact info off, just the name or logo and that is avoided, however again, in a sue happy world, when people see a company logo and it is involved in a wreck or whatever, dollar signs are seen in some peoples eyes as being a commercial vehicle and will sue

if the company wants more advertising, buy some vehicles, wrap them and let the "trusted" employees take them home at night as a perk, and of course use them during all business related trips anywhere

 

[Desert_Signs]

if the company wants more advertising, buy some vehicles, wrap them and let the "trusted" employees take them home at night as a perk, and of course use them during all business related trips anywhere

This is what we do. I have a take home vehicle that is wrapped and I just picked up another take home pickup for my production lead. It's a perk for him and it's more advertising.

 

[Cale Frederick]

Thanks for the info. Our CEO has some off the wall ideas sometimes... When he was talking to me about it I had actually mentioned Buying a few company cars and using those. He wanted to wrap all the employee cars so that when people drove by our storefront they saw the whole line of wrapped cars parked beside our building. I still plan on wrapping my personal vehicle, taking your advice Wildside... small logo only no contact info. Our laws are similar to yours about the weight of the vehicle. The CEO also wants to wrap his truck and car and we have a fullsize van we have started on.

 

[eomedia]

once you put the company name and contact info it becomes a liability to the company, insurance premiums go up for the business and for the persons insurance as you will have to claim it as a business vehicle, and then of course the commercial license plates to put on all of them......

So in the same line of thinking if a bus runs an ad for a chain of restaurants, it needs to be put on the restaurant's auto insurance? No way.

The definition of employee vehicle is if it is driven for work purposes, i.e. for deliveries or sales. Slapping what amounts to a large sticker on their personal car they use solely for personal driving isn't going to meet that threshold IMO.

Google around but ads on personal vehicles have been floated before and I don't believe it ever incurred an added insurance liability just because of the presence of signage.

Now having a car parked outside a seedy location with the company's name all over it... that's more of what I would be worried about.

 

[Mike F]

Besides, do you want your business being advertised if one of them goes to an undesirable hangout or near a bad location ??

They could also end up making a bad decision on the road and getting a video of it plastered all over youtube, like driving like a maniac, blowing red lights or stop signs, getting road rage and threatening or confronting someone, etc.

Personally I wouldn't want mine wrapped, I listen to my music way loud when I'm driving by myself and some of the stuff I listen to wouldn't reflect well on the company.

 

[cajun312]

So in the same line of thinking if a bus runs an ad for a chain of restaurants, it needs to be put on the restaurant's auto insurance? No way.

The definition of employee vehicle is if it is driven for work purposes, i.e. for deliveries or sales. Slapping what amounts to a large sticker on their personal car they use solely for personal driving isn't going to meet that threshold IMO.

Google around but ads on personal vehicles have been floated before and I don't believe it ever incurred an added insurance liability just because of the presence of signage.

Now having a car parked outside a seedy location with the company's name all over it... that's more of what I would be worried about.

In Louisiana the insurance companies require any vehicle with advertising to be licensed and insured as a commercial vehicle.

 

[ProWraps]

So in the same line of thinking if a bus runs an ad for a chain of restaurants, it needs to be put on the restaurant's auto insurance? No way.

The definition of employee vehicle is if it is driven for work purposes, i.e. for deliveries or sales. Slapping what amounts to a large sticker on their personal car they use solely for personal driving isn't going to meet that threshold IMO.

Google around but ads on personal vehicles have been floated before and I don't believe it ever incurred an added insurance liability just because of the presence of signage.

Now having a car parked outside a seedy location with the company's name all over it... that's more of what I would be worried about.

glad you are a moonlighting insurance agent but you are wrong.

if you wrap a vehicle in a company wrap and you hit and kill someone, your business will INSTANTLY be sued for the maximum allowed under the law.

if you do not have commercial insurance on said vehicle, you will be left without coverage. ignorance is no excuse under the law. and just because people have done it, doesnt mean its correct. any insurance company will cover their asses and you will be left hanging. they all have commercial clauses that include vehicle signage.

for this purpose, we have NO wrapped vehicles.

my advise to the OP, forget that idea quickly.

 

[Gino]

So in the same line of thinking if a bus runs an ad for a chain of restaurants, it needs to be put on the restaurant's auto insurance? No way.

The definition of employee vehicle is if it is driven for work purposes, i.e. for deliveries or sales. Slapping what amounts to a large sticker on their personal car they use solely for personal driving isn't going to meet that threshold IMO.

Google around but ads on personal vehicles have been floated before and I don't believe it ever incurred an added insurance liability just because of the presence of signage.

Now having a car parked outside a seedy location with the company's name all over it... that's more of what I would be worried about .

That's why you are wrong. It's only your opinion. Read up on it before writing such non-factual non-facts.

Advertising on the sides of transit vehicles is big business and all kinds of licensing takes place and paper work is signed. Unfortunate accidents and all liability are taken care of beforehand.

With your way of thinking, the owner is taking advantage of non-professional/commercial vehicles. It might be aggressive thinking, but it's not gonna ride on the roads.

Now, you wanna wrap a demolition derby car or some beat up truck and park it on a corner because you're cheap, that's a different story, but you're still gonna be the one responsible for everything pertaining to that vehicle.

 

[Cale Frederick]

Just a quick reference to what I was talking about. Sorry bad design I through together for illustration purposes. The little oval in the window would be where it says wrapped by:

 

[ProWraps]

well, with that design you have much bigger problems than insurance....

 

[SightLine]

If any of my employees want to wrap their cars they are going to pay me, not me pay them.

 

[Cale Frederick]

well, with that design you have much bigger problems than insurance....

Thats for sure ProWraps... quick template and background fill, I actually have a harder time sometimes designing a wrap with no advertising on it.

 

[Fanaticus]

I don't want my business name to be on the vehicle that plows over a group of nuns escorting a pile of terminally ill orphans to their Make a Wish event. No sir-ee.

 

[gnemmas]

I do not believe OP's idea of wrapping a car and put their signature on a corner will make that car a commercial vehicle.

Considering: car mfg emblems, does it make you a Ford Advertiser? "Go Lakers", "LA king Rocks" plastered on the back window, aren't you advertising these teams?

 

[ProWraps]

I do not believe OP's idea of wrapping a car and put their signature on a corner will make that car a commercial vehicle.

Considering: car mfg emblems, does it make you a Ford Advertiser? "Go Lakers", "LA king Rocks" plastered on the back window, aren't you advertising these teams?

you must be a gambling man. im not.