How to Wrap Your Car With Vinyl & Get Paid for It

It's been more than a decade since Time magazine reported on an innovative new advertising technique: covering cars with advertising messages. Agencies and companies loved wrapping. It's inexpensive, practical and an effective way to spread the word about new products and services. That consumers were eager to jump on the bandwagon in return for "renting" their cars was a natural outgrowth of the phenomenon. If the idea of driving a car embellished with hood, roof and door graphics in return for cash appeals to you, it's time to hit the road.

• 1

  Do a gut check. Make sure you don't mind having your car turned into a publicity conduit for products you ordinarily might not dream of dropping into your shopping cart. Companies looking for drivers willing to wrap their cars prefer new vehicles. If yours happens to be a model that commands attention, such as a VW Beetle, PT Cruiser, or a van with lots of body surface, your chances of landing a contracincrease. Add points if you live and commute in a major metro area.

• 2

  Find an advertiser by employing any or all of these methods: visit websites that play matchmaker between advertisers and folks like you; get your car into the hypothetical hands of ad agencies representing clients interested in offbeat advertising opportunities; approach corporate advertising managers directly; present the idea to your employer if you know he's always on the lookout for innovative ways to promote the company.

• 3

  Sign a binding contract that stipulates an agreed-upon fee paid in return for your driving commitment. Ask an attorney to check the contract language to be sure everything is kosher. Turn your car over to an automobile graphics shop picked by the client or the agency. Alternately, find a graphics business with wrap capabilities and offer to oversee the wrapping process in return for the client footing the bill.

• 4

  Drop your vehicle off at the wrap site. Expect it to be in the shop for at least a day after the designer gets final approvals on the design, pre-flights (checks out) the graphics, and oversees resizing tasks. Stick around to watch as giant sheets of ads on vinyl emerge from the commercial plotter. Observe technicians as they trim away film surplus to ready it for application before smoothing and bonding the advertising message to your vehicle's contours.

• 5

  Meet your obligations to the advertiser in return for regularly scheduled payments. You may, for example, be required to meet GPS-tracked mileage goals monitored by the advertiser to qualify for payment, or to bring your car in annually to have the condition of the wrap checked. Expect the wrapped ad to last around five years. If you drop your advertiser or they drop you, the film peels off like a label on glass, requiring little more than rubbing alcohol for touch ups.