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What does a wrap job actually earn?

A consumer wrap and a fleet contract start from the same inquiry and end in very different places. This calculator runs both, side by side, with design time and lead costs counted, so a shop can see which buyer its marketing should chase.

T4 · Wrap economics calculator
After vinyl, install labor, and direct costs, before design time and overhead.
Close rates, yours to edit

Both default to the 40% category benchmark. No published study splits consumer from fleet close rates, so the model assumes no gap until you enter one.

Unbilled design and consultation

Revision rounds and consultations that never hit an invoice. A fleet design is approved once and repeated across the vehicles.

The fleet relationship

Repeat orders default to zero. The fleet case should not need an assumed repeat rate to make its point; add vehicles only if you know your accounts reorder.

Profit factor

Balanced: an inquiry may cost up to a third of the profit it leads to.

Clear answer · Same $26 inquiry, two buyers

One fleet relationship is worth about 13x a consumer job.

Both buyers pay at these numbers: $405 for a consumer job, $5,305 for a 6-vehicle fleet relationship, from the same $26 inquiry. The gap comes from structure, not close rates: one design serves every vehicle, and one relationship carries 6 invoices. That is the argument for weighting your marketing toward fleet buyers while consumer work fills the schedule.

Consumer job
One vehicle, one invoice
$405
net before overhead
Revenue (1 vehicle)
$2,800
Gross profit
$980
Unbilled design time
-$510
Winning the customer
-$65
At a 40% close, one customer takes about 2.5 inquiries. Ceiling: $63 per inquiry.
Fleet relationshipBetter economics
6 vehicles, one design, one buyer
$5,305
net before overhead
Revenue (6 vehicles)
$16,800
Gross profit
$5,880
Unbilled design time
-$510
Winning the customer
-$65
At a 40% close, one customer takes about 2.5 inquiries. Ceiling: $716 per inquiry.

Fleet buyers rarely arrive through search; they get found. If you want a campaign built around the businesses running vans in your county, our pricing is published and the fit conversation is free.

Book the fit conversationSee the published pricing

Benchmarks updated August 2026 · Defaults are sourced or labeled judgment, and every one is editable

The thinking behind the comparison

Why count unbilled design time at all?

Because it is the cost that separates the two buyers most. A consumer choosing a color for their own car tends to buy revision rounds and Saturday consultations that never appear on the invoice; a fleet buyer approves one design that then repeats across every vehicle. Gross margin treats those jobs identically. Counting design hours at your shop rate is what makes the comparison honest, and it is why the consumer column sometimes turns negative while the job still looked fine on the quote.

Why do both close rates default to the same number?

Because no published study splits consumer from fleet close rates for wrap shops, and we would rather leave a gap unmodeled than invent one. The fleet case does not need a close-rate advantage to make its point: the structure alone (one design, many vehicles, one relationship) produces the gap. If your own intake numbers show a split, enter them and the model will use yours.

What should a wrap shop do with the answer?

Treat it as a mix decision, not a verdict on consumer work. Consumer jobs fill the schedule, feed the portfolio, and keep installers busy between contracts. The calculator’s point is narrower: when one fleet relationship returns a multiple of a consumer job from the same inquiry cost, the marketing budget should not be split evenly between the two. Fleet buyers are a list you build (the trades running vans in your county), not a keyword you bid on, which changes what a campaign for them looks like. How we structure that work is on the services page, pricing included.

Methodology

Where these numbers come from

The lead-cost inputs come from our benchmark dataset, refreshed for this tool in August 2026: a ten-keyword vehicle-wrap basket pulled from Semrush (US database) on August 5, 2026, with clicks running $1.99 to $3.87 and a derived cost-per-inquiry band of $15 to $65, median $26. The derivation (CPC divided by landing-page conversion bands) is documented row by row in the repository’s methodology file, alongside the exact basket. One detail from inside the basket: consumer wrap terms cluster near $2 a click while fleet and commercial wrap terms run $4 to $8, so shops chasing fleet work through search pay more per click for less frequent searches.

The default wrap price of $2,800sits inside Wrapmate’s published $1,500 to $5,000 band for full wraps. Close rates, margins, design hours, and shop rate have no published wrap-specific source, so they are practice judgment, labeled as such below and editable in the tool. Repeat orders default to zero for the same reason: we model no repeat rate rather than invent one.

Limits worth knowing: the model prices one job against one relationship and ignores capacity (a six-van contract occupies bays that consumer jobs would have filled), seasonality, and the very real scheduling value of steady consumer flow. Net figures are before overhead. Bands describe the national market; your metro sits somewhere inside them.

Every default in the calculator, its value, and its source
DefaultValueSource
Price per wrapped vehicle$2,800Inside Wrapmate's published $1,500 to $5,000 full-wrap price band
Gross margin35%Practice judgment; wraps are material- and install-heavy, so the default sits below the detailing margin
Cost per inquiry$26Median of the vehicle-wraps benchmark band, derived from the August 2026 Semrush CPC pull
Consumer close rate40%Automotive appearance close-rate band median; practice judgment, no wrap-specific study exists
Fleet close rate40%Same band median as consumer; no published consumer-vs-fleet close split exists, so the model assumes none
Design hours, consumer job6 hrsPractice judgment; consumer jobs typically carry revision rounds and consultations
Design hours, fleet deal6 hrsPractice judgment; one fleet design is approved once, then repeated across vehicles
Shop rate$85/hrPractice judgment for a shop's loaded design-hour rate
Fleet vehicles, first order6Editable scenario input, not a market statistic
Vehicles added later0Defaults to zero: the model assumes no repeat orders unless you add them
Profit factor3Same profit-factor convention as the lead cost calculator: leads should cost at most a third of what they bring in

Pricing a single lead instead of a job mix? The lead cost calculator covers 2026 bands for every service vertical we track, wraps included. Sizing a monthly budget? Start with the Ad Spend Projection Calculator. Both live on the tools page, and if you would rather talk through your own numbers, the discovery call is free.