Every week someone asks for "a full wrap" and leaves having ordered a partial, and someone else asks for "just lettering" and leaves having ordered a full wrap. Both leave with the right product — the trick is knowing which one your situation actually calls for. Here is the decision logic we use, the same one we run in the shop.
Lettering: the $450–900 answer
Cut vinyl: company name, phone, license number, maybe a one-color logo. It is the fastest and cheapest way to make a vehicle legal for job sites and identifiable at the curb.
Lettering is enough when your work comes from referrals and job-site visibility rather than drive-by attention — subcontractors, service techs working fixed contracts, anyone whose van is parked in driveways more than it is driving arterials. It is also the honest recommendation when the vehicle is older or leased short-term: don't put a five-year wrap on a two-year truck.
Its limit: at 40 mph nobody reads small type. Lettering identifies you; it does not advertise you.
Partial wrap: the workhorse
A partial covers the rear doors and a portion of each side — typically the back half or three-quarters — and uses the factory paint as the background color.
A partial wins when the van is white (or your brand's base color) and your identity works on that background. This describes most trade businesses, which is why partials are our most-recommended product. From behind — the view every driver stuck behind your van gets — a partial is indistinguishable from a full wrap. The cost is roughly 60% of full coverage.
A partial is wrong when your brand needs its own background color, when the vehicle's paint is faded or mismatched (the wrap edge draws a line right where old paint shows), or when you want the wrap to double as paint protection for resale.
Full wrap: maximum message, maximum protection
Every painted panel covered, complete control of the design, and the factory paint preserved underneath — full wraps routinely come off after five years to reveal better paint than the unwrapped mirrors beside it.
A full wrap earns its cost when the vehicle is the storefront (food trucks — no debate), when you are building a fleet identity that has to look identical across vehicles bought in different years and colors, or when your route racks up serious daily freeway mileage where the vehicle IS your ad budget.
The 10-second version
- Referral business, van in driveways → lettering
- White van, brand works on white → partial
- Colored brand background, fleet consistency, food truck, heavy road miles → full
Still unsure? Send us photos of the van and your logo — we quote all three coverage levels side by side, and we will tell you plainly if the cheaper one does the job. That costs you nothing and it is how half our fleet customers started.