Fleet Graphics and Fleet Vehicle Livery
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01622 673797
enquiries@rgva.co.uk
Unit 4 Spectrum Business Estate, Bircholt Road, Parkwood, Maidstone, Kent ME15 9YP
Get A Quote TodayRGVA designs, produces and installs fleet graphics and fleet vehicle livery for UK operators, from a handful of service vans to fleets of more than 450 mixed vehicles and assets. We are a 3M Select Platinum Partner and we have worked on nothing but vehicle graphics since we started trading in 2001, which is why fleet managers use us for the whole programme rather than for one batch of vans.
Fleet vehicle livery is the application of branding graphics and decals to commercial vehicles, so that every van, truck and trailer carries the same identity wherever it goes. Done properly it does four things at once: it advertises continuously across your whole service area, it holds brand consistency across vehicles bought at different times from different manufacturers, it makes the business look established to customers who see it on the road, and it protects the paint underneath on lease and contract hire vehicles.
What is included in a fleet livery programme
Fleet audit. We work through your vehicle schedule and record what each asset actually is: manufacturer, body type, base colour, panel dimensions and any existing livery to be removed. This is where most fleet quotes go wrong, because a curtainside, a box body and a tractor unit are not comparable and should not be priced as though they were.
Design and artwork. Our in-house design team either applies your existing brand guidelines across every vehicle type or builds the identity from scratch. You approve a visual of each actual vehicle type before anything is printed.
Production. Printed in house on HP Latex printers, laminated and cut in 3M Matched Component System combinations, so the whole fleet is one specification and a replacement panel matches a vehicle fitted four years earlier.
Installation. At our Maidstone facility, at your depots, at your van converter, or at the manufacturer during pre-delivery. We fit Howard Tenens vehicles at Mercedes and Scania during the PDA process, so new vehicles arrive in service already liveried.
Aftercare and damage replacement. A managed ordering process for accident damage, so you and your approved repairers can order replacement graphics against a coded reference rather than describing a panel over the phone.
Removal and rebrand. Clean removal at end of lease or at rebrand, without damaging the paint underneath.
Fleet livery in numbers
- Working exclusively on vehicle graphics since 2001.
- 450 plus vehicles and assets on the Howard Tenens fleet, where RGVA is preferred supplier for all vehicle graphics, in year five of the relationship.
- 400 plus demount truck bodies and 89 tri-axle trailers re-liveried for DFS across 60 UK sites, the largest single roll-out of the Traxx system in Europe.
- 200 plus vans standardised for HomeServe, plus its franchisees own vehicles.
- 96 Müller trailers re-liveried in three weeks at a single depot, without standing the fleet down.
- 3M Select Platinum Partner, with every technician 3M Approved Vehicle Wrapper qualified.
Fleet graphics options and what each one is for
Cut vinyl fleet graphics. Logo, contact details, fleet number and legal markings in pre-pigmented 3M 50 Series film. The standard where vehicles arrive in one base colour. Lowest cost per vehicle and the fastest to fit.
Partial fleet wraps. Sides and rear in brand colours and artwork. The usual balance point for van fleets that want presence without full wrap cost.
Full fleet wraps. Every panel covered. Used where vehicles arrive in mixed base colours and the fleet has to look identical regardless, which was exactly the HomeServe problem. See the full vehicle wrapping service for coverage levels.
Trailer and curtain graphics. Printed curtains and trailer panels for curtainsiders and box trailers.
Traxx quick-change frames. A patented high-tension aluminium frame that holds a printed banner on the side of a truck or trailer. Banners slide in and out in minutes, in any weather, and used banners are 100 per cent recyclable. This is what you use if the livery is a campaign rather than an identity.
Chapter 8 and illuminated safety markings. Conspicuity chevrons and tape for utility and highways fleets, including illuminated chevrons with an 80,000 hour illumination life.
Non-PVC film. For operators with a sustainability requirement in procurement.
Vehicle types we livery
Vans and panel vans. Small, medium and large panel vans, crew cabs, Lutons and tipper conversions, including vehicles liveried at the converter before they reach you. For one or two vehicles, see van graphics for smaller fleets.
Rigid trucks. Curtainside and box bodies. On the Toolstation programme this covered 13 DAF CF75 26-tonne rigids in both variants.
Tractor units. Cab wraps and cut graphics, including nine DAF XF105 units on that same programme.
Trailers. Up to and including 13 metre Schmitz Cargobull trailers, as fitted for Freshlinc.
Demount bodies and swap bodies. More than 400 of them on the DFS fleet alone.
HGVs, tankers and specialist bodies. Where surface, rivets and curvature dictate the film specification.
Buses, coaches and mobile units. Including welfare units and specialist conversions.
Company cars and car derived vans. Where the car fleet carries the same identity as the commercial fleet.
Who we do this for
Third party logistics and haulage. Where vehicles carry a customer identity rather than yours, and change identity when contracts change.
Home services and field engineering. Where the fleet grows continuously and every new vehicle has to match the last one.
Facilities management. Multi-site operations with mixed vehicle types under one brand.
Retail and FMCG. Where the fleet is a marketing channel and campaigns change more often than vehicles do.
Utilities, highways and construction. Where Chapter 8 compliance sits alongside branding.
Tool and equipment hire. Where vehicles are visible on customer sites all day.
Lease fleets and end of contract
Most commercial fleets are leased or on contract hire, and handback condition is where livery costs money if it is done badly. Professionally applied cast vinyl removes cleanly from sound factory paint and protects the panel underneath while it is on, which usually leaves the paint in better condition at handback than an unliveried vehicle.
Where a panel has pre-existing stone chips, abrasion, rust or a previous respray, removal can lift loose paint or lacquer, and we identify that at audit rather than at handback. We also handle removal and rebrand programmes where a contract changes hands and the vehicles stay.
Fleet livery case studies
Howard Tenens, established in 1953 and one of the largest independently owned logistics companies in the UK, runs over 450 mixed vehicles and assets and has used RGVA as its preferred supplier of all vehicle graphics for five years. National Fleet and Compliance Manager Alan Pellow says “we believe that RGVA levels of service and quality of graphics are the best on the market”, and attributes the longevity of the graphics to “the high-quality materials and processes used by RGVA and the skilled technicians who fit them”. Most of the fleet brand new vehicles are fitted with graphics during the PDA process at Mercedes and Scania.
DFS operates more than 400 demount truck bodies and 89 tri-axle trailers. Until 2016 the fleet carried a static corporate livery. RGVA installed the Traxx quick-change frame and banner system across the fleet at 60 sites nationwide, in what was the largest single Traxx roll-out in Europe, and also fitted new 3M vinyl graphics to the rear shutters of each asset. The original Sporting Ambassadors campaign was completed inside seven weeks. Later campaign changes take as little as 15 minutes per banner. Kimberley Knowles, Production Manager at DFS, describes the process as going “like clockwork”.
Müller UK and Ireland had Traxx fitted to 96 trailers in 2015 and then wanted the whole fleet carrying a new Muellerlight campaign. All 96 trailers were re-liveried in three weeks at the East Kilbride depot, with the fleet in constant operation throughout. Fleet Engineering Manager Archie Cameron says “the guys at RGVA made it a painless process”, and notes that while the rear door vinyl needed a temperature controlled environment, “the banners slide on in all weathers”.
Freshlinc, a Lincolnshire haulier, had 10 of its 13 metre Schmitz Cargobull trailers turned into a travelling art exhibition for the Transported community arts project. Latex printed on 3M IJ40 laminated vinyl, fitted in three weeks at the Spalding base, and expected to be on the road for three to six years while the trailers cover around 2,500 miles a week each.
Read the Howard Tenens case study, the DFS fleet rebrand, the Müller trailer campaign and the Freshlinc trailer graphics, or browse all RGVA case studies.
Fleet livery costs and lead times
Fleet livery is priced per asset against your vehicle schedule, not per square metre, because the same brand applied to a panel van, a curtainsider and a tractor unit is three different jobs. Send us the schedule and we will price it per vehicle type, with a rollout plan built around how the fleet actually runs.
On timescales, the published record is the best guide: 96 trailers re-liveried in three weeks, 34 trucks and trailers rebranded in six weeks, 10 large trailers printed and fitted in three weeks, and a 60 site national roll-out delivered in seven weeks. Request a fleet livery quote or call 01622 673797.
How we manage the rollout
An account manager stays your single point of contact from first audit to final vehicle, and once the job goes live an operations team owns the timeline, the quality and the logistics. Our network of employed fitters and approved subcontractors means fitting location is flexible rather than fixed to one site.
The full detail of how we run programmes, including the accident damage ordering process, is set out under vehicle graphics project management.
Fleet graphics and livery questions
What is fleet vehicle livery?
Fleet vehicle livery is the application of branding graphics, lettering and decals to commercial vehicles such as vans, trucks and trailers, so that every vehicle in a fleet carries the same identity. It ranges from cut vinyl logos and contact details through to full printed wraps covering every panel, and it is normally specified per vehicle type across the whole fleet rather than vehicle by vehicle.
How much do fleet graphics cost per vehicle?
Fleet graphics are priced per asset against your vehicle schedule rather than per square metre, because the same brand applied to a panel van, a curtainside rigid and a tractor unit is three different jobs with three different material requirements. Cut vinyl graphics are the lowest cost per vehicle, partial wraps sit in the middle and full wraps are the highest. Fleets of ten vehicles or more are normally materially cheaper per vehicle than a single unit.
How long does it take to livery a whole fleet?
It depends on fleet size, vehicle types and how much of the fleet can be off the road at once. As published examples: RGVA re-liveried 96 Müller trailers in three weeks at a single depot with the fleet in constant operation, rebranded 34 Toolstation trucks and trailers in six weeks, and completed a 60 site national roll-out for DFS in seven weeks.
Can you fit fleet graphics at our depot rather than at your site?
Yes. RGVA operates a network of employed fitters and approved subcontractors covering the whole of the UK, so installation can take place at your depots, at your van conversion company, or at the manufacturer during pre-delivery. Howard Tenens vehicles are fitted with graphics during the PDA process at Mercedes and Scania so they enter service already liveried.
What happens when a liveried vehicle is damaged?
RGVA holds your artwork, film specification and fitting records, so a damaged panel is matched by a coded graphic reference and replaced to the original specification. You or your approved repairer order the replacement against that reference rather than describing a panel over the phone.
Is fleet livery safe on leased and contract hire vehicles?
Yes. Professionally applied cast vinyl removes cleanly from sound factory paintwork and protects the panel underneath while it is fitted, which usually means the paint is in better condition at handback than on an unliveried vehicle. Where a panel already has stone chips, abrasions, rust or a previous respray, removal can lift loose paint, so RGVA identifies those vehicles at fleet audit rather than at handback.
Can you remove an old livery and rebrand an existing fleet?
Yes. Removal and rebrand programmes are routine, including where a logistics contract changes hands and the vehicles stay. On the Toolstation programme RGVA removed the existing Howard Tenens livery from 34 trucks and trailers and replaced it with Toolstation colours inside a six week deadline.
What is the difference between fleet graphics and a fleet wrap?
Fleet graphics normally means cut vinyl logos, lettering and contact details applied to a vehicle in its existing base colour. A fleet wrap covers whole panels or the whole vehicle in printed film. Wraps are used where vehicles arrive in mixed base colours and the fleet still has to look identical, and where the design carries photography or colour that cannot be cut from pre-pigmented film.