Most of the haulage fleets we wrap do not own their trailers outright. Curtainsiders come from a rental pool, box trailers get swapped between depots, and a tractor unit might pull six different trailers in a week. Wrapping the trailer in that situation is money on someone else's asset. Wrapping the cab is not. It stays with the unit for the whole lease or ownership period and it is the first thing anyone sees at a loading bay, in a mirror or at the lights.
A cab wrap is also the quickest way to make a mixed fleet look like one company. A DAF, a Scania and a Mercedes Actros in the same livery read as a fleet. Three cabs in factory white with a vinyl phone number do not. When we wrapped the tractor units for FTS, the pair of cabs in matching livery did more for the brand than any single trailer could, because the cabs go everywhere and the trailers do not.
There is a practical case too. A wrapped cab protects the paint on the panels that take the most stone chips, and it comes off cleanly at the end of the lease so the unit goes back in the colour it arrived in. For leased units that is often the deciding factor.
We wrap cabs on DAF, Scania, Volvo, Mercedes, MAN, Renault, Iveco and Isuzu units, from 7.5 tonne rigids to full artic tractor units, sleeper and day cabs. Each make has its own awkward areas. Scania grilles and sun visors, the Actros aero kit, the DAF roof deflector. Our installers have done enough of each to know where the film wants to sit and where it needs to be worked in a separate piece rather than stretched.
- Full cab wrap: every painted panel, doors, roof, deflector and wind kit, so the unit changes colour completely
- Partial cab wrap: doors and side panels branded, roof and deflector left in the base colour
- Cab and body: for rigids, the cab and box or curtain wrapped as one design that lines up across the gap
- Cab graphics: cut vinyl or printed panels on a factory-colour cab, for operators who want the name and number rather than a colour change
- Chapter 8 rear markings on the body where the vehicle stops on or beside the highway
The Dennis Eagle refuse truck we took from white to 3M gloss black with a printed overlay, and the Reston Waste and Shorts vehicles, are all cab and body jobs where the cab did most of the talking.
A cab gets pressure washed weekly, sits in the sun on a trailer park all summer and takes stone chips at 56 miles an hour all year. Calendered film, the cheaper kind sold as wrap film by some sign shops, shrinks back from the edges and cracks on the deflector within a year of that treatment. We fit cast film only: 3M IJ180 for printed livery and the 3M 2080 range for colour changes, laminated so the print is protected from wash chemicals and UV.
As a 3M Select Gold Partner the film is fitted to 3M's specification and carries the manufacturer's warranty on the finished graphic. Fitted indoors on a prepared surface, a cab wrap is a five to seven year job, which is roughly the life of a leased unit.
- {01}Brief. Make, model, cab type, whether the roof and deflector are included, your artwork or brand files, and the date you need the unit back.
- {02}Panel map and proof. Your design placed on a template of your exact cab, so the seam never runs through the phone number and the logo sits where the mirror arm does not hide it.
- {03}Print and laminate. HP latex print on 3M cast film, laminated, or self-coloured 2080 film for a colour change.
- {04}Preparation. Wash, decontaminate and degrease. Mirrors, badges, steps and trim removed where that gives a wrapped edge rather than a cut one.
- {05}Install indoors. Controlled temperature, proper access to the roof, panels sequenced so joins land where they are least visible. Post-heated into every recess.
- {06}Inspection and handover. Every edge checked, trim refitted, aftercare notes for your drivers and your wash contractor.
A cab-only wrap is usually one to two days including the overnight settle. We will give you a dated slot once we have seen the vehicle and the artwork, and we do not release a unit until the film has had its settle time.
The unit is at 153 Croydon Road, Caterham, off the A22, ten minutes from junction 6 of the M25. Hauliers come to us from depots around Croydon, Dartford, Crawley and the Gatwick estates, and from further round the M25 in Hertfordshire and Essex, because the unit takes an artic indoors and because of the 3M status. We are outside the London Congestion Charge zone, so a unit can be dropped without the daily charge, and there is straightforward access for long vehicles.
For fleets we work in batches around your routes. Once your templates exist for a cab type, every unit that follows is a repeat, and a damaged panel can be reprinted and refitted without redoing the whole cab. Fleet clients get a named account manager who can be reached out of hours, which is how PRS Distribution have rebooked a damaged van at midnight.
Questions people ask before they call
Lorry cab wrapping
Tell us the make and model of the unit, whether the roof is included and what you want on it. We'll come back with a proof on your cab type and an itemised price. 020 8944 6360 for the commercial team.
