Guides
Wrap and tint shop quote template: the lines to include and why
A wrap and tint shop quote template, line by line, with three worked examples showing how scope, removal and fleet volume change the structure, not the price.
What to take away
- A wrap and tint shop quote template is a scope document with a number attached. Most disputes come from the scope half.
- Eleven lines belong in every wrap quote, and a tint quote adds its own set on top of them. Two of the wrap lines, refusal and aftercare, are the ones usually missing.
- Show the assumptions, so that a change in the vehicle changes the price openly rather than silently.
- Prices in the worked examples below appear as formulas built on one placeholder rate R, not as currency, because a price from another shop is not a price for yours.
- Put an expiry date on every quote. Film prices move.
The eleven lines
- Vehicle identificationmake, model, year, and the plate or identification number. A quote for "a van" is not a quote.
- Inspection findings: paint condition, existing film, previous repairs, and anything visible that affects the work. Attach the arrival photographs.
- Scope in physical termswhich panels or windows, whether jambs are included, whether recesses are wrapped through or trimmed, whether hardware comes off.
- Exclusionswhat is explicitly not included, including anything the customer might assume.
- Materialfilm line and finish, and whether the customer is choosing a color that carries different handling or cost.
- Labor basisflat, hourly with a minimum, or per panel, stated plainly.
- Removalquoted separately, with an estimate rather than a fixed figure, and a note that it can move once the first panel lifts.
- Refusal and riskyour paint condition rule, and where the customer is proceeding against advice, the acknowledgment they are signing.
- Timinghow long the vehicle will be with you, including cure or hold time before release.
- Aftercarewhat the customer must do and not do after collection, matching what the film manufacturer specifies.
- Warrantiesthe film manufacturer's material warranty and your workmanship warranty, stated separately with their own conditions and durations.
Add a deposit line for anything printed or custom, stating the amount or percentage and the point at which it stops being refundable. Add an expiry date for the whole quote, and the job number that will follow this vehicle through every record you keep.
The tint lines the same checklist needs
Tint work is priced and risked differently from a wrap, and the same document has to carry both. These lines sit next to the eleven above.
- Window list and positionswindshield, front side windows, rear side windows, rear glass, sunroof, and any factory privacy glass, each priced on its own, because film area, glass curvature, and labor differ by position.
- Shade in numbersthe visible light transmission (VLT) percentage the customer chose, written on the quote, together with the film construction — dyed, metallized, carbon, or ceramic — because heat rejection, signal interference, and cost change with it.
- Legality acknowledgmentthe limit is set by the state where the vehicle is registered and changes by window position. Record the shade chosen against that state's vehicle code — California Vehicle Code § 26708 is the statute that governs front side windows in California — and never print the word legal on the quote.
- Windshield strip or visorits own line, because the allowed height and darkness follow a rule of their own; the AS-1 marking on the windshield is the reference most state codes use.
- Glass details that decide the labordot matrix frit bands, defroster lines, the third brake light housing, and antennas or electronics in the glass. Say for each whether it is tinted over, trimmed around, or excluded.
- Film lot and warrantythe film manufacturer's material warranty and your workmanship warranty, each with its own conditions and duration, plus the manufacturer's aftercare instructions, which differ from a wrap's.
Old tint comes off on an hourly basis with a stated range, the same way wrap removal does, because adhesive and defroster lines decide how long the labor runs.
Written out in this order, the eleven wrap lines and these six tint lines are the template: paste them into your quoting tool and fill in the values for each vehicle.
Eleven quote lines
- Vehicle IDmake, model, year, plate
- Inspectionpaint, film, repairs, photos
- Scopepanels, jambs, recesses
- Exclusionswhat is not included
- Materialfilm line, finish, color handling
- Labor basisflat, hourly, or per panel
- Removalseparate estimate, range, disposal
- Refusal and riskpaint rule, signed acknowledgment
Worked example one: two ways to price the same van
A customer asks for a full color change on a panel van. Two shops quote. Both are honest. The quotes differ by a lot.
R below is a placeholder for your shop's all-in rate for one bay hour, covering labor, overhead, and profit, not a currency amount. The 210 square feet and the 28 hours are illustrative for a mid-size panel van, not benchmarks for your market.
Two quote methods, same van
Shop A
- Basis
- Surface area
- Labor
- Application only
- Difficulty
- Not priced
- Material
- Catalog coverage
- Disposal
- Not included
- Scope length
- Shorter
Shop B
- Basis
- Occupied bay hours
- Labor
- Wash, apply, heat, reassemble
- Difficulty
- Factor D applied
- Material
- Width purchased plus waste
- Disposal
- Included
- Scope length
- Longer
Shop A quotes on surface area at a rate per square foot, and includes application only. Its quote covers 210 square feet of van surface, priced as 210 times its area rate, plus material at catalog coverage.
Shop B quotes on occupied bay hours. It writes the hours out: 3 for wash, decontamination, solvent wipe, and hardware removal; 16 for application; 5 for post-heat on recesses and edges; 4 for reassembly and inspection. That is 28 bay hours.
It applies a difficulty factor of 1.25 for the recessed handles, the deep front bumper channel, and the roof rails that have to come off. That gives 35 bay hours at R per hour, or 35R, before film and disposal.
Its film line is 18 running meters where 15.5 would cover the panels, a waste allowance of about 16 percent, priced at your distributor's rate per meter. Shop A bills material at catalog coverage, which on this van understates film by about 2.5 meters.
Fill in R and the distributor's price per meter and both quotes become real numbers. Shop B's total is higher and its scope is longer. Shop A's price is the same whether the van has smooth handles or recessed ones, which means it is wrong on at least one of those two vans.
Shop B's method is set out in how to price services for a fair margin.
Worked example two: the removal that was not quoted
The same customer returns three years later and wants the wrap replaced. If the quote treats this as a re-wrap, the shop has agreed to remove weathered film for nothing.
Removal then re-wrap
- Customer returns with weathered wrap
- Quote removal separately: hourly estimate, range
- Note adhesive residue and sun-baked film can extend it
- Include disposal of removed film
- Quote re-wrap conditional on sound surface
- If paint compromised, job becomes bodywork
The correct quote splits into two documents, or two clearly separated sections:
Worked example two
- Removalan hourly basis with an inspected estimate, a stated range, and a note that adhesive residue and sun-baked film can extend it. Include the disposal.
- Re-wrapquoted normally, but explicitly conditional on the surface underneath being sound, which nobody can confirm until the old film is off.
The second condition is the important one. If the paint under the old film has been compromised, the job changes from a wrap into a conversation about bodywork, and that has to have been foreseen in writing. That risk and its insurance are covered in insurance costs and coverage.
Worked example three: a fleet of identical vans
Ten vans, same model, same livery. This is not one quote multiplied by ten.
Fleet quote items
- Design approval once, with change cost
- One print run for all panels
- Batch size and block occupied
- Rule for dirty, loaded, in-service vans
- Payment terms before film purchase
- Unit price falls only where cost falls
The unit price can fall with volume where the volume genuinely reduces your cost: shared setup, one print run, uninterrupted bay time, and one approval cycle. A typical volume discount is 5 to 15 percent off the single-van price. Ten vans at 12 percent off cost 8.8 times the single-van price rather than 10 times it.
Below 5 percent you are absorbing setup ten times over. Above 15 percent the discount is coming out of your margin. It should not fall simply because the number is large.
What the quote may claim
A quote is advertising as much as a price list is. Claims about durability, protection, and warranty must be truthful and supported, which the Federal Trade Commission's advertising guidance for small businesses sets out directly.
Do not promise a life expectancy the film manufacturer does not publish, and do not describe a tint darkness as legal, because those limits are state law and differ by window position. Name the authority instead — the vehicle code of the state where the vehicle is registered — and state that you install to its limit. The glass itself has to meet the federal glazing standard, FMVSS 205.
Why the examples carry no currency
Rent, wages, and film cost differ by region and month. A figure printed here would be wrong for nearly every reader and would be used to judge quotes it has nothing to do with. What travels is the structure.
Build your own R from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics tables for the labor input and your own lease and utility figures for the rest. Then check your quotes against completed jobs.
Checking needs records, and the IRS guidance on what records a business should keep describes a system that clearly shows income and expenses with supporting documents. The practical form is one job number linking the quote, the film order, the timesheet, and the invoice.
The article on profit margins and break-even points shows what to measure the resulting margins against. The wider pricing frame is in the pricing and profit guide.
Setting up to quote well
Quoting accurately depends on inspecting properly. Bay requirements are in the equipment and setup guide, and the intake items that have to exist before the first quote are listed in the equipment checklist for new owners.
Common questions
Can I quote from photographs the customer sends?
You can give a range with the assumptions stated, and you should say clearly that it is subject to inspection. Photographs do not show clear coat condition, a previous respray, or the state of the edges under existing film.
How long should a quote stay valid?
Long enough to be useful and short enough to survive a material price change. Put a date on it and hold to it, rather than honoring an old figure and absorbing the difference.
Should the quote show a breakdown of hours?
Showing the hours makes the price defensible and makes a scope change easy to explain. Showing your internal rate is a separate decision, and most shops present hours and a total without publishing R.
What if the customer wants to supply their own film?
Then the material warranty is theirs and the workmanship warranty is yours, and the quote has to say so. Also decide in advance whether you will install film you have not handled before, because an unfamiliar product on a customer's vehicle is a bad place to learn.
