Preserving your car’s exterior with a paint protection film can keep it looking great and maintain its value.
Cars depreciate quickly. One of the reasons why your car depreciates is because its exterior begins to look dingy and dull because of dents and dings, bird droppings, dirt, debris, and sun exposure. Protecting your car from snow and salt in the winter can be a huge challenge.
Frequently washing your vehicle and applying a high-quality wax can help, but those measures are not enough.
Ceramic coating is an excellent choice that is also cost-effective; however, if you want to protect your car paint, preserve the look, and maintain its value, consider adding paint protection film to its exterior to keep it looking new.
Can the benefits of PPF outweigh the cost? Keep reading to learn why it’s worth it to get paint protection film.
Isn’t Paint Protection Film Expensive?
Yes, it can be.
However, if your vehicle spends a lot of time exposed to the elements instead of inside a garage, the cost of paint protection film will be worth it when you see how much better your vehicle will look. Yet, full car PPF cost can vary. Pricing ranges from just a few hundred dollars to well over $7,000.
Why is that?
Several factors play into the cost of car paint protection film:
- How much of the vehicle you treat.
- The experience of the detailer applying it.
Some owners may be tempted to go with a cheap quote or possibly even do it themselves with a kit, but PPF is difficult to apply. An inexperienced detailer can end up damaging your car exterior, costing more money in the long run than it would if you had gone with a higher quality paint protection film for the car’s price.
Exterior Condition Affects Car Paint Protection Film Cost
Your vehicle looks its best when it leaves the factory. As soon as it hits the dealer lot or even during transportation, degradation can begin to occur. Factory imperfections, if there are any at all, are virtually invisible. That’s the appearance you want to keep, yet as soon as you begin driving your new car, the elements begin to take their toll. Although it won’t protect the paint from all problems, applying a high-quality wax will provide about six months of protection. Among the imperfections that car paint experiences are:
- Swirl marks, aka spider webs
- Marring and micro-marring
- Buffer trails and holograms
- Etchings from bird droppings
- Isolated deep scratches
- Water spots
- Paint oxidation and ultraviolet fading
- Clearcoat fading
When you apply PPF, your vehicle’s finish should be free of swirls, rock chips, and other imperfections. A conscientious detailer will closely examine the paint’s condition to find minor scratches and other imperfections that need removal before applying PPF. This process of removing imperfections is called paint correction. For vehicles in good condition, generally, a single-step polish will suffice to remove minor imperfections at a cost of about $300 to $400. However, if your car has swirl marks, scratches, and other problems that reach below the top layer, it will need a multi-step paint correction process that can increase your car protection film cost by $600 to $1,000.
Determining Your Paint Protection Film Price
Some owners want to cover every possible surface with paint protection film, while others to cover only essential areas. The professionals at your local Rayno Film dealer can help you determine the cost of paint protection film for your vehicle.
You can reduce your car PPF cost by only treating the front end. This treatment is called a clear bra and typically includes the vehicle’s most vulnerable areas, such as the front bumper, the hood, and the side mirrors. You can expect the cost to put paint protection film on the front of the car to be between $900 and $2,500, depending on how many panels you want covered and the condition of your vehicle.
If you want to protect your entire car, expect the cost of full body paint protection film to be anywhere from $2,000 to $7,000.
Which Is the Best Paint Protection Film?
You may be wondering which paint protection film is the best. Deciding on a brand can get overwhelming because there are many brands from which to choose. Some of the more popular brands include Llumar, XPEL Ultimate, SunTek, and 3M Scotchgard. Application prices are all relatively the same, including