Moscow detailing centers told socialbites.ca that the cost of packaging for cars has increased by an average of 30% this year, with the number of customers increasing in anticipation of seasonality and potential shortages of materials.
“Due to the lack of delivery of new cars, Russian drivers began to actively streamline old cars, updating cars with color films and protecting them with polyurethane,” explains a representative of Okleyka.Pro.
The average cost of a full wrap of a car with colored vinyl film ranges from 155 thousand to 185 thousand rubles.
Full bonding on a transparent anti-gravel polyurethane film – from 215 thousand to 270 thousand rubles. To glue only the front of the car (risk areas: hood, bumper, headlights, fenders, front pillars, part of the roof, mirrors), you will need 70-85 thousand rubles.
A company expert also shared similar data. According to him, the cost of working with high-quality vinyl from European manufacturers increased from 120 to 150 thousand rubles.
“The prices of movies have increased by as much as 70% in recent months.
Some of the manufacturers and sellers raised the prices a little bit, while the other part artificially inflated the cost,” he said.
The price of gluing depends on the manufacturer of the film, seasonality and car model. Experts say that their Chinese counterparts are several times cheaper than American, German and French, and the cost of gluing is 10-15% lower in winter due to various discounts.
The supply of polyurethane films comes from USA, South Korea and China. Okleyka.Pro explains that the more expensive colored vinyl comes from Germany, the USA, France and China.
More than half of the Russian film market is occupied by “gray” sellers.
There are now only a few companies that officially import products. One of them is ORAKAL-Trading, which works directly with the German manufacturer Orafol.
The representative of the company “ORAKAL-Trading”, in a conversation with the correspondent of “socialbites.ca”, made sure that there are no problems with the supply of products from Germany yet.
China will help
Experts say that Chinese polyurethane films are not inferior to well-known American brands, and currently many American brands produce color films in China.
“Chinese films have long surpassed them in all their technical characteristics, service life and cost. Chinese polyurethane is now high quality at an affordable cost,” says Okleyka.Pro detailing centre.
With Chinese premium film, a driver can save money – the service will cost 70 thousand rubles.
If there are problems with the availability of products from Western manufacturers, then there should be no difficulties in switching to Chinese films.
Which movie to choose
Vinyl films are used to change the color of cars. Average thickness is 100-140 microns,
Given the Russian weather conditions, they will last 5-7 years.
Polyurethane anti-gravel films provide protection against minor scratches, touches and chips, do not fog, do not turn yellow throughout their lifetime. Colorless films (glossy or matte) with a thickness of 200-220 microns serve for 10 years.
Often, new car owners resort to gluing a protective transparent polyurethane film to protect the paintwork. Colored vinyl film is more often requested by owners of used cars (sick of color and painting is more expensive).
Owners of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Skoda and Mazda mainly come to update the car.
Recently, the number of customers at Chinese crossovers such as Geely Tugella and Chery Tiggo has been growing.
detailers say.
The cost of wrapping a premium car is always higher than the cost of the middle and economy class, as it is more difficult to disassemble and assemble. In the detailing center, experienced specialists, whose services are more expensive, rely on expensive cars.
what are the risks
Auto expert Vadim Roshchin says that it is very important that all the work on the film is done in a good workshop, where the masters follow all the technological rules. This applies to both bonding and film removal.
“Many “craftsmen” peel the film off without heating it and leave it in small pieces. I once saw how the master used a knife and a squeegee scraper to tear a cheap film off the body for several days without a hair dryer. It was applied incorrectly and also removed incorrectly. This can ruin the paint ” says.
There is a cheaper way to protect a car – ceramic body coating.
The price of such a service now starts from 30 thousand rubles.
“This is the application of various chemical compositions, very advanced polishing. But I am skeptical about this method – notes to the addressee. – It saves stone, but not comparable to film – this is a more fragile coating, ceramics need to be renewed every year. But the car starts to shine a lot, as if it had just rolled off the assembly line.
If a driver changes the color of the car with the help of a film, but does not register the changes with the traffic police, he risks being fined, Roshchin recalls. However, according to him, some traffic inspectors are faithful to the film – it is enough to show the original body color in the engine compartment or other parts of the car.
Source: Gazeta
