# Rebranding an Eight Truck Fleet Without Losing the Route

> A distribution company that had just been acquired needed eight box trucks rebranded. We ran them two at a time so the fleet never lost more than 25 percent of capacity, and finished all eight in 62 days for an invoiced $118,640 including three units that needed body repair.

**Type:** Repair case study  
**Canonical:** https://ocrv.pro/knowledge/case-studies/box-truck-fleet-refinish  
**Updated:** 2026-07-29

## Summary

Eight box trucks rebranded after an acquisition. Decal removal uncovered hidden panel damage on two units and a rotted rear sill on a third. 62 days, $118,640.

A fleet rebrand looks like a graphics project on the purchase order and behaves like a body shop project in the bay. Old vinyl comes off and takes some of the story with it. On these eight trucks, removal exposed panel damage on two units that had been covered by decals long enough that nobody currently employed knew about it, plus a rotted rear sill on a third that was two seasons away from becoming a floor replacement. None of that was in the original quote and all of it had to be dealt with before paint.

The other half of the problem is arithmetic. Eight trucks running daily routes cannot all be in a shop at once, and the acquiring company had a hard date for signage compliance. We built the project as four rotations of two units, sequenced around their lightest delivery days, with parts, paint and printed graphics staged on the shelf before each pair arrived. Total elapsed time was 62 days and the customer never had more than two trucks out of service.

## The Project and the Constraint

Eight straight trucks with 24 and 26 foot bodies, model years 2015 through 2022, a mix of aluminum sheet and post bodies and two bonded FRP panel bodies. The acquiring company had a corporate identity standard with a specific two color scheme, a printed graphic package for both sides and the rear door, and required DOT numbering and unit identification in a set position and font. The deadline was signage compliance across the fleet within ten weeks of the closing date, which is where the calendar pressure came from.

The constraint that shaped everything was route coverage. This operation runs daily deliveries with almost no slack, so losing three or four trucks simultaneously would have meant renting replacements at a cost that dwarfed the paint work. We committed to two units at a time, which caps the exposure at 25 percent of the fleet, and we agreed to hard in and out dates per unit rather than a general promise about the project. That commitment is easier to make when the graphics are already printed and waiting.

## How the Rotation Was Built

We started by asking for their delivery calendar rather than offering ours. Two trucks handled overflow volume and were the least disruptive to pull, so those went first as the pilot pair, which let us finalize the color standard and the graphic layout on real vehicles before committing the rest. Rotations two and three each took two route trucks on their lightest days of the week. The final pair included the newest unit and the one with the worst body condition, deliberately, so the difficult one had the most schedule room behind it.

Each pair had its consumables staged before arrival: mixed and matched paint in sufficient volume, printed graphic panels labeled by unit and position, replacement rivets, panel stock and rub rail sections. A truck sitting in a bay waiting on vinyl is the single most common way a fleet project slips, and it is entirely preventable. Average time per pair was 15 days including the two units that needed body repair, and the pilot pair took slightly longer because we were establishing the standard.

- **Two units at a time:** Caps downtime at 25 percent of an eight truck fleet. Four rotations at an average of 15 days each, with hard in and out dates committed per unit rather than a general project window.
- **Pilot pair first:** The two lowest impact trucks went first so the color standard, graphic layout and DOT lettering positions could be finalized on real vehicles and photographed as the reference for the remaining six.
- **Consumables staged before arrival:** Paint mixed in volume, graphic panels printed and labeled by unit and position, rivets, panel stock and rub rail on the shelf. No truck waited in a bay for material at any point in the project.
- **Worst unit scheduled last:** The truck with the rotted rear sill went in the final rotation on purpose, so the extra 38 body hours it needed had schedule room behind it instead of pushing six other trucks back.

## What Decal Removal Uncovered

Vinyl that has been on a truck for eight years is doing two jobs: advertising, and hiding whatever is underneath. Removal on these units ran between 6 and 11 hours each depending on age and adhesive, billed at detail labor of $95 per hour for heat and adhesive work and at body labor of $210 per hour where the panel needed correction afterward. Every one of the eight had ghost lines where covered paint had not faded at the same rate as the exposed paint around it.

Three units had findings that were not in the original quote. Unit 3 had a 40 inch crease in an aluminum side panel with filler over it and vinyl over the filler. Unit 6 had two cracked FRP panel joints at the driver side rear that had been bridged with sealant and covered. Unit 5, the oldest, had a rotted rear sill under the rub rail with section loss in one crossmember end, which is the finding that would have become a floor replacement inside two seasons.

- **Ghost lines on all eight units:** Covered paint fades at a different rate than exposed paint, so old graphics leave a visible shadow. That is why a rebrand usually means refinishing the panel rather than simply re lettering over it.
- **Unit 3, filler under vinyl:** A 40 inch crease in an aluminum side panel skimmed with filler and covered with a decal. The panel was replaced rather than refilled, because filler on a flexing aluminum panel cracks again.
- **Unit 6, sealed FRP joints:** Two cracked bonded panel joints at the driver side rear had been bridged with sealant. Both were cut back, scarfed and rebonded with structural adhesive at controlled cure temperature.
- **Unit 5, rotted rear sill:** Water past the door seal and rub rail had taken the sill and one crossmember end. Repaired for $6,180 in the same visit, against a floor replacement that would have run well into five figures later.

## Refinish and Graphics Across Eight Units

The hard part of a fleet refinish is not spraying one truck well, it is spraying eight trucks the same. Model years 2015 through 2022 means eight different substrate conditions, and two of the bodies were FRP while the rest were aluminum. We established the color standard on the pilot pair, sprayed and retained reference panels, and used the same mixing lot where volume allowed so the fleet reads as one identity in a parking lot rather than as eight approximations of a corporate color.

Bodies were washed, degreased, sanded, spot primed where panel work had been done, sealed and then sprayed in the two color scheme with the cab and body treated as one visual unit. Graphics went on after full cure, not the next morning, because vinyl applied over green paint traps solvent and lifts later. DOT numbering, unit identification and required markings were installed to the corporate position and font specification, and every unit was photographed from eight angles at completion for the customer compliance file.

## What It Cost Per Unit and How the Calendar Ran

Total invoiced $118,640 across eight units, an average of $14,830 each. The five units that needed no body repair ran between $11,900 and $13,400 apiece: decal removal, full refinish and the printed graphic package. Unit 3 ran $19,720 with the aluminum panel replacement. Unit 6 ran $17,480 with the FRP joint rebonding. Unit 5 ran $21,050 including $6,180 of rear sill and crossmember repair. Body and paint labor across the project totaled 486 hours and detail labor totaled 68 hours.

Sixty two days elapsed for all eight units, with an average of 15 days per pair and never more than two trucks out of service. The single largest schedule risk was not paint or parts, it was approval on the two units with unexpected body findings, and we kept that from costing calendar by photographing the damage the day it surfaced and getting a decision within 48 hours. The fleet met its signage compliance date with eight days of margin.

- **Days 1 to 17:** Pilot pair. Color standard established and reference panels retained, graphic layout finalized and photographed, DOT lettering positions set. Both units delivered with the standard documented.
- **Days 15 to 31:** Rotation two. Unit 3 filler and crease discovered under vinyl on day 17, photographed and approved within 48 hours, aluminum side panel replaced and refinished.
- **Days 29 to 45:** Rotation three. Unit 6 cracked FRP joints cut back, scarfed and rebonded with structural adhesive at controlled cure temperature, then refinished and graphics installed after full cure.
- **Days 43 to 62:** Final rotation with the newest unit and Unit 5. Rear sill and crossmember end replaced, threshold resealed, then refinish, graphics and the eight angle completion photography for every unit.

## Pricing

| Line item | Range | Hours |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Decal removal, per unit | $400 to $3,000 | 4 to 20 |
| Full refinish and repaint, per unit | $5,000 to $30,000 | 40 to 200 |
| Fleet graphics and printed package, per unit | $1,500 to $9,500 | 6 to 40 |
| Box and cargo body repair, where found | $750 to $15,000 | 4 to 80 |

## What is included

- Rotation schedule built around the customer delivery calendar with hard per unit dates
- Color standard established on a pilot pair with reference panels retained for the project
- Decal and adhesive removal on all eight units, billed at detail and body labor as appropriate
- Photographic reporting of every finding uncovered under old vinyl, with 48 hour decisions
- Aluminum side panel replacement and bonded FRP joint rebonding where required
- Rear sill and crossmember repair with threshold resealing on the oldest unit
- Full two color refinish with cab and body treated as a single visual unit
- Printed graphic package, DOT numbering to specification, and eight angle completion photography

## Questions

### What does it cost to refinish and rebrand a box truck fleet?

On this project the average was $14,830 per unit and the total was $118,640 for eight trucks. Clean units with no body work ran $11,900 to $13,400 including decal removal, full refinish and a printed graphic package. Units needing panel or sill repair ran $17,480 to $21,050. Published bands are $400 to $3,000 for decal removal, $5,000 to $30,000 for full refinish and $1,500 to $9,500 for graphics.

### Why not just apply new graphics over the old paint?

Because covered paint fades at a different rate than exposed paint, so removing eight year old vinyl leaves a visible ghost line in the exact shape of the old logo. New graphics rarely cover the same footprint. On a corporate rebrand where the whole point is a consistent identity, re lettering over ghosted panels reads as a patch job from thirty feet away. Refinishing the panel is what makes the fleet look like one fleet.

### How do you keep a fleet running during a rebrand?

By capping how many units are in the shop at once and committing to per unit dates instead of a project window. Two at a time keeps an eight truck fleet at 25 percent downtime. Beyond that, everything gets staged before a truck arrives: paint mixed in volume, graphics printed and labeled by unit and position, panel stock and rivets on the shelf. Trucks slip schedule waiting for material, not waiting for labor.

### What do you do when you find damage under the old decals?

Photograph it the day it surfaces, price it, and get a decision inside 48 hours. On this project two units had panel damage hidden under vinyl and one had a rotted rear sill. Fast approval is what kept those findings from pushing the whole rotation. For fleet accounts we recommend setting a written authorization limit up front so small findings do not stop production waiting on a signature.

## Related

- https://ocrv.pro/truck-repair
- https://ocrv.pro/what-we-fix/commercial-and-heavy-trucks
- https://ocrv.pro/rv-paint-shop
- https://ocrv.pro/repairs/custom-fabrication
- https://ocrv.pro/rates/labor-rates