Chicago Fleet Wraps carries a 2-year installation warranty covering qualifying lifting, peeling, bubbling, and edge failure, separate from the 5-year material warranty Avery Dennison and 3M provide on the film itself. This page states exactly what each one covers and what neither does.
What Does the Chicago Fleet Wraps Warranty Cover?
Chicago Fleet Wraps provides a 2-year installation/workmanship warranty covering qualifying installation-related lifting, peeling, bubbling, edge failure, and adhesion defects under normal use, subject to the written warranty terms. Premium wrap material carries a separate 5-year material warranty for qualifying material defects, subject to the manufacturer's terms and exclusions. Expected service life is a different number: a properly maintained cast-vinyl wrap typically lasts 5-7 years in Chicago conditions. The warranty does not cover damage from accidents, pressure washing, or improper care.
Two documents, two different companies, two different promises. The workmanship warranty is ours: we installed it, so if the installation is what failed, we fix it. The material warranty belongs to Avery Dennison or 3M, depending on which film your vehicle carries, and it covers the film itself against manufacturing defects on the manufacturer's own terms. Nobody benefits from those two being blurred together, least of all us on the day a claim comes in.
The third number, expected service life, is not a warranty and we will not sell it as one. Cast film on a Chicago fleet vehicle has a working life of roughly 5 to 7 years with reasonable care. That is what the material does, not what anybody guarantees. A wrap can sail past year seven on a garaged van and look tired at year four on a truck that goes through a brush wash every week, and neither outcome is a defect.
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What Is Not Covered, Stated Plainly
An exclusion list that only turns up after something goes wrong is worthless. Here is ours, up front.
- Automatic brush washes. The brushes catch film edges and lift them. A single pass through a brush tunnel can undo a good install, and it is the most common reason a wrap fails early in this city.
- Pressure washing at close range. A wand held a few inches off a seam drives water under the film. Keep the tip back, keep it off the edges, and come at a panel straight on rather than into a seam.
- Collision, vandalism and road debris. A panel torn by a rock or a bollard is a repair, not a warranty claim. We reprint the affected panel from your file and the rest of the wrap stays where it is.
- Failing paint or clear coat underneath. Film bonds to the surface it is applied to. If that surface is already releasing, the film comes away with it. This is exactly why intake photographs matter.
- Rust, body filler and fresh respray. New paint needs weeks to finish out gassing before film goes over it. We will tell you when a panel is not ready, and film applied to a panel that was not ready is not covered.
- Holes drilled after installation. Ladder racks, shelf brackets, antennas and light bars fitted through a wrapped panel create an open edge at every fastener. Tell us first and we route the graphic around it.
- Third party removal or repair. Once another shop has put heat or solvent on the wrap, we cannot stand behind what is left of it.
- Specialty finishes on their own terms. Chrome, color shift and holographic films carry shorter manufacturer ratings than standard cast film. We state the real rating for the film you pick before you pick it.
Everything that is genuinely an installation failure is ours to correct for two years: a lifted edge, a bubble that was not there at delivery, a seam that opened, an adhesion failure on a panel we prepped.
How a Warranty Claim Actually Works
Call or email with the vehicle, the install date and photographs. Photographs matter more than description here: one close shot of the problem, a second from about six feet back so we can see where on the vehicle it sits, and a note on whether the vehicle has been through any kind of automatic wash. The initial reply comes within 2 business hours on a business day.
Most of what comes in gets settled without the vehicle leaving your yard. A lifted corner on a door edge is often a post heat and a roll down that takes fifteen minutes, and on a fleet account we will do it on site during a scheduled pickup. What needs a bay is a panel that has to come off and go back on, and that is usually half a day.
We reprint from your own files. Every job's artwork is held under your account, so a replacement panel comes off the same printer with the same ink set and the same laminate as the original. It matches, which is the thing people worry about and the reason we do not send panel work out to anybody else.
What We Document Before the Wrap Goes On
Intake photographs are a warranty tool, not paperwork. Every vehicle gets photographed before anything is cleaned: existing chips and scratches, any respray that does not match, chalked or peeling clear coat on the roof and hood, old adhesive residue, and any panel we flag as unsuitable for film. You see those photographs and so do we.
That record is why zero verified paint damage claims across 19,400+ wrapped vehicles means something. When a wrap comes off five years later and a thumbnail of clear coat lifts with it from a roof that was already failing on day one, there is a photograph showing exactly that. Documented condition turns an argument into a fact, and it protects the customer at least as much as it protects us.
Last Updated: April 2, 2026
Care That Keeps the Warranty Intact
None of this is difficult, and all of it is the difference between year four and year seven.
- Hand wash, or touchless. Mild automotive soap, a soft mitt, cool water, working top down. If the fleet is washed commercially, the instruction to the washer is touchless only.
- Get the salt off. Between December and March, rinse the lower third of the vehicle whenever you get the chance, and do it the day after a thaw rather than waiting for a dry weekend. Salt brine sitting in a seam is what works an edge loose.
- Dry with a microfiber, not a blower. Chasing water out of a seam with air pushes it under the film instead of out of it.
- Deal with fuel, tar and bird droppings quickly. Spot clean with soap and water, or isopropyl alcohol on a cloth. Nothing solvent based, no clay bar on film, no abrasive polish.
- Park out of the sun when it is a choice. UV is what fades a print, and a van that sleeps indoors visibly outlasts one that bakes on an open lot all summer.
- Tell us early. A quarter inch of lifted edge is a fifteen minute fix. The same edge six months on has dirt under it and wants a new panel.
At end of life, removal is a service we do rather than a problem we hand back. Film that has been looked after comes off with heat and patience, adhesive residue comes off with a citrus remover, and the panel underneath goes back to being paint. Vehicles sold out of a fleet usually leave the lot looking better than the unwrapped ones in the same row, because the film spent five years taking the UV and the stone chips instead of the paint.
One practical note that comes up on every fleet call: a commercial wrap is generally deductible as a business advertising expense, so the maintenance above protects a deducted asset. Ask your tax professional about your own situation.
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Frequently Asked
Wrap Warranty FAQs
What warranty comes with a vehicle wrap?
A 2-year workmanship warranty from us, plus the 5-year material warranty from the film manufacturer.
What does the workmanship warranty cover?
It covers installation issues like lifting or peeling edges under normal use, which we correct.
What does the material warranty cover?
The manufacturer warranty covers the film against defects like premature fading, cracking, or adhesive failure for its rated life.
How long is the material warranty?
Premium cast films carry a 5-year material warranty on qualifying defects, subject to the film maker's terms.
Does the warranty cover damage from misuse?
No. Damage from accidents, abrasive washes, or improper care is not covered, which is why we share care guidance.
Is the wrap warranty transferable if I sell the vehicle?
Manufacturer terms vary by film. We will explain the specifics for your chosen material.
What voids a wrap warranty?
Brush car washes, harsh chemicals, and neglecting road-salt removal can damage film and fall outside warranty coverage.
Do specialty films have different warranties?
Yes. Chrome, color-shift, and holographic films often carry shorter ratings than standard cast film.
What should I do if I see an edge lifting?
Contact us. Edge lifting under normal use within the workmanship period is something we correct.
Does proper care protect my wrap warranty?
Yes. Hand washing, avoiding brush washes, and removing salt keep the wrap within warranty conditions.
“Warranty. The part nobody tells you: we wrap in a clean, heated bay, because dust and cold are what wreck an install. Nineteen thousand four hundred vehicles deep, the process does not change.”
