Having a car wrapped at our Lingfield workshop: what to expect

Before you book: the quote

Everything starts with our quote form. It asks for the work you want, your details and the registration; the registration lets us look the car up so we know the make and year before we speak. Add a few photos if the paint has chips, previous repairs or an old wrap, and tell us the colour or finish you are thinking about, even loosely.

For a colour change we then ask to see the car, either in the workshop or from a set of photos in daylight, because the state of the paint decides whether it can be wrapped at all. Then you get a fixed written quotation that names the panels, the film and the finish. The price on that document is the price, and we do not exceed it without your agreement.

Choosing the film in daylight

Shortlist from our wrap colours: the ranges we fit, with manufacturer codes, and a preview on a car. A screen is not the place to make the final decision. Before we order film we put real samples against your car outside, in daylight, so that the grey you chose on a screen is the grey you actually get. Satin and metallic films in particular look different on a screen and on a bonnet.

This is also where the small decisions get made: roof and pillars in the new colour or gloss black, door shuts wrapped or left, chrome trim wrapped or left, badges back on or deleted. Deciding them now is what keeps the job on schedule.

Drop-off and how long the car is in

Drop the car off clean if you can, with nothing you need left inside. The workshop is at Jesmor Farm on St Piers Lane, Lingfield. From the north, the A22 brings you down through Godstone and the B2029 and the B2028 cover the last few miles; from Crawley it is the A264 east, then the B2028 north. The nearest station is Lingfield, on the Oxted–East Grinstead line. On a clear road, customers from East Grinstead and Edenbridge are about twelve minutes away, Crawley about twenty-two, Croydon under forty. Tell us up front if you need the car back by a particular day and we will plan around it or say honestly that it cannot be done in the time.

A full colour change on a typical car is a matter of days rather than hours, and it is longer for a large car, a complex shape, a satin or chrome-effect film, or a car with a lot of trim to remove. Partial wraps, roofs, bonnets and accent work are usually same-day or overnight. We give you a collection day when you book and we keep to it; if the prep turns up something that changes the job, we stop and call you before doing anything you have not agreed to.

What happens to the car while it is with us

• A proper wash, a clay bar to lift bonded grit, and a solvent wipe of every panel to be wrapped.
• Trim off: handles, badges, mirror caps, lights and mouldings wherever the car allows, bagged and labelled.
• Any chips or marks filled and levelled, so the film has a flat surface.
• Film cut and laid panel by panel in a warm, dust-controlled workshop, with the edges wrapped around and tucked rather than cut on the paint.
• Post-heating of every edge and recess so the film sets in its new shape and does not creep back.
• Trim refitted, a final inspection under lights, and a photograph of the finished car for our records and yours.

What we mean by precision is those last three points. The edges and the post-heat are the slow part of the job and the part that decides whether the wrap still looks right in three summers. We do not skip them to hit a collection time.

Collection and the paperwork

You collect in daylight if the day allows, walk round the car with us, and open every door and the bonnet to see the edges. You leave with the written warranty for the work, the aftercare sheet, and a note of the film and colour code so a panel can be matched years later. The aftercare comes down to a week without washing, then hand washing with a gentle shampoo, and no shine products on a satin finish.

Two admin jobs are yours: a colour change must be recorded on the V5C with the DVLA, and your insurer needs to know. Both are quick; we remind you at collection.

Who this suits, and who it does not

A wrap suits a car with sound paint that you want to look different, protect, or hand back in its original colour later. It does not suit a car whose lacquer is failing or that has rust coming through; those need a body shop first and we will say so. If you are local to Lingfield, Dormansland, East Grinstead, Edenbridge, Oxted or Godstone, or a little further out in Crawley, Redhill or Croydon, the easiest first step is the quote form, a few photos, and a conversation.