Let us not be delicate about this issue. You’re kind of a dope if you don’t. Put them on. Signs, vinyl, graphics, etc.

Commercial trucks are valuable advertising real-estate. They are quite literally rolling billboards, eye-level, and always exposed to high traffic count. It’s an advertiser’s dream platform, and you don’t have to pay for it. Because it’s already yours.

Nearly all vehicle signage now is removable vinyl, and in fact, covering the paint with good-quality graphics, using the right adhesive, may even contribute to preserving the original finish on the vehicle. Your leasing company cares if you do things that damage the vehicle, but installing signs doesn’t… except…

If your signage is painted on, or if you require special paint jobs that make the vehicle permanently multi-colored, then that’s a thing you want to nail down with the leasing company ahead of time. This isn’t common anymore, simply because you can make nearly anything multi-colored by covering it with a vinyl wrap. But there are purists who insist on paint, and in those cases, you’re probably going to end up either paying to return the vehicle to the original color, or pay some sort of penalty at the end to reflect the reduced value of the vehicle (or in the case of an open-end or capital lease, find yourself with an invoice for a negative gain on sale at lease end….which is pretty much the same thing).

Wait. Have we discussed what open-end and closed-end leases are yet? If not, check this out.