Is paint protection film for cars worth it?
At Australian Detailing Services, we spend our days applying XPEL Paint Protection Film to some fantastic cars. If you’ve looked through our social media accounts, you’ll see we’ve worked on nearly every car brand from Ferraris, Porsche’s, Tesla’s and McLarens to Range Rovers, Land Rovers, BMW’s and Mercedes Benz. We’ve even fully wrapped a Rolls Royce Wraith, which was an absolute BEAST of a car.
Rolls Royce Wraith
Clearly, owners of these cars have decided to fully protect them with XPEL Paint Protection Film at ADS. We’ve got clients who have protected multiple cars, and they often have them delivered to us by car transport. They won’t even drive them to us to ensure there is no chance of road debris scratching their new car.
These clients have seen the value of protecting their car and choose to do it every time. If you asked them, is the investment worth it? Clearly, they would say yes.
In this post, we explore the return-on-investment model for Paint Protection Film based on some objective data. To try and answer the question, is investing around $7,000 to protect your car worth it in the long run?
To do this, we will look at some research by the NRMA and the Glass’s Guide in 2020 around the retained value of cars. And then, we’ll compare this to expert advice on how to maintain the value of your car.
New Cars vs Used Cars and their value
The Glass’s Guide, along with Redbook, are well-regarded sources of information of car value. We are using the Glass’s guide list from 2020 that compares the price of 2017 models to new models for this piece.
When purchasing a new car such as a Porsche Cayenne there are many options and specs you can choose from that can influence the final price. You can obviously buy a Porsche Cayenne that costs more than $156,200, but these are the figures from Glass’s guide, so we will stick with them for comparison.
So, depending on the type of car you own, the retained value is different. But as a general rule, over 23 years, based on normal conditions, you could expect to lose around $20,000 on a car in good condition.
Source: Glass’s Guide 2020
What advice do experts give on maximising the resale value of cars?
If you search on the internet, you’ll find plenty of articles providing advice on improving the resale value of a car. We’ll save you time and give you our summary of the best tips below:
1. Maintain your logbook service history
What happens under the hood is essential to customers when buying a used car. Maintaining a consistent logbook service history shows that you have looked after the car as an owner and will give the new owner confidence that they are buying a car that doesn’t have any issues.
2. Buy a car that has a high resale value
Buying a car with a higher resale value is a no brainer when trying to get some of your money back when selling. As mentioned, there is a lot of research available on the web from both Glass’s Guide and Redbook that gives you an indication of resale value.
3. Keep your car looking as shiny as it did the day you bought it.
This is good advice, but it is easier said than done if you haven’t invested in adequate paint protection. You could, of course, never drive it and have it sitting in your garage most of the day. You can also do your best to prevent damage, but it is challenging to prevent stone chips and scratches from damaging the exterior of your car without protection like XPEL Paint Protection Film.
4. Don’t smoke in the car
There is one thing that no amount of air freshener and car detailing will fix, and that’s the smell of cigarettes in a smokers car. And unfortunately, the demand for the smell of nicotine in a used car is VERY low. So if you want to improve the resale value, don’t smoke in the car.
5. Look after the upholstery and interior of your car.
Upholstery and car interiors are a challenge to maintain, in particular, if you have kids and use the car frequently. You could, of course, have family rules, like “no eating in the car”, but we all know that never lasts and before you know it, that take away coffee finds itself all over your passenger seat. Thankfully, we do have highly effective interior protection products that do a great job of protecting the interior of cars. We highly recommend those to protect both fabric and leather interiors as well as harder surfaces inside cars.
6. Keep mileage low
Mileage is one of the key indicators of how much a car has been used and does indicate the wear and tear on the motor. If a customer is comparing two potential cars, they will prefer to purchase and pay more for the car with lower mileage if the car exteriors of both are in good condition.
Why do owners come to us to apply XPEL paint protection film?
There are a few reasons why our customers choose to wrap their vehicles in XPEL Paint Protection Film.
The number one reason is to protect the exterior of the car to maintain the resale value. But there are other reasons which we will explain below:
1. Change the look of the car from Gloss to Matte.
One of the benefits of paint protection film is that you can use it to change the look of your car. Below is an example of a Tesla Model 3 that we recently wrapped in XPEL Stealth Paint Protection Film. XPEL Stealth is a film that we can apply to change the look of the exterior from Gloss to Matte.
The Matte effect is particularly appealing, especially when converting black cars from Glass to Matte finish. To the naked eye, the car appears to have a Matte paint finish as the film is tightly wrapped around the edges of the car. It not only looks good but is full protected from scratches.
Tesla Model 3 covered in XPEL Stealth
2. Film and ceramic coating makes cars easier to maintain
When we protect cars with XPEL film, the final part of the process covers the film with ceramic coating to both harden the film and make the film easier to maintain. The ceramic coating ensures that water beads on the surface and is easier to maintain. Our customers find that even if caught in the rain, the car becomes less dirty as the water beads easily and rolls off the car's surface.
Water beading from Ceramic coating
3. XPEL film is covered by a 10-year manufacturers warranty
One thing that gives our customers a lot of comfort is that a 10-year manufacturers warranty covers the film. So if there is any issue with the film, all our customers need to do is get in touch with us and fix any issues.
4. Sections can be easily replaced
If you do happen to have a scrape and damage the film, sections can easily be replaced. XPEL film is applied in sections, so if you happen to scrape the bumper as an example, we can replace the film that covers the bumper to ensure continued coverage.
So, is it worth it?
When we look at Paint Protection Film and consider the broader service we provide, including interior protection and ceramic coating over the film, it goes a long way to improving the resale value of your vehicle.
The key to achieving the highest possible value is ensuring you protect the car when it is brand new and having complete vehicle coverage to ensure it is fully protected.
As an owner, if you also maintain a complete service record and maintain reasonable mileage, you are likely to significantly increase the resale value, which will cover the initial cost of applying XPEL paint protection film.