You brand new Tesla has been delivered…and it looks good! Really good.
But keeping it looking good requires some smart decisions at time of purchase, including choosing a suitable paint protection film. There is a lot of misinformation about protective paint wraps. Due to marketing tactics, many believe that all paint wraps are created equal.
As a result, you could end up buying a product that WON’T GIVE YOU THE LEVEL OF PROTECTION you need, simply because the options aren’t presented to you honestly.
How could that happen?
Below, we explain the misleading industry jargon and share TWO IMPORTANT THINGS TO ASK YOUR INSTALLER to make sure you get what you paid for!
Every great idea that comes to market gets copied eventually. Sometimes this is a good thing, as it drives competition and ultimately lowers prices for consumers. Unfortunately, when it comes to paint protective wrap for your new Tesla, that same rule doesn’t seem to apply.
So who makes this stuff? There are only a handful of companies that manufacture protective paint wrap for vehicles. The best known is 3M, which is the gold standard against which all others are measured. In the Calgary area, there are installers for 3M, XPEL, SunTek, LLumar and a few other smaller players in the market.
If the names of the companies in this list don’t all sound familiar, it’s no surprise. 3M set an early lead in the industry and as a result, their company name became synonymous with quality and durability for paint protection. For consumers, the ubiquitous use of the 3M name, however, may cause some confusion when trying to understand which wrap you are actually getting.
Here is the problem: Since 3M built their reputation on providing the best paint protection product in the world, their name quickly became synonymous with ‘paint protection wrap’. As an unfortunate by-product, the term ‘3M protection’ became a generic phrase used to refer to ANY of the paint protection wraps available, regardless of manufacturer.
What does all of this mean for you as a car buyer? If your Installer offers you ‘3M paint protection’, don’t automatically assume that you will get 3M product. They may just be using the term ‘3M’ in the generic sense to mean ‘paint protection wrap’ in general.
So how do you know what you are really getting? There are a couple of things you should watch for.
Deep discounts in price.
Competitors to 3M want market share so they are forced to compete on price by offering lower levels of protection and subsequently lower prices than the top-tier products. If your Installer offers you a big discount from the ‘regular’ price, ask them what product they are proposing, and what grade of product. You can then make an informed choice about the level of protection and quality you are selecting.
Warranty card.
When you buy genuine 3M product, the installer will complete a warranty card that bears the 3M logo and includes your vehicle’s VIN number and the Certified License Number (CLN) assigned by 3M. This proves you have genuine 3M product installed. The warranty must also be registered to you as the vehicle owner. If you order paint protection, ask your installer if you get a 3M warranty card. If not, or if the warranty card is from a different company, then what you are getting is not genuine 3M product.
This is the bottom line: If you consider the protection of your Tesla’s paint as important, then be sure you are selecting the right product to get you the protection you need. But whatever you choose, don’t be duped into buying something promoted as 3M when in fact it isn’t 3M product. Think about value rather than cost, and you’ll be more satisfied with the end result.
Happy motoring!
See genuine 3M packages in Calgary at the links below: