Service
Truck and vehicle lettering in New Jersey
Vinyl and custom-print lettering applied at your yard.
In the rat race of New Jersey, business never sleeps. Whether you want airbrushed, vinyl or custom-print lettering, our flexibility lets us give your business the look you want. Whether you are trying to stay up to code with the law or want to grab some attention, truck lettering is the best way to turn your vehicle into a mobile billboard, bringing awareness and brand recognition to your company with every trip.
Truck lettering is the cheapest advertising a contractor will ever buy, and the only kind that keeps working while the truck sits at a red light. Lombardo Lettering has been cutting and applying it in New Jersey for three generations, and we do it at your yard instead of ours.
Commercial truck lettering: what goes on the truck
A lettering job starts with the wording, not the vinyl. We look at what you actually want a stranger to read from three lanes over: company name, trade, phone, town, website, and the DOT or license numbers you are required to carry. Anything past that competes with itself. Then we set type at a size that stays legible at highway speed, lay it out against the real panel lines of your truck, and send you a proof before a single sheet is cut. Our page on NJ lettering requirements sets out what the law asks for.
Application happens on site. We arrive with the plotter output, the tools, and the cleaning supplies, wash and degrease the panels, and squeegee the vinyl down with the truck exactly where it is parked. A single pickup with door lettering and a tailgate is usually finished inside two hours. A box truck with full sides and a rear door runs longer, but you are never without the vehicle overnight, and there is no shop drop-off eating a working day.
How we do it
Materials matter more than customers expect. We use Avery, 3M and Orafol cast films rated for outdoor commercial use, so colors hold instead of going chalky after two summers, and the adhesive releases cleanly when a truck comes off the fleet. Cheap calendared vinyl looks identical the week it goes on and starts curling at the edges by the following spring. If you are lettering a whole fleet, we keep one spec so every truck matches.
Style is up to you. We hand-letter in the traditional bold sign-painter look the family built its name on, cut modern flat-color vinyl, or run full-color digital prints when a logo has gradients and fine detail. Most of our work is repeat business from plumbers, electricians, HVAC contractors, landscapers, excavators, roofers, haulers and municipal fleets who send us every new truck as it arrives.
Included in truck lettering
- Door and tailgate lettering
- Full-side layouts for box trucks
- DOT, USDOT and license numbers
- Phone, web and QR blocks
- Reflective vinyl options
- Matching multi-truck fleets
- Removal and re-lettering
- Proof before anything is cut
How mobile lettering works
STEP 1
Call or send a photo
Tell us the vehicle, the wording and roughly when you need it. A photo of the truck answers most of our questions in one shot.
STEP 2
Approve the proof
We lay the design out on a template of your actual vehicle and send it back for approval. Nothing is cut until you say yes.
STEP 3
We come to you
We arrive at your yard or job site with everything needed, prep the panels and apply the graphics. Most jobs are done while the truck stays parked at your yard.
What every Lombardo job includes
All of it standard, none of it billed as an extra.
✓
Free quote and design consultation
No charge
✓
Layout proofed on a template of your actual vehicle before anything is cut
Always
✓
Premium Avery, 3M or Orafol cast film — not cheap calendared vinyl
Standard
✓
On-site application at your yard, driveway or job site
Mobile
✓
DOT, license and registration numbers sized and placed correctly
Checked
✓
Glueless removal years later, so paint and resale value stay intact
Built in
✓
Your artwork kept on file so trucks you buy later still match
For years
Truck Lettering — recent examples
Work photographed at customer yards and job sites across New Jersey.
Work van — Lombardo Lettering, NJ
Work van — Lombardo Lettering, NJ
Work van — Lombardo Lettering, NJ
Work van — Lombardo Lettering, NJ
Pickup truck — Lombardo Lettering, NJ
Pickup truck — Lombardo Lettering, NJ
Pickup truck — Lombardo Lettering, NJ
Pickup truck — Lombardo Lettering, NJ
We don’t cut corners — premium materials only
Why customers leave their old sign shop
The differences that show up on the invoice and on the truck.
| What matters | Lombardo Lettering | Typical sign shop |
|---|---|---|
| Where the work happens | At your yard — we come to you | You drop the vehicle off |
| Downtime | Lettered where it is parked | Off the road while it is at the shop |
| Materials | Avery, 3M and Orafol cast film | Whatever is cheapest that week |
| Proof before cutting | Every job, on your vehicle | Sometimes, on a generic outline |
| Who does the work | The family — third generation | Whoever is on shift |
| Removal years later | Glueless, paint-safe | Baked-on adhesive and ghosting |
| Adding a truck in three years | Stored spec — it matches | Start the design over |
Truck and vehicle lettering questions
How long does truck lettering take?
How long it takes depends on the vehicle and how much goes on it, and we give you an estimate with the quote. Box trucks and fleets are booked in blocks.
Do I have to bring the truck to you?
No. Mobile service is the whole point of our business — we come to your yard, driveway, job site or municipal garage anywhere in our eight-county area.
How long will the lettering last?
With premium cast film applied to clean, sound paint, expect seven or more years of outdoor service before noticeable fade.
Can you match my existing trucks?
Yes. Send a photo of a lettered truck and we will match the layout, type and colors so a new vehicle looks like it came from the same batch.
Cut vinyl or printed — which do I need?
Cut vinyl for text, logos and solid shapes; printed and laminated film when the artwork needs photographic detail or complex color. We will tell you which your design actually requires rather than upselling the print.
Will it damage the paint when it comes off?
No. Removed correctly with heat, quality film comes away without taking paint or leaving adhesive. Problems come from cheap film left on far past its service life.
Other services
Everything else we do, each on its own page.
Get truck lettering in your county
We are mobile — pick your county for local detail.
Quote for truck lettering
Tell us the vehicle or the wall, and send a photo if you have one. Free, no-obligation quote.
Shop: 95 W Main St, Chester, New Jersey 07930
Email: franksignguy@yahoo.com
Coverage: Morris, Essex, Warren, Union, Bergen, Somerset, Sussex & Hunterdon counties
Van, pickup and box truck lettering
Truck lettering is cut or printed vinyl applied directly to your vehicle’s panels — company name, phone number, services, city and USDOT numbers. We do it at your yard. How long it takes depends on the vehicle and how much goes on it, and we give you an estimate with the quote.
Cut vinyl is the workhorse: single-color shapes and text cut from a solid sheet, weeded, and applied panel by panel. It is the most durable and the most cost-effective way to put a name and number on a truck, and on a clean painted panel it reads as sharply from across a car park as anything printed.
Printed lettering comes in when the design needs photographs, gradients or more colors than cutting can sensibly handle. It is laminated before it goes on, and it lives on the same vehicle just as long.
What actually determines how a lettered truck looks in five years is preparation. Panels are washed, degreased and dried; wax and silicone are removed rather than wiped around; edges are post-heated so the film stays where it was put. Skipping those steps is how you get lifting corners on an otherwise good material.
How we do it at your location
Mobile lettering means the sign shop travels instead of the vehicle. We cut and prepare the graphics before we leave, then apply them at your yard, driveway or job site — so the truck is off the road for hours rather than days.
The order matters more than most people expect. Everything that can be done away from your vehicle is done first: the layout is proofed, the film is printed or cut, and the panels are weeded and taped ready to hang. That is the slow part, and it happens at the shop.
What happens at your address is the part that needs the vehicle present — cleaning and de-greasing the panels, positioning and hinging the graphics, squeegeeing them down, trimming around handles, rivets and body lines, and post-heating the edges so they stay put. How long it takes depends on the vehicle and how much goes on it, and we give you an estimate with the quote.
Temperature is the one thing that can move a booking. Vinyl adhesive needs the panel warm enough to bond properly, so in deep winter we work around the weather rather than through it. If a job cannot be done safely outdoors on the day, we say so rather than applying film that will lift in a month.
- Send photos of the vehicle and the wording you want.
- We proof the layout on your actual vehicle, not a generic outline.
- You approve it — nothing is cut before you do.
- We come to you; the panels are cleaned and the film applied.
- The truck stays at your yard while we work.
The film we use, and why it matters
We fit cast vinyl from Avery Dennison, 3M and Orafol. Cast film is made by pouring liquid resin and letting it cure without stress, so it stays dimensionally stable on curves and rivets — which is why it lasts years longer on a vehicle than the cheaper calendared alternative.
Calendared film is squeezed through rollers under tension. It holds that tension, and over time it tries to shrink back to the shape it was pushed into. On a flat shop window that barely matters. On a truck door with a curve and a body line, it is the reason graphics lift at the corners and shrink away from the edges after a couple of seasons.
Manufacturers publish durability ratings for their films, and the gap is not subtle: premium cast products are typically rated for several times the outdoor life of an economy calendared product. Those ratings assume the film is applied correctly to a properly prepared surface, which is the other half of the job.
We laminate printed work. An unlaminated print is exposed to UV, road salt, brush washes and grit; a laminate takes that abuse instead of the ink. It is a cost most shops can quietly skip, and you find out three summers later when the reds have gone pink.
Manufacturer specifications
- 3M Commercial Graphics — film specifications and warranty terms
- Avery Dennison Graphics Solutions — cast and calendared film data sheets
- Orafol Graphic Products — Orafol and ORACAL film ranges
Truck Lettering across our service area
We fit truck lettering at your yard across all eight counties we cover. Pick your county for local detail, or send a photo and we will come to you.
Bergen County
Truck Lettering across Bergen County. Open Bergen County.
Essex County
Truck Lettering across Essex County. Open Essex County.
Hunterdon County
Truck Lettering across Hunterdon County. Open Hunterdon County.
Morris County
Truck Lettering across Morris County. Open Morris County.
Somerset County
Truck Lettering across Somerset County. Open Somerset County.
Sussex County
Truck Lettering across Sussex County. Open Sussex County.
Union County
Truck Lettering across Union County. Open Union County.
Warren County
Truck Lettering across Warren County. Open Warren County.
Ready for a quote?
Call 973-214-2292 and talk to Frank directly.
Areas we serve across New Jersey
Eight counties. Pick yours to see the towns we cover. Mobile truck lettering, wraps and signs — we come to your yard.
Find us in Chester, NJ
Our shop is at 95 W Main Street, Chester, New Jersey 07930 — but for lettering and wraps, we come to you.
Our mobile service area
Eight counties across northern and western New Jersey, covered by our own trucks.