It was four years ago that one of JM Lexus’ customers damaged the rear bumper of a vehicle during a test drive. It was during the repair work that Bobby Glaize, body shop director and head of JM Custom Creations, decided to wrap the car in a chrome finish vinyl. The dealership then sent a photo of it to Lexus, who put it up on Facebook where it became the most liked photo at the time. It went viral at the time because it was unique and different than anything else out at the time.
Shortly after all of this JM Lexus made the decision to hire a graphic artist onto the JM Custom Creations team. The dealership now has a team that works on personal and commercial wrapping requests, that vary from cars to zambonis. They have customers coming in, either with designs or looking for help designing, whether or not they purchased the car from JM Lexus. The design team is able to sit down with customers and design something that fit their personality.
Customers pay anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000 for custom creations, depending on what they want wrapped. Everything from just a hood or roof, all the way up to full vinyl color change wraps.
JM Lexus likes to stay ahead of the curve. While many dealerships seemed to have phased out of wraps, leaving it as a outside aftermarket product, JM takes the mindset of how they can make their Lexus’ look different from everybody else’s. Only 2% of JM Lexus’ sales include wraps, but that figure is held down because about 80% of the dealership’s transactions are leases.
JM Lexus sold 10,043 new and 2,603 used vehicles in 2015. But when you break JM Custom Creations out by itself, it has proven to be a profitable venture. It adds money to the bottom line.
JM Lexus expects that even if new vehicle sales soften or plateau that the wrapping business will remain consistent. People like to have it done, they like to make their vehicle their own. They like being different than any other car on the road.