A painter's van parked in front of a freshly painted house is the best ad in the trade. The lettering just has to tell the neighbors who did it.
Start your design →
Example text for a painting business (a made-up company; 555 numbers are placeholders). Real text, so you can read it the way a customer would.
Paint is heavy for its size, about 10 lb per gallon for many coatings, so a van loaded for an exterior job with thirty gallons, sprayers, ladders on the rack and scaffold sections carries real weight, but a painting van still usually stays under the federal marking line. A box truck for commercial work or a van towing a lift trailer is the setup to check; the GVWR sticker and the trailer rating decide it.
The federal rule (from the same verified data as our checker): name and USDOT number on both sides of the power unit from 10,001 lbs (49 CFR 390.21T(b)(2)); other triggers in the federal box below.
Verified 2026-07-23 · next review 2026-10-21
Loading… or open the checker.
Check your state: California · Florida · Georgia · Massachusetts · New Jersey · Ohio · Texas · Washington · West Virginia. All 50 states.
These are the painting vehicle-marking rules we have read in the state's own statute or regulation. States not listed: we have not verified a rule for them (our research notes list which ones were checked).
| On the vehicle | Business name and contractor's license number, in or on each commercially registered motor vehicle used in the construction business, in a clearly visible location, at least 72-point type or 3/4 inch high and wide. |
|---|
| On the vehicle | The licensee's name and license number on each commercial motor vehicle registered under the licensee's name, letters and numbers approximately 1 1/2 inches high. |
|---|
California and Nevada license painters and have a vehicle rule for every licensee; both are quoted below. Only in states that license painting as a contractor trade and have a vehicle rule for licensees. Most other states we checked license painting locally or not at all.
Rarely, because a painting van is under the federal weight line in almost every setup; a box truck or a van towing a lift trailer is the exception worth running through the checker above.
Overspray on the van cleans off the vinyl the same way it cleans off the paint, with the same solvent, within reason. Don't scrub the letter edges with a razor.
A one-line pitch tied to the job you're on ('Like this color? Call us') and the number, plus a review QR. The side already has the name and services.
We match from our vinyl color range to your brand colors or a paint swatch as closely as the range allows, and show the match on the proof.
Fleet pricing from 15 vehicles, matched layouts across every unit, unit numbers included, one proof for the whole batch.
See fleet & volume pricing →General information, not legal advice. Each rule above shows the date we last verified it against the cited source; the state agency has the final word.
