A full colour-change wrap on a Transit runs £1,500–£3,000 fitted. Cut vinyl lettering on the same van: £300–£600. The wrap looks better on Instagram. The lettering often sells more work. Here's the uncomfortable maths.
A van is a moving billboard read in about two seconds, at distance, usually at an angle, often in traffic. In those two seconds a passer-by needs three things: what you do, roughly where you work, how to reach you. Big trade, big phone number, done. Plenty of £2,500 wraps bury all three under a giant photograph of a kitchen with the phone number in 40mm letters no one can read from a moving car.
Wraps earn their money in specific cases: you're building a consumer brand and the van parks somewhere visible all day; the bodywork is tired and paint would cost as much; you want colour coverage a paint job can't do. All legitimate. All secondary to legibility.
What I'd spec for most trades: solid base colour (the van's own paint is free), bold cut-vinyl trade descriptor — "ELECTRICIAN", not a slogan — phone number sized for 20 metres, area name, and one accent stripe or shape for recognition. Boring? From the pavement it reads like a business you'd trust with your fuse board. That's the entire job.
And whichever route you take: design on the actual vehicle template. Door handles, panel gaps and rubbing strips eat letters. We've redrawn too many jobs where a phone number folded into a wheel arch.