How Do I Put a Logo on My Car in Dubai? A Small Business Guide

Most small businesses come to us with one car and a logo file, often a sedan the owner also drives at the weekend. The questions are always the same: what is the cheapest way to put the logo on legally, and will it come off cleanly when the car is sold? The answer depends less on the logo than on the car: whose name it is registered in, what its panels are made of, and how it is used after hours.

This guide is for that owner. It covers the ownership question, the three formats that work on a car, what to put in the space, and how the job runs from your first message to fitting. Which stickers private owners can legally put on their cars is a different topic, covered in our car sticker rules guide.

Start with the Mulkiya: whose car is it?

A logo on a car is advertising, and the advertising permit is applied for with two documents side by side: your trade licence and the car's Mulkiya. The two have to connect. Look at the owner's name on the registration before you think about colours or fonts.

Owners who skip this step usually find out at the permit stage, after paying for design. A photo of the Mulkiya in your first message avoids that.

Door stickers, magnetic sign or partial wrap?

Three formats cover almost every small business car. They differ in price, life and how they behave in Dubai heat.

Our counter rule: if the car works for the business every day, choose stickers. Magnetic signs sound flexible, but in practice they stay on for months, collect fine sand underneath and leave a ring on the paint. They also have to come off for every wash. Some modern cars have aluminium or composite door skins where a magnet will not hold at all, so test the door with a fridge magnet before ordering one.

Single-colour cut vinyl gives the sharpest edges for lettering. Printed vinyl with UV lamination is the choice for logos with gradients or photos. For the full range of coverage, from decals to full wraps, see types of vehicle branding.

What to put on a car door

A front door gives you one panel, broken up by a handle and a body line. People see it at two metres in a car park and at twenty metres in traffic. That limits what works:

• Logo and business name, large enough to read across a car park.
• One service line: "AC repair and maintenance", not a list of eight services.
• One phone or WhatsApp number, in plain, heavy type.
• A website or Instagram handle, only if there is space left. Check with us before adding a QR code; whether one is accepted depends on the current permit guidelines.

Keep text clear of the door handle and the shut lines. On a Nissan Sunny or Toyota Corolla, the swage line through the door will split a phone number if it is set too low. The rear window can repeat the number on perforated one-way film, so the driver still sees out and the car behind you at the Al Maktoum Bridge signal reads it.

Writing for people who see the car for three seconds is covered in our guide to avoiding information overload.

Getting your logo file ready

The most common delay is the logo itself. A logo saved from a website or a WhatsApp profile picture is too small to cut cleanly at door size: edges come out stepped, and thin lines disappear. What we need:

• A vector file, AI, EPS, PDF or SVG, from whoever designed the logo.
• Your brand colours, if they are written down anywhere.
• The exact wording and phone number, checked by someone other than you.

If all you have is a business card or a low-resolution image, our in-house designers can rebuild it before the mockup. The file details, from colour mode to cut lines, are in our guide to preparing car sticker print files.

The advertising permit, in one paragraph

Every business logo on a Dubai car needs a Permit to Advertise on Vehicles from Mada Media, however small. From our recent quotes the fee for a car is AED 270 for door stickers and AED 520 for a partial wrap; the authority sets the fees and can change them. With a complete application, approval usually takes 3-7 working days. We prepare the mockup and submit it as part of the job, and the documents and fees are set out on our vehicle advertising permit page. A logo does not change the car's colour, so no Dubai Police colour approval is needed, unless a partial wrap ends up covering more than half the body.

How the job runs, from your first message

1. WhatsApp us the car model and year, a photo of each side, the logo file, a photo of the Mulkiya and your trade licence.
2. We send a price and a mockup of your logo on your exact car model, with sizes marked.
3. You sign off the mockup after checking every letter and digit.
4. We submit the permit and tell you when it is approved, usually within 3-7 working days.
5. We print and fit. Stickers are printed in 1-3 working days while the permit is in progress, and fitted the same or next day once it is approved.

Do not fit the logo before the permit arrives, even "just for a week". A branded car without a permit risks a fine and an order to remove the graphics, and a design that differs from the approved mockup counts as unapproved. If you change the phone number or tagline later, the approval has to change with it.

Living with the logo, and taking it off

Printed cast vinyl with UV lamination lasts about 3-5 years in UAE heat. A few habits help it get there: hand wash, keep pressure jets away from the edges, and park in shade when you can from June to September, because the sun on the doors and roof is what ages the film. If a corner lifts, send us a photo on WhatsApp; covered defects are fixed under our warranty of up to 2 years.

When the car is sold or the lease ends, the logo comes off with controlled heat, and the permit should be cancelled so it is not left attached to a car you no longer own. How cancellation works is in our guide to permit renewal and cancellation.

Frequently asked questions

Will a magnetic logo sign work on my car?

Only on steel panels, and only if you take it off regularly. Test the door with a fridge magnet first. Remove the sign before washing and wipe the panel weekly, because sand trapped under a magnet scratches the paint. It still needs the advertising permit, like any other logo.

Can I put my company logo on an employee's car?

It is possible but rarely simple, because the permit is tied to the trade licence and the car's registration. Get the employee's written agreement, send us the Mulkiya before any design work starts, and plan for removal and permit cancellation when they leave the company.

What happens to the logo when I sell the car?

We remove it with heat so the paint stays on the car, and you cancel the advertising permit. Cast vinyl on sound factory paint comes off cleanly. On resprayed panels we test a small corner first, because paint that was never properly bonded can lift with the film.

Can you lay out my logo if I only have a business card?

Yes. Our in-house designers can rebuild the logo as a vector file and place it on your car model. Send a clear photo of the card and any brand colours you use. You approve the mockup before anything is submitted for the permit or printed.

Should the logo go on the bonnet as well?

Usually not on a small business car. The bonnet is seen mostly by the driver and from bridges, and it takes the hardest sun, so printed film there ages first. Front doors and the rear window do far more work for the money.

Send us your car and your logo

WhatsApp +971 56 925 9327 with the car model, a photo of each side, your logo file and a photo of the Mulkiya. We check the ownership first, then send a mockup and a price for door stickers or a partial wrap, with the permit fee shown separately.