Car dealership Christmas decorations work best when three things are lit: the showroom roofline in C9 LED bulbs, the trees along the lot frontage wrapped in mini lights, and the customer entry. Ask for a commercial proposal in September or early October so the install lands before the residential calendar tightens in November.
What should a dealership actually light?
Three things carry the look from the road: the showroom roofline, the trees along the lot frontage, and the customer entry. Everything else is a bonus.
Roofline first
C9 LED bulbs along the gutter and fascia give you a clean, hard line that a passing car reads from the road. Ridgelines on top of that add height. We put classic C9 bulbs on rooflines and ridges only, nothing else. We skip icicle lights on rooflines, because nobody makes a commercial-grade icicle light that lasts a season.
Then the frontage
Wrapped trunks and canopies pull the eye down the length of the lot instead of parking it on one building. We wrap with LED mini strands, so a small palm trunk takes about two strands and a large palm four to five. Stake lights along the entry drive finish the approach, roughly one stake per foot.
Color
Warm white is our default and the most popular choice. C9 bulbs come in any color or pattern, so cool white, multicolor or something like alternating red and warm white are all on the table. If you want the difference between the elements spelled out, we covered it in our guide on roofline, ridgeline and tree wrapping.
If the budget only covers one element this year, we would put it on the roofline facing the road. It is the piece that still reads when the lot lights are on and the inventory is bright.
When should a dealership ask for the proposal?
September or early October. That is not a sales line, it is how the calendar works for us.
Installs run September through December. Returning customers book first, and by mid-November we are usually booked into mid-December. A dealership that asks in October gets to pick the install window. A dealership that asks in late November is trying to fit into whatever is left before the year-end sales weeks.
If you want more on timing across the season, we wrote a full guide on when to book Christmas light installation in Florida.
How does the proposal and install actually go?
It starts with photos and a mockup, not a sales visit. We do not do in-person quote visits during install season, so the fastest path is a few clear photos of the frontage.
Commercial properties are measured and quoted individually, so the residential ranges on our pricing page do not apply to a lot. Every dealership gets its own number.
- 1Send photos or an address
Two to four clear shots of the showroom front and the lot frontage, or just the address so we can measure on the satellite and Street View.
- 2Tell us a rough budget
Not to haggle. It lets us size the design before we draw anything, so the mockup you see is one you can actually approve.
- 3We draw the mockup
We mark up a photo of the property element by element so you can see exactly what gets lit and in what color.
- 4Proposal and scheduling
The proposal spells out scope, install timing, working hours, the removal window, payment terms and the certificate of insurance.
- 5Install, then it runs itself
Timers are set on install day. Lights come on and go off without anyone at the store touching a switch.
Will the crew be working while customers are on the lot?
That gets written into the proposal. Working hours that avoid customer traffic are a standard line in a commercial scope, and on a dealership it matters more than most properties.
Ladders near the showroom doors during a Saturday test drive is nobody's idea of a good showroom experience. Early mornings before the gates open, or after the last appointment, keeps the lanes clear.
It helps to tell us your busiest hours when you ask for the proposal. We would rather plan around them than find out on install day.
Get your dealership's proposal started
Send photos or your address and we will reply the same day by text with a scope, timing and a certificate of insurance.
Get A Fast QuoteOr call/text 386-215-5461What goes in the property file?
A certificate of insurance, usually. We carry a $2 million commercial and residential liability policy plus workers' compensation on every employee, and the certificate comes with the commercial proposal or on request.
Most GMs and marketing managers we talk to need a few specific things before a vendor gets on the schedule. Here is what a commercial proposal from us lays out.
- Scope by element, shown on a marked-up photo of the property
- Install timing and the working hours that avoid customer traffic
- The removal window, arranged with the property
- Free outage response all season with a contact number
- Payment terms in writing
- Certificate of insurance for the file
Why rent the lights instead of buying a set?
We run a full-service seasonal rental. The dealership never buys or owns the lights. We own them, install them, maintain them, remove them and store them. There is more on how that works in our rental overview.
The practical difference shows up in year two. Our lights are custom cut to the property, tagged with color-coded tags and stored in labeled bins at our facility, so the same look goes back up the following fall without redesigning anything.
- Someone on staff owns the ladder work every year
- Boxes take warehouse space twelve months a year
- Strands get mixed up and the look drifts
- Outages become a service-department problem
- We do not install lights a customer bought
- We supply commercial-grade LED lights, cut to the property
- Insured crew installs, timers set on install day
- Free bulb and outage fixes all season once reported
- Removal and off-season storage handled by us
- Labeled bins mean the same display returns next fall
Something worth mentioning to your grounds crew: let them know the lights are up before they next trim or edge. Snagged wire is one of the things we see in a Florida season, and a two-minute heads-up avoids it.
What breaks during a Florida season, and who fixes it?
We do, free, all season. Fixes are included in the price. We just need the outage reported, and we are usually out within 72 hours.
What we actually see
- GFCI outlets tripping after heavy rain
- Wet outlets that will not reset
- Landscapers cutting or snagging wire
- Squirrels chewing wire
A couple of small things help on a commercial property: working outlets near the lit areas, GFCI recommended, and leaving the timers as we programmed them. If anything looks off, a call or text gets us moving. Takedown runs January 1 through January 31, and the timing is arranged with the property. More on that in our guide to removal and storage.
Which Central Florida dealerships can we light?
Volusia County is home base, and our crews and storage facility are there. Castle serves homes from Daytona Beach to Winter Park, and we light businesses across Volusia, Seminole and Orange County.
Lots in Daytona Beach and DeLand are close to home. Sanford and the Orlando area get grouped into route days, which is one more reason an early ask helps down there.
Send photos or an address through our 60-second quote form and we will reply the same day by text.
Frequently Asked Questions
Commercial properties are measured and quoted individually, so we never quote a lot off a price list. A dealership has frontage, trees, a showroom roofline and an entry, and every property mixes those differently. Send photos or the address and we draw a mockup, then build the number from the actual scope. Our published price ranges apply to homes, not commercial properties.
Installs run September through December, but the calendar tightens fast. Returning customers book first, and by mid-November we are usually booked into mid-December. Asking for a commercial proposal in September or early October means the install can land before the residential season fills in. For Seminole and Orange County properties, earlier matters more because those installs are grouped into route days.
The proposal sets working hours that avoid customer traffic, which usually means early morning or after the last appointment. It helps if you tell us your busiest hours when you request the proposal so we can plan around them rather than work it out on install day. Lanes stay clear and ladders stay away from showroom doors during selling hours.
Yes. We carry a $2 million commercial and residential liability policy plus workers' compensation on every employee, and a certificate of insurance comes with the commercial proposal or any time you request one. Most property managers and general managers need it in the vendor file before scheduling, so we send it along with the scope and timing rather than waiting to be asked.
We do, and removal timing is arranged with the property rather than dropped on you. Takedown runs January 1 through January 31. After removal the lights go into labeled bins with color-coded tags and are stored at our facility through the off season. Because they were custom cut to your building and trees, the same display goes back up the following fall without starting the design over.
Get Your Christmas Light Quote
Answer a few quick questions. Our team texts you a same-day quote.
Get A Fast QuoteOr call/text 386-215-5461