I have a sketch of what I want on my dash plaques. How do I order?

You can email, fax or mail in your sketch and we can provide art services to make your dash plaque look professional. Just give us a call at 800-354-7585 and one of our customer service reps will help you decide the best way to proceed with your order. Email to:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.fax to 812-425-4983 or mail to Tri-State Trophies, P.O. Box 6449, Evansville, IN 47719-0449 with attention to your customer service rep. We are available to take your call Monday – Friday9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CDT and Saturday 9 a.m. to noon. We must have your pre-payment to begin production of any order. We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover, and can process your club check via ACH.

Our car show is this weekend, can you still do my order and have it to me by Friday?

We do have rush service available, it’s called Dash It Production. Rush service requires you to approve your artwork immediately and that your order must ship via 2nd day or Overnight shipping.  Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 800-354-7585 and we’ll work with you to get your order done on time.

 

Our car show is in three weeks, is that going to fall into rush service?

Our production time begins when you approve your art proof. That means you have placed and paid for your order, given us art or art direction, and approved your emailed art proof. Standard production is 10 working days ( M – F you can’t count Saturday or Sunday!) from art approval, and does not include shipping time, so please allow for freight time from Indiana. We make every effort to move your order through production quickly, but if your order is not approved in time, it might move into rush pricing. Your customer service rep can tell you when your order needs to be approved in order to arrive for your event in standard production.

 

My car is a special robin’s egg blue and I’d like to match that on my dash plaque. Is that possible?

We make every attempt to match colors as closely as possible. Due to the imprinting process, however, we cannot guarantee a PMS match. If you have a special color you’d like to match, tell us the PMS color or send a photo and we will send you an actual proof, time permitting. Actual pre-production samples via USPS are $8.00.

 

Some dash plaque companies don’t charge a set-up charge. Why do you?

Most of our customers ask us to come up with artwork for their event and some provide camera-ready art to us. Every order requires us to scan or create art into our artwork system, regardless of the format in which we receive your artwork.
Every order also requires some manipulation in our artwork system, therefore we require a set-up charge. We have maintained our “Dollar Dash Plaque” pricing for years and even with our set-up charge, our multicolor imprinted dash plaques are still the best quality and value anywhere!!

 

I want to order your $300 trophy special with black marble bases, 5 different figures and every plate will say something different. Is that a problem?

Our $300 trophy special has been around for years and we want to continue to offer this fabulous deal. In order to continue offering this, we must limit the special to include all the same figures, all the same column and trim, and repeat copy on the plates. We do offer a $7.00 typesetting charge if you would like your 2nd line of copy on your plates to be different. We cannot ship any trophy order in black marble due to the porosity and brittleness of black marble. We want you to receive your trophy order in good shape, ready for your show, not with broken bases!

 

TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL CAR SHOW

Many of our car show customers have extensive experience hosting car shows and many have learned the hard way what not to do when preparing for a car show.  From the Awards standpoint, we have learned a few things, too, about do’s and don’ts for car show awards and we’d like to share some of our hard-earned advice with you.  Whether you’re putting on your first car show ever or celebrating your 54th Annual show, it’s always best to keep an open mind about what works and what doesn’t.

  • Know your audience.  Are you trying to attract antique cars, hot rods, or striving for the newer makes and models?  Your awards should reflect the group you hope to attract.  Be sure to advertise your awards so that you won’t have all the motorcycle awards left over because no one knew you welcomed bikes to your show!
  • Know your sponsors.  If you have a large volunteer staff who is excited to contact sponsors, plan ahead what you are going to tell each sponsor you call on.  Tell them what their sponsor money gets them in terms of benefit to their business:  “over 1,000 attendees will hear your name every hour, ten trophies will bear your name and your logo will appear in our program – over 9,000 exposures to your company!!”
  • Know your budget.  Say you have been calling on sponsors for three weeks and have pledges of $3,000.00.  You will need to plan your Awards accordingly; once you have budgeted your location, security, food and drinks, judge costs, DJ and entertainment, and any other costs, that may leave you with about $400 for awards.  You could make this very simple and go with our $300 special for a Top 25 show – 50 dash plaques, 25 trophies and one Best of Show trophy fits that budget perfectly.  You will even have money left over to start your Charity Donation bucket!
  • Know your time frame.  Lots of great ideas go by the wayside because they get bogged down in discussion, discussion, discussion.  Always allow at least one month to get your Awards ideas together, ordered, proofed and shipped.  Yes, we do rush orders but we’d rather you stick to your budget and not hyperventilate because you have three days to get everything done.  Put two or three people in charge of the Awards and let them make the decisions.  Trying to get an entire club to agree on design work is like – well, it’s impossible, so get a committee to do it, or better yet, one person who is knowledgeable about design, art or just has a good eye.  It’s a lot less stress on everyone.  One of the best designs we received from a car club was organized like this:  whoever got the most sponsors got his car on the dash plaques, t-shirts and posters.  This motivated members and they’ve done it every year since.
  • Know your vendor.  Any time you order anything from the internet, please, please, please, check them out before you buy!!  Look up the Awards vendor any way you can think of – google them, bing them or check out their local Chamber of Commerce to see if they are members and are legitimate businesses.  If they are listed with ARA, that means they are a member of the Awards and Recognition Association (ara.org), which means they are a legitimate retail awards business.  They should have their associations listed in their “About Us” section of their website or be able to tell you if they are members. Also check how long they’ve been in business;  just because they’re a new business doesn’t mean they can’t fill your order but a longer established business may have more credibility for your first order.  They should also be able to give you a quote on exactly what you want for your show; no one likes surprise charges!

We’d love to hear from you about what has been successful for your show or about any challenges you have come across while planning or executing your car show. What is the ONE THING you would NEVER do again?  What do you wish you had done?  What have you tried that was a great idea at the time but ended up biting you right in the…budget?   Let us know either anonymously or give us your name and club if you want everyone to know your big goof or how great you really are!