First, thats not really high for RETAIL, i know a couple guys who spent over 1000 for that and hood, I install and sell Ventureshield, as for thickness both the 3M paint protection film and Ventureshield are basically 8 to 8.5 mil. As for price, 3M is about .10 to .15 more a foot, not sure where agent got his numbers, but I have the price sheet in front of me. I assume that the installer prefers Ventureshield that did his car and he told him that. Also it could be that up until about 3 months ago, if you ordered Ventureshield material, the patterns are free, but 3m would have to be bulked or pay for the kit. Now that 3M owns Ventureshield that is not the case. As for the Viper kit, I will upload a picture of it so you can see it.