New paintjob pricing?

JohnnyDaJackal · 08-18-05, 11:12

Well for the past week or two my cousin who bought a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee has been considering a new paint job for his truck. His hood is pretty shot, bird droppings etch his paint so easy. I really think its CC failure. Also pretty much all of his panels are pretty scratched up and some little dents here and there. I was kinda figuring a new paintjob would be around $1.5-2k most, but the other day he went to a pretty reputablel body shop and they gave him an estimate of $6k. I though that price was absurd, thats more then half of what he paid for the truck

. I figured around $7-8k would get you an insanely awesome Ferrari paint job.

Anyway i'm just curious if this price is normal, or if its way over? I have very little experience with the body shop market, so I figured ask my fellow Autopians. Thanks!

Accumulator · 08-18-05, 02:18

Prices for repaints are all over the map, and it seems like everybody "knows a guy who did a perfect job for $1,000"

IMO that $6K isn't all that high if (big "if") the shop is gonna do it right. Show quality (as in, win "best paint" at a real car show) repaints will cost at least $10,000 and I've heard of people paying *much* more than that. To literally "repaint a Ferrari" to factory standards would cost a small fortune.

Last full repaint I had done ('94 Buick Roadmaster wagon) had virtually no rust to deal with and it came to right around $6K. That was not a color change (which will cost more) but it was a glass out/trim off/plastic panels off the car/etc. job. In other words, it was done right, but it wasn't my idea of show quality either.

Gotta be careful with this repainting stuff. Most places do terrible work and assume that their customers won't know the difference.

bigltc · 08-18-05, 04:41

My neighbor's Jetta was keyed. The insurance co. gave her $7k for a full re-paint. She went to a shop that did the work for $4k and pocketed the difference. The new paint looks dull and lifeless. Nothing like the factory paint that sparkled with the little care she gave it.

mxblue23 · 08-18-05, 07:08

$6k isn't out of line for a full repaint at all. You can find it for less but likely they won't go the full distance. For 6k they are going to gut the interior, pull the fenders, remove all the windows, etc. You won't be able to tell it was ever painted for the most part. Find a reputable shop and you really do get what you pay for, but it isn't cheap, a very very very labor intensive process.

As for the ferrari, I wouldn't doubt $20k+ to shoot a 360 top to bottom.

truzoom · 08-18-05, 08:02

Why not just take it to Maaco?

Setec Astronomy · 08-18-05, 08:15

In the real world of non-show, non-Autopian cars, nobody pulls the glass etc. for a repaint, do they? In that case, fix a few dents, etc., I would think $2-3K.

mxblue23 · 08-18-05, 08:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

In the real world of non-show, non-Autopian cars, nobody pulls the glass etc. for a repaint, do they? In that case, fix a few dents, etc., I would think $2-3K.

Idunno I grew up living next door to the owner of a very nice body/paint shop. On all the collision vehicles they do the interior/windows come out, fenders off etc. But it also comes with a healthy price tag, and also probably why he paints quite a few vehicles for sema every year.

http://www.landgenterprises.com/

Thats what you get for $6k starting, and about the only place I would let touch my truck when it comes to paint work.

termigator · 08-18-05, 08:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by truzoom

Why not just take it to Maaco?

Actually, I had my 92' Prelude Si repainted by them for $1100 back in 1997. They did all of the "taking off" stuff when they could. Albeit, they were a little sloppy with some of the details, but it wasn't anything I couldn't get them to redo. In the end, it came out really nice. I also recently read an article in my newspaper on repaints written by the car editor and he actually recommended one of the Maaco's here for getting his car back to "close to showroom quality" for a very reasonable price.

mxblue23 · 08-18-05, 11:04

Actually knowing how the guys are around here I'd recommend spraying it yourself. #1 reason beign that a quality paint job lies 90% in the prep work. Get the body super straight and almost anyone can shoot a good paing job with an HVLP gun. Do a good wet sand job, lay the glass, glaze it, and you can have a very very good paint job for under $2k.

GTScott · 08-19-05, 08:36

I had my Honda Passport repainted following a hail storm. Looking over the estimate, the paint job itself was $7700 and it is at or better than the factory job.

-GT

Accumulator · 08-19-05, 08:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by mxblue23

Actually knowing how the guys are around here I'd recommend spraying it yourself. #1 reason beign that a quality paint job lies 90% in the prep work....

Or go the other way and do the prep work and let them spray it. I haven't done any of this stuff for *ages*, but I could always do prep better than I could work the spray gun.

the other pc · 08-19-05, 08:56

One of the guys in our club got a surprisingly good shoot at Maaco for about $1000. He did all the prep and bodywork himself, interviewed the painter carefully and looked at a lot of the guy's work. Also had him use a better grade of paint than they normally use.

PC.