YACT - How much does it cost to get a car painted?

[BoldAsLove]

I may inherit my grandparents car, and am not liking the old person gold. How much does a paint job usually go (a good one)?

 

[zerocool84]

Good paintjobs cost in the thousands easily starting around 3grand+ or you can just get a Maaco for a couple hundred bucks

 

[Zenmervolt]

Since a "good" paint job essentially means dis-assembling almost all of the car and also sanding down to the bare metal and starting over, you can easily run well over $5,000. Huge amounts of labor involved in repainting a car properly.

Just live with the color. Maaco jobs are crap and it's not worth the cost of a proper paint job.

ZV

 

[blert]

Try to find a local mom & pop type place.....I have one where i live and they have always done an outstanding job with the single stage paints they use. They may need to keep it for a couple of weeks, but only charge $600/$700- and you cannot tell it has been repainted nor have I had any issues with the paint. Call around and you might get lucky.

 

[xanis]

How much depends on where you get it done and the quality of the job. A professional "factory" paintjob will probably cost you around $5,000+. A show quality paint job will cost you around $10K+. A Maaco job will cost you ~$300, but keep in mind you get what you pay for.

 

[SearchMaster]

Originally posted by: blert
Try to find a local mom & pop type place.....I have one where i live and they have always done an outstanding job with the single stage paints they use. They may need to keep it for a couple of weeks, but only charge $600/$700- and you cannot tell it has been repainted nor have I had any issues with the paint. Call around and you might get lucky.

My wife had a car of mine painted about 7 years ago at a place like that. It cost ~$500-600. I have since sold the car to a friend of mine, but I see the car from time to time and the paint job still looks quite good. It wasn't perfect but it was money very well spent as the factory paint job was in sad shape.

If the original paint is in good shape but you just don't like the color, I don't know that I would go through with having it painted. But if it's in rough shape, a cheap paint job really isn't that bad.

 

[Safeway]

A while back, my dad and I were renovating a Grand National. We went the whole 9 yards with it -- Removed the body, acid bath to remove rust, patch it up, paint it, clear coat it. The entire process was very, very expense. Or, you can tape up your windows and use several cans of spray paint.

Your choice.

 

[chr6]

i was in an accident not too long ago, and i can highly recommend the place that did all my body work and painted the car (it really does look brand new).

you might go to them for a quote since you are in ca. m1autobody is the place. pm if you have any questions.

 

[RichUK]

50 bananas should cover it.

Seriously, how the hell are we supposed to know? It depends on the state of the bodywork along with many other factors. Consult you local body shop for a ballpark figure.

 

[BoomerD]

Come on by...I have a couple of gallons of house paint and some rollers left...we can paint your car for under $50.....

 

[kevbot]

I went to Maaco for an estimate for my mother's car. They showed me a Volvo they painted at the cheapest price and it looked like crap! Then they showed me an Explorer that had one of the more expensive jobs (~$800) and it looked great, but not as good as a factory job. From 10 feet away, you wouldn't know it was repainted. YMMV. Don't have a clue how the paint ages though.

 

[Kirby]

I got mine done for about $3500 and it took several weeks.

 

[radioouman]

I painted my truck by myself in the driveway. Pick a flat color (no metallic, so pick white, red, yellow, orange...) buy a gallon of paint stripper at the auto parts store, strip the paint, sand flat and remove rust, spray primer, spray base coat, spray clear coat. Took me two weeks, and since I picked bright red, it was the most costly. I used Sherwin Williams automotive paint. I bought one gallon of base coat and one gallon of clear coat and it cost me around $400 I believe. Get a HVLP (high velocity, low pressure) sprayer. You can get an electric HVLP sprayer from Sears now, but air guns will give you the best result. Good luck.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: kevbot
I went to Maaco for an estimate for my mother's car. They showed me a Volvo they painted at the cheapest price and it looked like crap! Then they showed me an Explorer that had one of the more expensive jobs (~$800) and it looked great, but not as good as a factory job. From 10 feet away, you wouldn't know it was repainted. YMMV. Don't have a clue how the paint ages though.

Ugh, Maaco had painted my brothers 1995 Honda Accord (for $1200) and they totally botched the job. The car looked like utter sh!t, and they guaranteed a "factory look" to the paint. There were paint drops all over (they claimed buffing would help) and the color didn't match evenly throughout the car.

My brother was so upset about the whole deal, that he ended up trading the car in 2 weeks later.

Of course, the guarantee didn't hold up, because the "factory-look" is subjective. Maaco is awwwwful.