Cost of getting a paint job

[TinCuda]

I put a deep scratch in the passenger side door when I backed into a bbq grill once.   I sanded and painted the whole door.   It was the first and last time I have ever painted on a car.   It took an honest 10ish hours of prep work but it turned out real nice.   I got lots of comments on how good it looked.   The color was a very unforgiving black on a BMW 325ic.

It can be done.


.,

[wart1de]

"DAMN!, I can get it painted at Maaco for $200.00!! Your Crazy!"

I've heard that countless times. After my first $6,000 paint job 10 years ago, I had people telling me I was ripped off and stupid because they can get cars repainted for $1,500. One of those guys did go and get a respray for said amount. Less than 6 months after the job was done the car had rust breaking out everywhere. He took the car back and complained over and over but they told him to get stuffed. Needless to say, he stopped calling me an idiot.

 

[Cuda54]

Dam 7 years ago it cost $2000 just for one color on my Harley. Back in the day I used to paint big cars for $250 to $300 per car. And have some nice looking cars when I was done. Boy does this make me feel OLD!

[jimynick]

The thing that most people fail to realize, is that, as the old phrase goes-"God is in the details" and the details are usually handled by the preppers. A good one can make a painter look like a hero and a bad one can make old Mike look like a hacker. It's rarely the painter who does the blocking or fitting. The prep work makes ALL the difference between a good and lousy/inferior paint job. This is not the day of lace and multi panel painting with all the tricks that used to differentiate one painter from another one. I, personally, as a licenced painter, agree that the industry is pricing itself out of reach of the average guy. Who can, or should, have to pay $10,20 or 30 grand for a paint job?! NO ONE, unless it's the guy who shows up at a paint shop with an attitude and the need to be "the best", with a large wallet and no desire to do anything except waxing the thing when it's all over. Learn to do some prep/block sanding and save yourself a lot of dough, boys. 

[ChallengerHK]

  completely. 15 or so years ago I put a Maaco paint job on my car to protect all the bodywork I'd just had done, when I was on my way to grad school. The Maaco job ($500) looked great, mostly because my friend Chris has spent almost 100 hours on prep.

[Chryco Psycho]

completely. 15 or so years ago I put a Maaco paint job on my car to protect all the bodywork I'd just had done, when I was on my way to grad school. The Maaco job ($500) looked great, mostly because my friend Chris has spent almost 100 hours on prep.

SO 100 hrs @ $50/ hr .....$5000

[ChallengerHK]

The other part of this is that that paint job looked great for years, as long as the car was stored inside. One year of Michigan weather trashed it thoroughly. So that's the other part of a $500 Maaco paint job.

[Cooter]

This is where so many have a problem today. They seem to think that if you spray TODAY'S paint (BC/CC) you can leave an older car outside sitting in all types of weather and it'll look like some of the newer cars in 10-15 years. A cheaper paint job can and do look good after YEARS INSIDE and taken care of...
I prep, paint, Do bodywork...All of it cause I have to, But make NO mistake, YOU don't wanna spent countless hours prepping? Well, your gonna pay to have it done so YOU don't have to do anything but pic it up cause myself, and anybody else doesn't wanna do it either.

$30K For a paint job? I can see it if the car/truck is a total roach, but for the basic body job and spray $10-15K isn't unheard of and isn't unpaid for either. You don't want to "pay the cost to be the boss", Maaco is waiting...

[Topcat]

SO 100 hrs @ $50/ hr .....$5000

Labor here averages $85.00-$100 an hr.

Only the Fat Cats can dole that kind of bread out.
I'm not a Fat Cat so I had no choice than to do the bodywork myself.

[DocMel]

MEDIA blast sheet metal 

Sand blasting will warp large panels

[72cudamaan]

MEDIA blast sheet metal 

Sand blasting will warp large panels

When done with the wrong media, pressure or lack of kno0w how.