Quote:
Originally Posted by gearheads78
Les is right. 5500.00 will barley pay for materials on a good quality paint job. The shop I worked at in my late teens was getting 12K-15K on paint and body work almost 20 years ago.
Most good shops will not do anything other than an complete strip to metal. It just does not make since to stand behind your work on top of someone elses.
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That was another thing, the owner told me that there would be no stripping the car to metal; that he would be "feathering the paint down with a good sanding job" and that if I wanted the car stripped down to metal (or powder blasted) down to metal, it would cost much more. The reason is because of all the faults he expected to find by someone elses previous work. This car is a VW Bug by the way, easily dis-assembled in comparison to the larger cars, with considerably less surface area (I should have mentioned that earlier, but am more concerned about the experience rather than the car itself).
I do agree with you that $5500 is a decent price for a good paint job - no question about it, (it's not a restoral per se - but there will be some minor body work and rust that needs to be corrected - also included in that price).
To me, it's more about the service aspects that I have a concern - whether or not this shop will be providing "good" quality service with that paint job. The owner made it sound like there are too many unknowns to give a completely honest estimate. The car was left 1/2 day for the estimate. I believe that some of those unknowns could have been removed had the car been put up on the rack as previously promised. And I do understand that you can't see everything until the car is taken apart, sanded, re-inspected, etc.
By the way...in no way do I want to insult anyone who does paint and body work for a living. And I do appreciate their hard work and will especially welcome and respect their professional views and comments.
Thanks for all your replies - I am starting to lighten-up a little on this issue from your comments. The rat that I smell is starting to smell a bit better. (Some of this may be in my head, as I really hate getting ripped-off...even a little bit).