im no expert, but if i had to guess, the body shop is already gettin a good chunk of change, and the 500 is basically to do the prep on the remaining car, and a bit for paint. that does seem kinda low though.

 

I just want blackbird stripes painted on, and the CETA mod and I got quoted $1000.

 

A reputable paint/repair shop would blend into undameged panels to insure color match. So already I'd be uneasy, second, for $500 sounds like you're getting single stage paint. I'd ask them what they are planning to put on. You want Basecoat/Clearcoat. I wouldnt do it for less than $800 on up.

 

I've absolutely had several panels repainted on insurance's dime due to blending / paint matching. For example... front fascia / fender wreck included refinished hood, door, and pillar.

If it is bad enough that the paint will look noticeably different due to color, then I would go after insurance to cover it. Especially if you have a quote in hand for $500, that's not a lot of money given what the current claim must already be.

The problem is, that as others have pointed out, there's all kinds of sources for concern and monkey business here. You really need to ask some very specific questions about what exactly that $500 is paying for, and fully understand what is covered already.

I agree with others that there is no way that $500 is covering a proper refinishing of 5 panels. Even just a wetsand and respray should be more than that... assuming your current paint is near perfect. Doing a full and proper strip job should be well over $1000 for 5 panels.

But, if it is a good shop, and the shop already has for example 3 of the panels covered for refinishing in the insurance quote due to matching/blending... then maybe that $500 isn't so far off.

But you need that detail, for sure. You are every bit as likely to get hosed on body work as you are for anything else. Having insurance invovled doesn't do diik for you if you don't have documentation and a good understanding on what is promised to match against what was actually done.

And if the response from your shop is anything but clear, detailed breakdowns with written estimates and details - my advice would be to find another shop. There are too many body shops out there to stick with a joker.

My final piece of advice, would be don't rush to get new paint for the sake of it being new paint. If your factory paint is still very good, I would not mess with it. My experience has shown that probably 80% of all aftermarket paintwork is not as good as factory. 10% is equal. And the very top (and very expensive) 10% can do a better than factory job. This is considering all factors such as overspray, peel, chip resistance, durability... not just how it looks at day 1. It all looks good at day 1.

 

I would never pay over $2000 for a paint job on a daily driver. My friend got his car keyed and had it repainted for $2200...it looks better than any factory fbody I've seen. His car is black and I hear that's one of the easiest colors to paint.

 

You have heard wrong...Black is the hardest color to paint when it comes down to the final finish. Black will show every single little flaw that light colors will not. Now if you are talking about just spraying the color on an already perfect surface then yeah its not that tricky but neither is spraying a metallic color either. Only colors that you really have to be careful with are kandy colors and not too many people have kandy colors on their cars.
Also getting the car repainted for 2,200 and having it look better than factory is an excellent deal. Sounds like your friend lucked out.

 

Well, the insurance co is paying to blend the rear quarters, so that is included in what they are paying for. It's a shop with a very good reputation (I did a lot of checking with local car clubs, did a good look around the shop, and looked at the cars they had finished.), and yes, the $500 is for base and clear. He did tell me that it would be easier for him to just paint the whole car, and with the insurance co already covering the blending, he could give me a good deal on the rear quarters, sail pnl and hatch.

And by the way, I'm getting this work done due to a crazy driver running me off the road into some bushes.

 

Have you looked at some factory paint jobs? They aren't all that great...everyone I've seen had orange peel and some even have the clear coat peeling. The $2200 was without painting the doorjams, engine bay etc, around here that seems to be the going rate($1800-$2500). I've called every paint shop in the phonebook(about 35) and the highest was Ford who wanted somewhere around $3200 and $4500 to do all jams.