Body shop owner just about gave me a heart attack

[bull]

I live less than a mile from what looks like a podunk body shop. For years I've driven by this place assuming it was just a hack shop based on the look of the place outside. Never once have I seen anything exciting there such as a classic Mopar but here about six months ago I started seeing a bunch of those goofy low riders parked outside -- the ones with the gnarly paint jobs and the hydraulic suspensions and the dinky tires jammed onto rims that are too wide for them, etc.

Long story short, you can't judge a book by its cover. I went in there a couple days ago and saw three or four classic cars inside. No Mopars that I could see but the guy was laying down some real professional-looking paint jobs on what was there. Turns out he took over about the time the low riders showed up so I asked him to come down the hill and take a look at my '68. A few hours later he shows up to have a look and tells me he'd charge $10,000 to paint my car!! How cow! That's $3,500 more than my highest quote. I don't know how this guy thinks he's worth that much when all the other 5-6 quotes I've gotten were between $4,500-$6,500, especially since the $6,500 quote comes from a guy who painted a $1 million+ Cuda that sold at BJ. Oh well, I guess he won't be working for me. Too bad since he's so close.

Rant over.

[dads_69]

Is that 10 G's for body and paint? I've painted cars that are worth at the time I worked on them, worth 250 grand plus. I painted a Caddy that was in a movie with Sylvester Staloan. That car sold at an action for over 600 grand. It really doesn't matter the value of the car, as long as the body and paint are worth doing to the car and being able to retrieve some of that money back if/when sold. I'm doing a body/paint job on a '69 Firebird right now, and I haven't replaced any body panels, just repair dents and lots of prep work before paint. That estimate you got from the guy down the road isn't that far off.
Mark

[bull]

No, his estimate is $10k to seam seal it, prime it, block sand and paint it. I've already put $15k into the body work alone.

[41husk]

WoW! 10K if you had to replace pannels etc. but just to seal sand prime and paint

[bull]

WoW! 10K if you had to replace pannels etc. but just to seal sand prime and paint

I'm wondering if he's just too busy and doesn't want the business right now. It's funny because he was very complimentary of the guy who gave me the $6,500 estimate and then he came in at $3,500 more. Oh well, it doesn't hurt to ask.

[firefighter3931]

Curtis, he doesn't want the job. His price seems way out of line, inmo. 

Did the bodywork guy give you a price on paintwork ?



Ron

[bull]

Curtis, he doesn't want the job. His price seems way out of line, inmo. 

Did the bodywork guy give you a price on paintwork ?



Ron

Yea, the body guy is the one that came in at $6,500 IIRC. It might have been something like $6,200 but I know it was a little over $6k.

[The70RT]

 It seem's like lots of places charge too much. I guess when it takes them 6 months just to sand and paint a car they gotta charge a rediculous price to stay in buissiness. I would think 5K would be plenty for any place to charge if all the body work was done and all that was left was to block it out and paint it? I will be trying to paint a couple cars that I am not too worried about after the Charger is done though. I am just not gonna spend 5-7K on paint for a Falcon or my camper. If they turn out ok maybe I will do my convertible then too.

[GeneralLeeTESH]

Better try MAACO...

[bull]

Better try MAACO...

Nah, I'm not that far down the fiscal scale.

[6pkrunner]

Seems that instant communications and the internet has put an end to almost all the old smoke and mirror industries. Machine shops, service shops, etc can be made or broken pretty quickly.

The one fluffy area left is body/paint. Go to 3 guys and get 30 different quotes. Hell, one person will not be consistant from day to day. Soon as the "personal judgement" eye takes over - look out. Sure there is the old hidden damage thing, but when you roll in a nice shell to be finished prepped and shot - there is still too much gray area. And that's not gray paint being sprayed.

Good luck and bite a bullet.

[TUFCAT]

The cost of materials keep getting higher and higher.

[Todd Wilson]

Many things to look at. He is either busy and dont want to do it so he priced it sky high to run you off and if you go ahead and show up for the work then its good $ for him. 
His paint jobs may be different then other shops paint jobs. Creating the higher price. Some paint people are leary about painting a car without doing the body and prep work on it also. Thats the major part about having a good paint job. He may prime and then block it only to find poor body work from who ever worked on it before. Then it becomes his problem because you wont like the paint if he goes ahead and paints it. Maybe he sees a bunch of crap body work on your car and knows what is about to happen if he starts it?!

With all the low riders parked outside maybe his price includes a set of hydraulics for the Charger!HAHA!


Todd

[70charger_boy]

You get what you pay for.  I don't really like alot of the lowrider paintjobs, but I can tell you that they are not cheap.  I know a guy who painted a '63 Impala with alot of candy and metalics.  He charged 25 grand.

[Back N Black]

I agree with you Todd on most Body shops not wanting to paint over someone else's bodywork. I bought a fender for my car that was allready prepped and blocked ready to install. I showed up at the bodyshop happier than a pig in shi!! that i found such a great fender.They said "we will not put our reputation on some other guys bodywork". We would like to sand it down and start over and they did, and we threw the fender in the garbage.It was absolute junk with poor workmanship.

[dads_69]

For what your needing done, my rates start at $5500.00 and up. It all depends on what color customer wants, type of material,color sanding after words. Car show paint or daily driver paint job also.
Package #1. Prime block ready for paint.
Cut in door jambs-trunk under hood only,not engine bay.
Seal-base-clear-color sand-done.
Thats my starting rate of $5500.00
Package #2. Well, lets just say that a lot of blocking and possible re-prime and if its going to be black, the price just went up $1500.00
Mark

[68chrgrwife]

Where I used to work, the guy would charge $10,000 for a General or Starsky N Hutch car because there are no decals....all hand painted!  Don't know if that bit of information helps you any, but a good paint job is gonna be expensive.

[rare69]

most top notch body shops around here charge 35-45 dollars an hour plus materials. and Any really good body guy is going to do a lot of extra work that you don't necessarily see as needing to be done, but will really show in the final product. if you want a really nice paint job that is going to last, pay a little more now instead of a lot latter to have it fixed.

[hemi-hampton]

$15,000 in body work but you say it needs to be primed & block, What kind of Primer on it now? Dont tell me it's been sitting in Bondo & bare metal ? Best to let the bodyman or same shop paint it for the $6,500. That way they can take the blame if anything goes bad/wrong, No passing the buck to anyone else. Or just pay me $5,900 to do it   What color is it going   LEON.

[hemihead]

 $ 15000 in Body Work ? That car must have been BAD or you got taken for a ride already.

[68charger383]

For what your needing done, my rates start at $5500.00 and up. It all depends on what color customer wants, type of material,color sanding after words. Car show paint or daily driver paint job also.

I always hear that...show/driver paint.

I know what the diffence in the final result looks like, but what is the difference, more coats of paint/clear...more time spent on the prep? What is done differently?

[bull]

$ 15000 in Body Work ? That car must have been BAD or you got taken for a ride already.

Do you know the whole story? Here, you decide which it is: http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,9867.0.html

[Charger_Fan]

With all the low riders parked outside maybe his price includes a set of hydraulics for the Charger!HAHA!

[dads_69]

For what your needing done, my rates start at $5500.00 and up. It all depends on what color customer wants, type of material,color sanding after words. Car show paint or daily driver paint job also.

I always hear that...show/driver paint.

I know what the difference in the final result looks like, but what is the difference, more coats of paint/clear...more time spent on the prep? What is done differently?

A lot of extra blocking goes into it. Normal is two stages of blocking vs. three or four. When base coat is applied, the final coat of base is blocked and re-sprayed with more base. I lay down 2 coats of clear, bake and cut that down w/600 then clear again 3 or 4 coats then bake. make the job easier to cut down using 2000 and 2500 then buff. I do custom paint jobs as well, two tones,graphics, flames, pretty much whatever is within reason for the price I am charging at that time for the job I am doing.
A daily driver paint job is easy. Gut the car, repair dents, some rust or replace panels. Prime, block re-prime and sand with 320 then seal-paint-clear color sand when necessary. Engine bays are an extra $750.00 and up depending. Hope this answers your question.
Mark

[justin1987]

Where I used to work, the guy would charge $10,000 for a General or Starsky N Hutch car because there are no decals....all hand painted!  Don't know if that bit of information helps you any, but a good paint job is gonna be expensive.

Holy crap. The guy that painted our limited edition Starsky and Hutch production car only charged $1,200. The original quote was $1,500, but he lowered it because he said it was easier than what he thought it was going to be. It's not show perfect by any means but you can't see the blemishes unless you know where to look, and all those can be taken out if we would have had the car buffed out after it was cleared.

The same guy is painting our Charger in about two weeks and he quoted us $1,000 to $3,000 depending on how much prep work he has to do. That includes fixing a body line that our body man somehow screwed up. 

I guess things are a little cheaper in Oklahoma. LOL