how much would a good job cost with painting the engine bay?

 

No but Im cheap. Done right with the best materials it right on. Done half fast with cheap stuff its a rip off. The problem is you dont know what shops are putting on or if they are skipping steps. Most of the time they mix and match brands because of the cost. A repaint is never just a repaint. Hoods have chips, doors have dents, quarters have scratches and so on. So before you know it there is primer all over. Which in turn takes more paint to cover, also dont forget Silver is the most expensive tint along with red.

You get what you pay for with the products you buy and the steps you take.

If you could see my car now you would know what I mean haha

 

The point is with insurance work shops estimate for far more labor than they actually perform knowing it will just get paid and the customer won't care because they are only paying a deductable. I have actually had shops say they were not interested in work that is not an insurance claim.

They only time i ever got a fair price on paint work was going to a small privately owned shop and speaking directly to the owner and agreeing to cash under the table.

 

Insurance company are cheap and they dont want to pay period. We have to fight to get decent hours. All paint labor is a standard book time just like a mechanic.

 

I fully understand that. They don't want to pay so shops jack up the estimate with more labor they don't perform to recover.

as an example some fool pulled in to the spot next to me and grazed my door and rear quarter panel. Estimate for insurance included removing the mirror, door skin, trim and quarter panel. In reality they just took off the trim and sprayed the rest on the car. The insurance company paid for all those parts to be removed and painted and after i found nothing but the trim was removed and i had overspray on my tire and rim that proved it. Over $1000 in labor they never did.

I am not pointing a finger at your shop, only the industry as a whole. That stuff goes on all the time.

 

I hear ya but its all about going to the right place. My dealer would have my *** if I didnt take my panels apart and do it the right way.

 

^Im sure there are shops that do that, and im sorry if you went to one. But you cant say "It never gets done" I work at the dealership and the car gets taken apart, all of it!

People that dont know how auto body paint works, think we charge to much. Labor hours cost money because you have a Tech with a $10,000+ tool box and $10,000+ in tools working on your car. In a shop that needs to be certin tempature with color corective lighting, $50,000 or more frame machine, $20,000 measuring system. $50,000 paint booth, paint mixing room with $20,000 in paint, $15,000 spot wlder, $10,000 plasma cuter, $10,000 air compressor, ect. Thats just some basic things. Then you got your auto body or paint suplies, tape, paper, masking roll, sand paper(20+ kinds at $30-$100 roll or box) grinding disc, drill bits, fiber glass, bondo, glaze putty, scuff pads, water born cleaners, solvent cleaners, that not half what we have in the shop. TRANING so the tech knows what he is doing $100-$5,000 per tech each year.

Its easy to say its a rip off when you dont know what the tech has to actualy do or need to fix your car.

 

im about to go to maaco lol











jk

 

^My friend works there and he is a nice guy......... but not so nice to the cars lol

 

How many dealerships do their own paint? It gets farmed out to body shops that live by insurance claims. Insurance companies jack them and they in turn jack the insurance companies to recover.

In cases where someone wants to get paint done outside of warranty, outside of insurance claims they get ripped off because of the above. There are not 2 price lists.

 

Like I said im sorry you only have gone to body shops that dont know what there doing and try to make money by cutting corners. But there not all like that. I talk to naughty240 all the time and he knows what he is doing and does it right on all the jobs that come thrue the shops. I have a lot of friends in this feild and nine out of ten do it right. If you know one person that does not it does not mean every one out ther rips people of. You allso dont work in the field so you are seeing it wrong from what it is. Shops dont rip people of that are not warranty or insurance claim jobs?! Its the insurance work that some shops will do wrong because of DRP. The insurance company will tell the shop that they will send them work if they lower there rates, so in return the shop will have to cut corners to still try and make money. Not the other way around.

Sorry for being off topic Paint cost $500-$5,000 for the out side, with out jambs and not a custom color.

 

Ppgfreak, looks like me and you are in every paint thread. We need a "ask a painter thread".

 

I thought about that a couple times but painting is much harder then a buff,clean,spacer,ect. I think it might be 50+ pages of people asking for prices, but it would be are prices not the shops around were they actualy are.

But im more then willing to give it a try, I love paint and helping out fellow G friends

 

Iono man, it sounds like you have a douche for a agent/company or just had a bad experience all together. I've tried to do my own bumper before and now I know why they get paid what they do. If you wanna complain about something how bout those Hedge Fund brokers or Tabs that cost sooo much.

 

OH, you forgot the lease or mgt of a building, Ins for it and everyone that works for you, utilities, etc etc etc.