Realistic total respray price?

[BIGBENZ]

If prep is done first...

 

[Michel]

If prep is done first...

It all depends on what sort of paint job.

Will you be stripping the car of its jewellery?

Is the paint to be done with doors and bonnet and boot lid attached, or do you want to do the door jambs and the edges of the engine bay, etc... (and thus remove doors, etc)

What colour would it be?

What sort of final finish is expected? (Driver, Nice, Show quality?)

 

[Styria]

When considering the total cost of respraying a car, the quality of finish is dependent upon the finish one wants - as Michel explains. However, I don't think it is quite as simple as that, and there are some reasons why I make that statement. Just about everybody expects their car to be perfect after it's been resprayed. I don't really think that they care whether they have paid two grand, or ten for that matter - they just want a perfect job, and if the $2K. job doesn't turn out that way, they don't understand that - and immediately the relationship turns sour.

Also what needs to be taken into consideration is the quality of removal and refit of all body components that need to be stripped prior to starting the preparation - you need to take into account, removal of screens (especially the front), the quality of the trim that will be refitted, are there costs involved as far as rubbers are concerned etc. etc.

Last but not least - preparation by a person other than the one that carries out the actual respray - when Gleaming Beauty was done by Michel, I decided that Jerry should not only paint the car, but should also do the preparation, even though we could have done it ourselves. You see, when you have two different people involved in the work, and if for some reason there are problems down the track, neither of the two parties can be blamed for not accepting responsibility. They would blame each other, and there is sweet bugger all you can do about it. In fact I know of some firms that will not respray a car unless they have done the preparation.

Preparing a car requires considerable skill - it is the most important part of the respray. Get the preparation wrong, and it's all down hill from then on. My two bobs' worth. Regards Styria

 

[Tony66_au]

If prep is done first...

Dont take this the wrong way but I used to Estimate an extra 30 hours if the prep work was already done by the owner lol

Over the years Ive been involved in some interesting businesses in the auto trade and although im not qualified on any tools Ive seen what goes on with nightmare restorations and how Quotes blow out badly. (Which is why I never quote, I Estimate)

We had 2 guys we referred to as "Block monkeys", and their sole task in the shop was to prep and rub back cars during the various stages and they were very very good but at $30 an hour we charged them out at a wee bit more.

This kept the painter happy and allowed him to do what he did best, paint.

This also kept the body fab bloke happy so he could deafen us all banging bits of tin.

However there was always an issue when the client got involved because it added another variable to the job and with a nice paint job the proper prep is crucial.

So I charged more if the client intervened.

or I pointed them at the $1000 respray guys in the factory up the back.

Harsh yes, but we always did a good job.