Price of a Custom Auto Paint Job
How Much Would It Cost to Paint My Car?
Every car owner pictures himself asking that question to a custom auto paint shop manager at a given time. For instance, when the once shiny paint of your car looks faded, or when you buy the car that you always wanted, and you dislike its color. Or maybe when you were involved in an accident, and your vehicle needed repair. Likewise, in the case that you are selling your car and you want its paint to glow expecting to get a better price. Independently of the reason, your vehicle needs a custom auto paint job and you ask yourself how you go about doing it. In this article, we give you some valuable information that will help you make an educated decision.
There Is No Free Ride
In the custom paint business “you get what you paid for,” because custom auto paint shops work in a very competitive market. That allows you to find a better price. However, you have to be very careful and look closely at what they are offering you so that you don’t get a low-quality paint job and end up losing money. Consequently, to prevent you from having any inconvenience, we will describe in this article the different price ranges of the car paint job, and what you should get for the money spent.
How Much Custom Auto Paint Shops Charge?
Low-Price Range of Custom Auto Paint Jobs. $500 – $900
According to Cost Helper, “In this price range, a shop typically uses an inexpensive synthetic enamel paint with a minimum number of coats. Additionally, they might not paint areas like the door jams or inside the hood, or they may mask off rather than take off removable trim and parts. Consequently, a third of consumers who purchased cheap paint jobs—which averaged $566—were unhappy with the results”.
National chains that have locations near your locality are an excellent option for a budget-minded person because they offer simple paint jobs at reasonable prices. Nevertheless, you should check the details of their offering, asking questions like the type and brand of paint, and the number of coats that they are going to apply. Above all, you should take into consideration that the central element in the cost of this price range is paint.
A low price painting job is the right choice for a car that has a body in good condition, or that needs a cosmetic touch before being sold. Nevertheless, it is essential to know that if the body of the car has a flaw, the paintwork will make it stand out.
Medium-Price Range of Custom Auto Paint Jobs. $1.000 – $3.500.
Cost Helper indicates. “Expect to pay $1,000-$3,500 for a more thorough paint job using higher-quality, brand-name paint, with costs varying depending on the make, model and condition of the vehicle (the amount of rust and number of dents or scratches), and whether it includes any interior or engine-area painting.”
They also say. “In this price range, the process typically includes additional prep work, like sanding, removing rust spots and dents, and ends with three to five applications of clear coat car paint to protect the base paint color, and to create a smooth, glossy final look.” As an illustration, consumers spent between $1000 and $3500 for what they described as good-quality, “thorough” paint jobs.”
You should consider that as the price of a paint job increases, you have to be more inquisitive so that you end up hiring the services of a custom auto paint shop that is up to the job. You should reconsider painting it at these costs if you are going to sell your car because it makes economic sense selling it as it is vs. painting it. Furthermore, in this range lies the price that you are likely to spend if you are doing restoration work to a car that has a higher value, and for whatever reason, you expect to keep it for a more extended period.
High-Price Range of Custom Auto Paint Jobs. $2,500 – $20,000 or more.
Cost Helper points out that “A showroom-quality custom or specialty auto paint job can cost $2,500-$20,000 or more, depending on the make, model, and condition of the vehicle, the location, and what the job includes. Additionally, this type of job typically includes the highest quality automotive paint (some of which can cost hundreds of dollars a quart), sanding the vehicle down to the bare metal, removing any dents, and applying 20-24 layers of paint”.
It is important to know that the custom auto paint jobs that are at the higher end of this price range might include, unique designs, the work of an airbrush artist, one or two-tone metallic or pearlescent paint jobs. Specifically, this is the price range of classic cars restoring jobs, and also of the exclusive painting jobs of luxury, sports, custom cars and hot rods. Accordingly, the custom auto paint shop that you select must have the experience and expertise that guarantees a truly outstanding final result. For this reason, you should call past customers of that shop and verify the quality of the work done to their cars, because no responsible shop owner would have a problem with that request.
Other Considerations
Do It Yourself Auto Paint Jobs
DIY is always an option to consider if you are an aficionado to mechanic work, and you have decent facilities and tools. To illustrate, DIY jobs are more suitable for older cars, for which a professional paint job costs too much, or for farm and all-terrain vehicles, which are prone to pick up dents and scratches. For this reason, DIY jobs most of the time aren’t top quality.
Warranties
The warranty terms vary depending on the type of job done, the materials used, and the shop that does the work. Generally, they last between six months to one year in the low price range jobs, and up to five years or a lifetime depending on high-end custom painting jobs.
Conclusion
We have presented to you the basic facts about the prices of a car paint job. With this in mind, if you want to have a better idea of the characteristics of the different types of paint jobs that you could do to your car, click here. Or if you want to know the five traits that a great custom auto paint shop has, find them here. And in the case that you wish to contact one of them to ask about doing a high-quality custom paint job to your vehicle, do it here.
