Alright guys Maaco is charging me $800 for a full paint job while my local body shops are estimating me for $1000 for the hood, fenders, and bumpers. I have a budget of $1500. What do you guys think?

 

Maaco paint is going to peel before long. Prep is non existent, but is the most important part.

 

I realized such as I read from reviews. The body panels replaced on my car are black. Maaco offered to paint just that for $489 while a well known shop quoted me $1100 for the same job.

 

 

If you plan on keeping it for a while, I would go with a shop that will do quality work.

 

Car has 124k, and replaced a lot of parts. Just did the radiator support last week. Lol. Since it's tax season I was leaning toward a 5th Gen but ppl out here want too much and they have 180k in miles. So I figured I stay with my 4th Gen.

 

In that case I would look for a shop that will do a good job all the way through. As asand1 stated, the prep work is a very important step.

By the way, I really liked my 4th gen. It would still be in the family if it wasn't for it being hit. The person that crashed into it was reaching down for their phone. It had over 230,000 miles on it at the time.

 

I'm taking that into consideration. Lol. This car has been through hell, my title is Rebuilt. Previous owner wrecked it then I bought it several years later all shiny and new just too crash it myself. But I tell you something this car runs like a beast!

 

I had a bad experience with Maaco they painted a fender and door and said they painted it using paint code but it was night and day difference. Looked better primer black and they didn't even try to make it right. I took it straight from there to a little independent guy working out of his barn on the side, his work blended perfect and he even adjusted the panels for a better fit.

 

I had a feeling they would try that with my car. The blue on my car has metalic in it so I'm guessing thats harder to match.