Cost Of Respray

[cRaig 265 1 Cars]

Hello everyone,

 

Im thinking about a respray on my lazer green 1.9, and have been quoted £1800 (cash) for a full exterior respray including all visible parts- door shuts etc. This is not including removing or putting back trim, which I am happy to do.

 

While mine isnt in bad condition, they are still spending alot of time sorting minor dents on pretty much every panel- I think they said labour would come in at around 40 hours (ouch!)

 

Does anyone have any oppinion if this is a resonable amount to pay? I do trust the garage to do a decent job- they are the local authorised repairer for BMW, so must be pretty good..

 

 

As you can see, it doesnt look too bad in pics, but upclose every panel has some dents/scratches/ areas which have been bodged with rattle cans. Also its been fitted with the dealer fit body kit at somepoint, so thats made a bit of a mess of the lower part of the doors and rear quarter etc

[ccgoose 0]

sounds far too expensive, i've just been quoted 1000-1200 by a local shop near me and they put out some fantastic cars

[toddydal 1]

sounds about right mate 40hrs is a weeks work,so id say 2 or 3 days of prep and prime work and 2 days for the paint and flat and polish depending how bad the dents are, 1800 should get you a decent job as said in many posts you pay for what you get,can you find out what paint there going to use on your car because for that price it should be something decent,at my last place of work we used glasurit paint which was really expensive but very very good paint,you can get cheaper brands of basecoats and clearcoats to keep the price down but id rather have something half decent put on my car if i was doing it

[cRaig 265 1 Cars]

sounds about right mate 40hrs is a weeks work,so id say 2 or 3 days of prep and prime work and 2 days for the paint and flat and polish depending how bad the dents are, 1800 should get you a decent job as said in many posts you pay for what you get,can you find out what paint there going to use on your car because for that price it should be something decent,at my last place of work we used glasurit paint which was really expensive but very very good paint,you can get cheaper brands of basecoats and clearcoats to keep the price down but id rather have something half decent put on my car if i was doing it

 

Yeah, this really should be a decent job- the guy spent about 25 mins going over the car, he seems honest etc, weve had a few dealings with him before and got on well. I know its alot of money, but its the sort of thing I only plan on doing once, and to quote the guy at the garage- we only have one standard, and thats getting it right. The way I look at it, id rather spend a few hundred quid more now, rather than regret still spending over a grand on a sprayjob that would have little niggles that would annoy me all the time.

 

But I still dont want to be ripped off, obviously

[eddie bullit 37]

Yeah, this really should be a decent job- the guy spent about 25 mins going over the car, he seems honest etc, weve had a few dealings with him before and got on well. I know its alot of money, but its the sort of thing I only plan on doing once, and to quote the guy at the garage- we only have one standard, and thats getting it right. The way I look at it, id rather spend a few hundred quid more now, rather than regret still spending over a grand on a sprayjob that would have little niggles that would annoy me all the time.

 

But I still dont want to be ripped off, obviously

I think you've answered your own question tbh... I paid around 1200 in the end but was quoted 1800 by one garage with a good reputation and with hindsight that would have been the wise option. but you live and learn ..I did all my homework and then rushed the car up to the bodyshop who could fit me in so it would be done on returning from my hols. didnt even start it for couple of weeks then all the sh$t started check out my posts for a word of warning

[cRaig 265 1 Cars]

I think you've answered your own question tbh... I paid around 1200 in the end but was quoted 1800 by one garage with a good reputation and with hindsight that would have been the wise option. but you live and learn ..I did all my homework and then rushed the car up to the bodyshop who could fit me in so it would be done on returning from my hols. didnt even start it for couple of weeks then all the sh$t started check out my posts for a word of warning

 

Yeah.. I had read a couple of your threads, so thats what put me towards the idea of just spending more and getting it right

 

Your car goes look gorgeous tho Definately an inspiration

[Paintguy 0]

If you're doing some of the strip & refit, then I'd say that was towards the top end of what you should be paying, but not excessive by any means.

 

You're paying top dollar though, so you should expect a top quality job

[djinuk 2]

£1800 is the right money, just make sure its spot on,

[cRaig 265 1 Cars]

Thanks gents. I thought it was about right- just hope that it is a genuinely very good job. I should think it will be, sounds genuine enough..

[jonnie205 1]

sounds on the high side but there is a big difference i quality of bodyshops so pay the money but make sure its right

[GLPoomobile 958]

How much (roughly) would materials for a job like this cost? Cos £1800 divided by 40 hours labour equals £45p.h. Knock £200 off the total to account for materials and it comes down to £40p.h. for the labour, and so on. As others have said, this must be at the upper end of the scale in terms of labour costs (I'm not surprised, since a lot of places these days charge £30-£45p.h. for various trades - vehicle technicians, auto electricians, bodywork etc).

 

Obviously other people have paid less for resprays, but to be frank I think it's a bit pointless comparing prices when there are various things to factor in - amount of prep required, dents/rust to be treated, colour/type of paint to be used etc.

 

It clearly sounds like they are going to be spending a lot of time on the prep work on your car to get it spot on, and it's good that they've said "We only have one standard, and that's getting it right". I just hope they live up to the promise Better to pay £1800 and get a perfect job than pay £1200 and get a passable job IMHO.

[cRaig 265 1 Cars]

I think they said that their charge for labour comes in at £34.50 an hour, so thats £1380, which leaves £420 for materials (roughly, I guess the paint costs a bit more?)

 

Yeah.. thats the thing, if they did a very good job for that price, it would be worth it.. its just if it ends up bodged then its a bad deal.. Only one way to find out though..

 

Im going to get another couple of quotes on tuesday hopefully, just to compare to see if its in the right ballpark, then suck it up, raid my savings and start stripping it down

[eddie bullit 37]

I think they said that their charge for labour comes in at £34.50 an hour, so thats £1380, which leaves £420 for materials (roughly, I guess the paint costs a bit more?)

 

Yeah.. thats the thing, if they did a very good job for that price, it would be worth it.. its just if it ends up bodged then its a bad deal.. Only one way to find out though..

 

Im going to get another couple of quotes on tuesday hopefully, just to compare to see if its in the right ballpark, then suck it up, raid my savings and start stripping it down

its a bit of a leap of faith tbh. you go for who you think you can trust...

[Alastairh 47]

If you're doing some of the strip & refit, then I'd say that was towards the top end of what you should be paying, but not excessive by any means.

 

You're paying top dollar though, so you should expect a top quality job

 

Exactly what i was going to say.

 

For me to pay top money like that, and to have to remove the trim, i would expect it to be A1.

 

Best advice i would say though.

 

Take a confident mate with you when you go to pick it up. Over excitement that your pug looks shiny can soon lead to you not noticing shoddy work.

 

Al

[toddydal 1]

tell them when you drop the car off that you want the job perfect tell them that your going to be really fussy so therl be more prepared to do the job right,also tell them your mate used to be a spray painter and he,s gona go over it with a fine tooth comb

[cRaig 265 1 Cars]

Thanks guys, more excellent advice

I'll go back to the garage on monday or tues, to see roughly when they could fit my car in, and just to explain just how high my expectations would be, and if they can meet them

 

Hopefully I'll be able to update this thread with some pics sooner rather than later!

[GLPoomobile 958]

No, not sooner! You don't want a rush job! Agree a realistic time scale for completion by all means, but you don't want them to hurry it through and make a cack up of it! Not that I think they will by the sounds of it.

[djinuk 2]

materials are very expensive at the moment, £400 on paint is realistic and the prices are rising.

[Richie 32]

I'd expect an immaculate job for that much. My cherry's been quoted at £1000~ full exterior spray with a very good body shop.

[projectpug 0]

IMO too expensive even for an amazing job.

[GLPoomobile 958]

How many of you with 'cheap' spray jobs were just average Joe, walk-in-off-the-street punters, rather than knowing someone in the trade and getting 'mates rates'?

 

£400 for paint and other materials, plus 40 hours labour at just £20p.h. would still set you back a total of £1200. As I said earlier, decent trades people these days are charging well above that amount for labour.

 

So if you are paying less than £1200, then either

1 - the material costs are lower, so what's the quality of the paint like?

2 - There's less time spent on the car - fine if it's a simple blowover, but if the car needs more work, do you really want them scrimping on this and doing a half arsed job?

3 - The cost of labour is lower. Lower than £20 p.h.? I'd be very wary of anyone in the motor trade who can run a reputable business charging less than £20 p.h. for labour these days

 

Obviously it goes without saying that you don't get a better job just by paying more. You could be charged £40 p.h. by some big company and still get a s*it job.

 

I'm sure most of the people who have had circa £1000 spray jobs done have been happy with the results, but exactly what was the extent of the work? If the OP of this topic took his car to the same place and only required a basic blowover, it may only need half the prep time and half as much paint, and so he'd only have a £900 bill at the end. Do you see my point? It's about putting things in context, as there are many variables to something like this.

[jonnygoodhand 0]

I have no experience what-so-ever with resprays (will hopefully be looking into this further soon), but 40 hours seems quite a bit of time to me.

 

If they're working it out based on labour rate x hours, then you'd reasonably expect the hours to be 'man' hours. i.e. time actually spent working on the car. But surely a good portion of the 40hrs quoted would be drying/baking time.

[djinuk 2]

bodywork prep is a very drawn out process, and to get things looking right, and to not react, and to get panels lining up right can take a awfull lot of time.

[toddydal 1]

40 hrs is only a weeks work 5 days,it could take 3 days to prep the car and prime it,that leaves 2 days to paint and flat and polish it and refit all the trim,i know he,s doing the strip himself but some times 40hrs isnt enough to get the job perfect it all depends on how bad the car is and like i said you can pay 600£ just for the paint for a good brand and the paint finish will stay the same 6yrs later,not sinking and nipping back and loosing its finish after 12mnths with a cheap brand,we get the cheaper brand for sales cars and you can get a gallon of clear coat for under £30 and 1ltR of basecoat for £17 at my last place of work a gallon of clear was 275 and that was 8 yrs ago thats the difference with paint quality.

[toddydal 1]

it only takes 1/2 hr to bake the car