| It doesn't cost anything to get an estimate or two or three. If you check with your insurance company as to who they reccomend, you will usually get a good reccomendation of a shop that does good work, but the shops that do a lot of insurance work may tend to be the most expensive as well. One other thing, if you keep the same color, it may cost less than if you change colors. the reason is that the door jams, under the hood, etc. don't fade because they are not exposed to sun light. Keep the same color and they can mask off and shoot the exterior only. If you change color, a good shop will also repaint the door jams, and pull the carpet up part way to paint 12 inches or so under the carpet on the floor. Every extra step costs more labor to mask, paint, and prep. The biggest factors in body & paint labor costs are the cost of living in So Cal, you are paying for skilled craftsmen to work on your car. The other thing is Ca. smog control. Paint shops are required to have high $$$ paint booths, not just to give a clean paint job, but to keep all fumes out of the air. I think I read somewhere that a paint booth, ventilation and filtration system run above $100,000.00 in price. Someone has to pay for it. You might also consider taking the car to Arizona or Nevada for paint and body work. Mr Turbo TA used to work part time at a body shop in Kingman, Az. He might be able to give you an estimate on body shop prices in the Kingman area.
Last edited by Russ-So Cal : 08-01-2006 at 11:20 AM.
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