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Long story, but I recently had an encounter with a chain-link barrier, and it made a real mess of my paint job. I'll try to get a picture later, but imagine somebody took a giant rake & scraped it up the hood and over the roof! Luckily the scratches aren't too deep, and I'm planning to try some scratch remover first... but if that doesn't work, I was thinking of having the whole thing re-painted. I never did like the color anyway (it was the only 5-speed left in the entire Bay Area), and there are a number of other dings & scratches around the car. FYI - it's a 2005 Honda Accord LX, currently painted boring "satin silver."
So here are my questions...
- Does painting a car diminish the value, and if so, would that lower it more than having a scratched exterior? I will probably sell it in 1-3 years, so resale value is something to consider.
- Can a commercial (i.e. Maaco, Scheib) paint job look decent, or will I need expensive custom work to get good results? It doesn't have to look perfect, but I also don't want it looking cheap.
- What price range am I looking at for something top-quality vs lower quality?
- Does anyone know of a website where you can try different colors on your car? I want to picture it before making any decisions, although I'm thinking of either black, dark gray or burgundy.
- Is this something insurance would cover, and would that be worth looking into? I think my deductible is $500, if I remember correctly... TIA!
Also scratched the rubber...
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p302/gizmo980/DSCF5545.jpg (broken link)
And my (previously scratched) bumper, which has taken a beating since I moved to the city... you try driving & parking on San Francisco hills in a stick-shift, LOL.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p302/gizmo980/DSCF5539.jpg (broken link)
Oh yeah, and I forgot about the deepest scratch on my bumper! This one REALLY wasn't my fault, since I was at work when it happened. Clearly my poor car has suffered a lot, and deserves some new paint - that chain incident was the final straw, I think.
IMO, re-painting it will up the value compared to leaving it as it is now. But only if you pay for it out of pocket and not go through insurance. If ins pays for it, it's listed as an accident and that lowers the value.
If you're selling it really soon, I think going to a cheapo place would be fine. But the quality is not there with those places and the paint job won't hold. So if you plan on painting and driving it a few more years, spring for the good quality so you don't have to do it again.
Can't help on prices. They vary across the country, though I'd guess where you are is going to be the upper end price wise for anything. And as for trying different colors, I can't think of a site like that, but you can do a web photo search for a 2005 Honda Accord and it'll bring up tons of them, in all different colors, so you can see how they look in other shades.
Good luck. And post photos! I've got a 93 Miata project car. Some day it'll be getting a new paint job too. I can't wait!
It would depend on the condition of the rest of the car, and what the value would be if the paint were excellent. Is the car worth spending some money on, or is it a transportation car.
If the body needs no other repair than that shown, meaning no dents or rust, a good quality paint job will cost in the area of $2k. Of course you can spend thousands more than that for a custom paint job, but the $2k will be as good or better than factory.
A cheapie paint job can be had for $200 up, but there is a reason the price is so different. A quality shop will spend far more money on the materials alone, than a cheap paint job cost in it's entirety.
Not counting the better quality of materials, for a really good job, it's mostly in the preparation. The cheap job will get a quick pass over with sandpaper, blow it off and spray it. A quality job will require many hours of prep work. A huge difference in the quality of the outcome.
If it is a nice car, don't think of a cheap paint job. In the industry, cheap paint jobs are known as 30 foot paint jobs, meaning they look OK from thirty feet, but don't get any closer.
If it's a nice car, I would drive it as is before destroying it with a cheap job.
Many things to consider before deciding, only you can answer the questions...
If you are looking to change the color then you are looking at $3,000+ because all of the door jams and engine bay has to be painted (unless you like that ghetto reduced resale value look). I would not go to Maaco/Scheib if I wanted quality work but I would happily recommend them to someone I didn’t like very much. I had my first car painted at Earl Scheib and holy orange peel did it look awful.
A cheaply done color change is likely to be a disaster. They won't do the door jambs, or won't do them anywhere near right, stuff like inside the trunk lid, does a Honda have a body-color firewall? The MAACO and Earl Schieb paint jobs I have seen were total crap, and I would walk away from a used car wearing such.
Talk to a quality body shop and see what they suggest for a cost-effective repair.
Really, with you living in San Fran, if you painted it to the 9's, in a few months it would have more "urban rash" anyway. I would drive it as-is or sell it as-is. Unless the scratches will polish out, which they just might. One other thought is if there is bare metal showing, I can't tell from the photos - if there is, you need to do something with it to prevent rust at a minimum.
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I'll try to get a picture later, but imagine somebody took a giant rake & scraped it up the hood and over the roof! Luckily the scratches aren't too deep, and I'm planning to try some scratch remover first... but if that doesn't work, I was thinking of having the whole thing re-painted. I never did like the color anyway (it was the only 5-speed left in the entire Bay Area), and there are a number of other dings & scratches around the car. FYI - it's a 2005 Honda Accord LX, currently painted boring "satin silver."
