Paint Quotes Vary Greatly -- any thoughts?

[Chedman13]

So some of you know that I recently had my car swiped twice on the rear passenger door and a tad on the front door.

One quote was $500 for the rear door to pop out dent and re-paint entire door. Front door isn't too bad so $100 to just pop it out. That is $695.

Another quote is for $1,695 total. They want to paint both doors completely, so around $850 per door.

So apples to apples, it's $500 vs $850. Both are authorized to do insurance stuff and both are "big" shops.

Can one rear passenger door be fixed well for $500? Just want to get some feedback.

Also, they quoted me $3,000 to paint all the black molding to color matched diamond graphite. This includes removal, sanding and using more of a "flexible" paint mix for the molding. Is that a reasonable price as well? I have no idea - but the shop said they do BMW SUV's all the time so have experience in it.

 

[turbocad6]

pictures of the damage would help to say for sure, but yeah, there are different ways to go about repairing things & there are differences in procedures, materials & craftsmanship so there are different prices. a color like yours does need to be blended so depending on the areas of damage it can sometimes be required to do an adjacent panel just to have enough room to blend & completely hide the repair. then there are variables as in how much disassembly vs. taping up is done... on a door, the handle should at least be removed, belt molding too if you really want nice as possible... there are also differences in materials... there are clear coats out there that can be as cheap as $90 a gallon where my normally used ppg clear coat is more like $240 a gallon....

 

[Chedman13]

pictures of the damage would help to say for sure, but yeah, there are different ways to go about repairing things & there are differences in procedures, materials & craftsmanship so there are different prices. a color like yours does need to be blended so depending on the areas of damage it can sometimes be required to do an adjacent panel just to have enough room to blend & completely hide the repair. then there are variables as in how much disassembly vs. taping up is done... on a door, the handle should at least be removed, belt molding too if you really want nice as possible... there are also differences in materials... there are clear coats out there that can be as cheap as $90 a gallon where my normally used ppg clear coat is more like $240 a gallon....

Thanks for the feedback! Here is a picture.

 

[Logan]

Ask them how they are gong to tackle the repair then compare procedure. Do you have references on the shops?

 

[Chedman13]

Ask them how they are gong to tackle the repair then compare procedure. Do you have references on the shops?

Just yelp reviews =)

 

[Logan]

Yelp opinions are better than going in blind, I found that the yelpers aren't normally custom work guys and don't carry the same level of quality expectation as say an - ED! From my recent research the lower molding/bumper color match work should average around $2,200.00. 3K sounds a little on the high side BUT if their work is stellar.....I couldn't bring myself to do the lower moldings, not from a cost standpoint, its the way the trim around the wheel wells doesn't connect IF they could be the same sheet metal it would be slick. Also the chamfer cut lines that separate the black and the body color on the bumpers bother me but those could be filled by plastic welding.

I am still working on a plan for the front bumper with the shop to break up the paint/ black that looks intentional.

 

[turbocad6]

writing it at a very conservative rate, this is what I would price the job at... labor rates might be a little higher than this but this is a good ballpark... the 3 right side panels should be done to have that repair be invisible... to try & do just the one door you will see a color difference in almost all cases, would take a lot of luck for it to not be noticeable doing just the one door.

 

[SCFX]

great quote turbo wish i could bring you mine. could you throw me a ball park # with full spray ? please.