Opinions/impressions about this paint shop...

[MrBluGruv]

http://www.choiceautopaint.com/index.html


Found these guys online today when searching for paint and body shops in San Antonio, stumbled across a review page and almost all the reviews were positive (out of like 28, 1 was negative, and apparently the owner tried to recompense the customer for their negative experience).

My question is this:

I've seen a lot of times where people say expect between 1500 and 2500 bucks for a paint job, so when I see a pretty comprehensive job quoted around $800 I'm naturally a little hesitant, but at the same time the results and reviews look pretty good and that price is DEFINITELY livable.

So does anything stick out like a sore thumb that I'm missing that says "this is poor work that's been dressed up nicely" to anyone here?

[Spectragod]

Earl Scheib/Macco quality there. Back when I was painting cars, the starting price was 5k, that was 17 years ago.

A quality job is gonna cost some $$$. I was just talking about this with a buddy who owns a shop, he's been starting jobs out at 10k. Keep in mind, when your talking this kind of $$$, the cars are completely stripped of all paint, glass, mouldings, interior, etc.. The bodies are stripped to the bare metal and have any repairs that need done, then comes the countless hours of blocking.

[magindat]

I agree with the above. This is going to be a tape-off job. Nothing will be removed and existing paint will be scuffed and used as base coat. I wouldn't count on any body work/blocking.

Mines no 10K show finish paint job. I opted for tough. It's pretty straight though and was mildly blocked as well as most practically removable parts removed - like trims, gaskets, door handles, lights, etc. Even at that, it was estimated at 6K.

[Blk Mamba]

I've seen some crappy professional jobs, and I've seen some Macco jobs that far out do 10,000 dollar jobs, IMHO, I think it comes down to pride in their work, above the name over the door.

[SID210SA]

I'll tell you what.....how long before you bite the bullit on this paint job....cause if you can wait it out till after xmas.....I need to get my impy painted and it is a good canidate for testing.....anything would be better that what it has now....I think the pics look pretty good....But I would go down and take a close look at what a finished job looks like for the price you want yours done for.

I would and could do this, first I have take care of some other issues I have with the car...leaking oil, leaking trans, and a power drain somewhere....think I have the power drain issue fixed....then I could do it.

Mike

[SID210SA]

So I went to said bodyshop and looked at some of their work....I really didnt think it was all that great....they showed me some of the less expensive paint jobs and the most expensive. There were huge differences between the two and those inbetween. However, I dont think their best quality paint job is what you are looking for. It still looked like and obvious repaint.

I did also go down the street to another body shop whose quality looked factory....they only showed me one paint job they did and it looked fabulous...you could feel the difference on the vehicle where they fixed and painted it compared to what they didnt paint. Quality was factory!! And he gave me a list of references as soon as we sat down. I was very suprised at that. He also stated they had been in business for 25 years X months, X days, and X hours at that same location. The name of the body shop excapes me but I will find it when I get home as I had 2 estimates done. The one you mentioned was almost $200.00 more than the other I visited.....when I have the money I will deffinately be going to these guys.

Hope this helps.

Mike

[MrBluGruv]

So I went to said bodyshop and looked at some of their work....I really didnt think it was all that great....they showed me some of the less expensive paint jobs and the most expensive. There were huge differences between the two and those inbetween. However, I dont think their best quality paint job is what you are looking for. It still looked like and obvious repaint.

I did also go down the street to another body shop whose quality looked factory....they only showed me one paint job they did and it looked fabulous...you could feel the difference on the vehicle where they fixed and painted it compared to what they didnt paint. Quality was factory!! And he gave me a list of references as soon as we sat down. I was very suprised at that. He also stated they had been in business for 25 years X months, X days, and X hours at that same location. The name of the body shop excapes me but I will find it when I get home as I had 2 estimates done. The one you mentioned was almost $200.00 more than the other I visited.....when I have the money I will deffinately be going to these guys.

Hope this helps.

Mike

I'm sorry I missed your call this weekend Mike, I'm rapidly wrapping up the semester and so I've been trying to squeeze in sleep whenever I can, in this case a weekend for once.

I'll try to get in touch again soon, that sounds like a hell of a deal on the paint. Also kinda wanted to touch base on a few other things I've been looking into getting fixed, namely my A/C situation.

[SID210SA]

P.S. I forgot to mention that was also taking out a few dents and dings in the Impala for that 799 price.

[breeze]

I've seen some crappy professional jobs, and I've seen some Macco jobs that far out do 10,000 dollar jobs, IMHO, I think it comes down to pride in their work, above the name over the door.

my Vic was paint by macco, a 3 stage 1700$ "on sale winter price" and ppl could believe they did such a good job.

[BODYMAN]

5500-6000k is about what you would pay for a 100% right JOb the material alone if striping to bottom of material and resurface all w/ dissasemble & re assemble all done right 5500 to 6 is about going price maybe even more depending the area youre in the P&M alone is about 1000-1200 so 800 for a whole job maybe with very cheap products that wont last 6-12 months beware just to give you a idea the clear & hardners and activaters is around 600.00 that is just clear coat not even primers sealers and materials

[Joe Walsh]

Back when I was painting cars, the starting price was 5k, that was 17 years ago.

A quality job is gonna cost some $$$. I was just talking about this with a buddy who owns a shop, he's been starting jobs out at 10k. Keep in mind, when your talking this kind of $$$, the cars are completely stripped of all paint, glass, mouldings, interior, etc.. The bodies are stripped to the bare metal and have any repairs that need done, then comes the countless hours of blocking.

Yep,
$5,000+

That is what I was quoted for one of my Mustangs....12 years ago!....:eek:

Most body shops won't even do custom/non-insurance paint jobs anymore.
They take too much time and the owners are very picky.
Insurance repair jobs are constant, fast, easy = much better cash flow and much better profits.