Painting a car with paint protection, regardless of its original color, takes more than just a few cans of spray paint. Car painting jobs can easily be available at any price. If you’re planning on painting your car and wish to know what the expense may be, read the following article to find out the answer…
Factors to Consider for Painting a Car
- Reliable shop
- Materials & equipement used
- Hours of labor invested
- Quality of paint used
Average Price
Depending on all these factors, the average cost can fall anywhere between US$ 3000 to US$ 5000.
Garages which specialize in car painting begin from scratch as they sand down the original paint. Using special tools to apply a new coat of paint along with transparent layers for protection, the longevity of the paint can be confirmed. As there are multiple steps, till you reach the completion of the paint job, the cost to paint your car will depend/alter due to it. So for you to calculate a rough estimate of how much does it cost to paint a car, let’s go over all the variables one at a time.
Average Cost for Painting a Car
The size of the vehicle, quality of paint, touch-up or full paint job, new color, number of paint layers, etc. all have to be factored in to understand the actual paint job cost. First your should checkout different paint shops that are reputable and/or licensed in order to get the estimate.
Process of Painting a Car
A good paint job will require all-inclusive preparation, costly materials and specialized skills (workers). Hence, the quality of work (depending on the paint shop you choose) and the amount of time put into painting will be our foremost concern. The vehicle gets washed, then the parts get sanded down and later on the chrome and windows need to be removed. Once these preparations are done, the first colorless primer gets painted on. This is to extend the life of the paint on your car.
The colored paint goes on next with spray guns and in the end, a transparent covering for protection is applied. The order and number of coats will depend on the garage you choose. All this will depend on how much you’re willing to pay for it. Now, if you’re looking for touch-up paint, then all these factors won’t come into play. But basically, paint prices can fall between US$ 100 to US$ 5,000. Again, this range depends on the type of paint used.
Materials Used
Along with labor charges, the estimate will include several materials used. If you have a backup plan to paint the car on your own, you will require some specialized tools (spray gun, covers for windows and chrome) to do the job. As we discussed earlier that layers of paint/coats is required, any set of good materials will come between US$ 1,000 to US$ 1,500. And just like everything else, these prices are subjective to change according to quality. If you opt for top-of-the-line paint colors for car, the cost can go over US$ 5,000.
So the best thing to do is get your car to an authorized garage with skilled workers, who know what they’re doing. Oh and one more thing. If you’re planning on choosing any shades of red, the prices will most definitely go up. Include this to the size of your vehicle and the materials, and you can understand what exactly goes behind painting just one car.
Paint Used
We spoke on the fact that the type of paint to use as it will make a huge difference in the finished look. But what does it mean to select a ‘type’ of paint? Depending on what the metallic qualities, shade, pattern, and finish your car has right now, the paint can be selected. Your choices are –
- Enamel Paint (US$ 50 per gallon onwards)
- Water-based Paint (US$ 120 per gallon onwards)
- Urethane-based Paint (US$ 80 per gallon onwards)
- Acrylic Lacquer Paint (US$ 40 per gallon onwards)
Among these paints, there are various brands. Which is why, choosing the right brand is important as well. You don’t want to be stuck with purchasing cheap paint and end up ruining the finish of your car. So be smart, seek advice from experienced auto mechanics and you’ll be safe.
Labor Costs
Now this one factor can never be estimated accurately. Obviously, due to the quality of work and the area you choose or live in, you can’t give a fixed price. However, for any quick paint jobs, you could expect the cost to be under US$ 500, as there won’t be any preparations done and the application of car paint would not be “perfect”. And most paint shops tend to charge the entire process of preparation, till the completion between US$ 2,000 to US$ 3,000 in labor.
According to the quality of work and size of vehicle, the cost of labor gets calculated. Now, if you want to go for more upper end labor costs, you could expect the costs to touch or go over US$ 5,000. But these prices are subjective to which paint shop you choose. Depending on the amount of money, you’re willing to spend, you will get the final result along with the quality of work.
Final Costs
While combining labor and materials used, you should expect an average paint job to be between US$ 3,000 to US$ 5,000. Remember, all the factors/elements we spoke about throughout the article, should be included as well. Now, as far as painting the car by yourselves is concerned (in order to save some money), you in fact will end up spending more for materials like spray gun, sandpaper, covers for windows and chrome, and especially paint. You’ll be investing more time in painting the car yourself, rather than having everything done for you. So the choice is yours, you can try to spend more time and money by working on the project on your own or get the job done by professionals in affordable amount of money.
Remember to visit as many garages and paint shops before you make the final decision. Be sure to ask questions regarding the preparation, labor costs and layers of coating. In the end, you are the sole factor that determines the cost because you’ll be making the final call.