Paint Job Price - Is It Excessive?

xcutter · June 11, 2009

I have a 4 week old 2010 Lexus RX 350. My wife scraped the passenger rear quarter pulling out of the garage. It has a very slight dent that I didn't even notice and also needs to be painted. The body shop said if we dropped it off on Monday, it would be finished on Friday. They want $900 or $800 cash for the job. Is it me or does this sound excessive?

SW03ES · June 12, 2009

I actually think that sounds cheap...

For a rear quarter done and blended right I would expect more like $1200. They would need to paint or at least clear the roof ridge all the way to the front fender.

rx350guy · June 14, 2009

I got a stone chip on the hood of my RX 350, not very big at all and the paint/body shop that Lexus referred me to wanted $1300 to repair and paint it, which I thought was way over-priced.

Based on the itemized estimate, most of the cost was for labor; removing hood components such as the windshield wipers, windshield washer spray nozzles, etc., because they would be repainting the entire hood for a chip not much bigger than a pin head.

I ended up buying a paint pen from the dealership for $12 and did it myself. Can barely see it now..

SW03ES · June 14, 2009

Yeah proper painting is expensive, a lot of R&I work. Best to avoid it whenever possible.

cduluk · June 16, 2009

Yeah i have to agree, that estimate is really good. To do the rear 1/4 they'll have to blend in at least the rear pass door, maybe the front pass door too depending on how hard the color is to match. That cost really is labor. These new vehicles are made so tight, it takes forever to take them apart.

And make sure they do it right (meaning remove both front pass and rear pass doors, paint the inside door jams, everything) not just mask the doors off. Most body shops just mask it off hoping the customers won't notice. but then you'll see the "line" going all around the door line, it won't look right =/ That would save the shop maybe two days work and a couple hundred dollars in paint.

It's a shame it was on a 4 week old car too :( But i'm sure it's happened to everyone :) And body work (if done correctly) really isn't a big deal. Some shops are REALLY talented, true artists- the way they get the color to match and finish coat so smooth. In most cases besides the occasional spec of dust in a hard-to-reach spot, you can't tell the difference :rolleyes: