Car Paint Company

Opinion on Maaco painting a car?

I see the commercials for $199 paint job on a car. Now my car is no beauty and I recently did some sanding and primer over much of the car. But I've heard of horror stories from they don't tape off the windows and the handles of the car to they forgot to close a window and the paint went IN the car! I would just like to have my car painted gloss black and want to know if anyone has any experience with this company painting their vehicle. Thanks SgtAdams, here in New Jersey,they are advertising a $199 paint job so it does exist,and it's not a "From $199" job. I was pretty sure that these would be the answers, (especially liked the one from Old Man Dirt who said " If Maacco paint jobs were that good, they would not have to have such a large advertising budget!" So True! Reminds me off the tons of ads on TV trying to get us to come back to cable and satellite) I'll finish the job myself when it warms up,I'll just resand the rough spots and prime it after that. Whether or not I'll paint it black after that I do not know yet. Maybe go creative and ad some lines just so I can find it easier in a parking lot. lol

Public Comments

1. We had them do our Military trucks when we switched from Forest to Desert Camo patterns. After seeing the way they painted those I wouldn't even let them close to a car of mine.
2. The horror stories are definitely legit. Honestly, you really can't expect much from a $199 paint job. You figure with the labor along with the profit that they have to make leave very little money to get good quality paint. I've never personally had a car painted there - however, I have seen a lot of their work. In the majority of cases, the work was not very good. There will always be an exception to the rule out there - but I would recommend looking elsewhere to have your car professionally painted (even if we're talking gloss black.)
3. I have never had them do anything with my car but I have never heard of them messing up, I have a friend that's going to use them in a couple month's thought
4. I had a truck and I needed the cab painted to match the bed which was already painted. The assured me that it would match perfectly. After getting the truck back 2 days after the promised date, The paint was way off! I couldnt believe it. The back was a dark blue and the cab ended up being sky blue. it cost me around $400 just for that.
5. Don't under estimate the difficulty of painting a car gloss black! If Maacco paint jobs were that good, they would not have to have such a large advertising budget! A good painter can get 150 dollars an hour for his work, and some one who can do the detailing and prep work is worth as much. So, just what kind of skills can you get for even 15 dollars an hour. Quality paint costs about 50 dollars a pint retail, so it would cost about 100 dollars wholesale for the paint to do the job. In short, you get what you pay for, and if you can be happy with the paint job that two fifteen year old kids could give you, go for it.
6. I had a 1991 Camaro RS painted at MAACO in Oklahoma City. There is no such thing as a $199 paint job. Mine was a little under $1000 and it was very nice. They tape off windows, its $1000 worth of good work. It was nice enough, I sold it on Ebay for $4500. If you're going to paint it, don't pick black. Its expensive and hard to do, plus it shows ALL the flaws in your body and sheet metal. If your vehicle isn't worth $1000 at least, I wouldn't paint it. but if it is. . . start there. They have different "packages" some up too $3000 dollars. The place in OKC I went to painted for used car lots and rental agencies and they did good quality work. You get what you pay for, but its money well spent. You won't win a car show, but no one will laugh. No, I don't work for them or get props or money for recommending them. I was just happy with the end result. I heard the horror stories too, including the one where your car is on a beltway and drives through a sandblaster, then through a primer sprayer, then through a paint booth where it only paints where it can hit. Then through a room on the belt like a cupcake coming out of an easybake oven. Not true, it was a regular paint shop with professionals.
7. some of the horror stories you have heard are true ,but for no more than they charge for a paint job you really cant expect it to look like its got a 2 thousand dollar paint job on it,i had them paint a truck once that i was going to re-sale and for no more than i paid i got what i expected to get,it was a black chevy and for short while looked pretty good,but that didn't last too long,they guy i sold it to had it repainted,old saying you get what you pay for falls very true in this case,good luck.
8. I just had my 95 civic painted by them. The paint was 599 and to prep it was almost a couple hundred. I paid another couple hundred for the full clear coat. It cost me an aditional 179 to condition some of the spots on my car. They actually did a good job. I didnt see any over spray on windows, but I found some behind my headlights, not a big deal to me.They broke my window crank and tried to glue it back on. I went to the junk yard and picked one up for five bucks. Heck, you get what you pay for. If you want to pay high dollar for a good paint job, then you might want to consider having a show car. Id consider maaco like mc donalds. Sometimes you get good quality, and sometimes you get crap. Make sure you look at your car thoroughly before delivery with a manager.