Maaco paint jobs

[Taxman10]

Has anyone ever had their car painted by maaco? Were you happy with it? Was it a good job for the $$?

[happyscooter]

We did on an older car about 8 years ago. I think about $300. It looked good and they did a good job. Don't know if I would put it on a newer car. But this was a POS that DS drove to school.

[Angel!]

I've never had it done. I have heard their cheaper paint jobs will look nice, but won't last very long.

[thyme4change]

We got one - the car looked like crap within 6 months. I wouldn't waste the money.

[motherto2]

my stepdad did on his really old truck about a year and a half ago. It's decent, but they do nickel and dime you to death. The cheap price is to get you in the door. They want to charge for things like taking your emblems off your car and putting them back on, etc. And heaven help you if you have rust. all in all it was a decent job for a fairly decent price (he paid quite a bit more than the commercial price but he had a really big old ford truck). It seems to be holding up but I haven't really seen it lately, mostly because the truck breaks down about every other day ;D. I definitely wouldn't have put a dime into it - I would have sold it for scrap and cut my losses!

[Deleted]

I am starting to think about it for my car down the road. I have an economy car. It doesn`t seem make sense to spend $3500 on a paint job. But I will want a good job done. I`m trying to figure out my best solution.

[stats45]

Maaco isn't really good or bad for the price, but you should probably be realistic about what you are getting.

Painting a car is a multi-step process when the car is new. There are multiple coats, and because the car is new, there are usually no problems with sanding, filling, rust, etc. If you go to a place where they paint your car quickly for a low price, they usually are making that price possible by not doing a lot of the prep-work that goes into painting. They usually also only use a single paint coat that lasts only looks good for about a year (if that long).

It is hard to replicate dealer colors without the factory process and prices. If you are just looking for something as a short-term fix, a cheaper option like Maaco may work. If you are so inclined, doing some of the prep work like sanding and filling can help you get a much better product.

I had an ex who did custom car stuff, so he rarely worked on the one coat option unless it was needed for a particular 'look'. Most places are pretty good at giving you something that looks great when you leave, but without the appropriate prep work and multiple coats, it just doesnt last all that long.

[RoadToRiches]

You get what you pay for. Don't expect $300 paint job to look like $3500. Common now!

Your car will look like it got painted with a rattle can for $300. Hell, good paint cost more than that.

For $300, they will just tape everything the best they can and start spraying. At the end, it will not look good of course, for 300 bucks. You will have paint all over the place where it shouldn't be there.

But then, it all depends on what YOU consider good paint job. You might be happy with some paint on the trim, muffler, some overspray here and there...