I'm right now headed to the paint shop to pick up the paint for my
cladding. I pulled dents on the body and filled and painted them last
weekend. I was disgusted at the high price and indifference I found at
the paint shops, so I'm doing it myself.

I got prices for all (150 to shoot the cladding) if I made the repairs
to the fiberglass) for about $750 and that's still way too high. I
could tell I was getting the old Vanagon upcharge because these guys
haven't seen one in fifteen years, one painter even said as much.

So, you are being WAY overcharged if that's just for the cladding.

I took the nose of my westy to maaco to get rid of the rust around the
windshield just after I bought it. Never again. I don't know what they
use, but it ain't paint and it doesn't match anything else on the body.
I got my money's worth, but I would rather do it myself next time.
You're right, the bigger shops just groan when they see this type of
work come in. They want near-totals and insurance money.

Jim

On Oct 18, 2005, at 9:48 AM, Brent Weide's Yahoo Account wrote:

> I've just gotten jacked around by the second auto body shop in the
> Portland area.
> North West Auto Care bumped their estimate by $300 (from $405 to 690)
> after missing their duedate twice and after they'd had the parts for
> three weeks and I had prepped and delivered my 91 Multivan body
> cladding to them for paint.
> Looking for affordable painters who do decent quality work. I'm scared
> of Maaco and Earl Schweib, heard too many stories. Seems like the
> bigger shops are not interested in this type of work.
>
>
> ---------------------------------
>
> Brent
> Portland, Oregon
> 1991 MultiVan Westy
> VW Vanagon Resto
>
>
> Brent Weide
> Portland, Oregon
> http://www.weidefamily.net/vanagon/
>