Troy,

Have you asked around for body shop recommendations?  Most of them seem to
specialize in insurance repair and prefer to avoid "private" transactions.
I've had good luck with smaller shops that don't get the big insurance jobs.

Cheers,

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Troy
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 4:41 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Van painting cost

I just got back from the body shop with an estimate of $6500 to repaint my
van. For this price, I was going to completely remove all the moldings,
poptop canvas, side windows and rear, bumpers, utility outlets, door
handles, etc. and also reinstall. The $6500 does not include any new rubber
seals. I'm guessing a good $1200 for a complete set of rubber seals to do
all the doors and windows, pop top, rear hatch, etc. I do have some rust
around the rear window, and side windows, and in one of the rain gutters,
and one dent on the passenger side.  I really wanted to change colors, but
that would add an easy $1500 to the price. So, I guess I was thinking in the
$4000-$5000 range with me doing part of the work, so was a little surprised.

I'd like to get some feedback from others who have their vans painted, and
what they spent, and was was done for the cost.

Troy