What is that old saying, Dieter?..."it's the cheap man who pays the
most"...

Really good bodywork and paint work isn't speedy or inexpensive. If these
folks can show you a list of happy customers (from 5+ years ago), I'd say
$4,500 is a pretty fair price. Look for a moment at your Vanagon versus a
Jetta or Golf. The thing is HUGE. Lots of surface to make perfect, lots of
seams to de-rust.

I paid (well, actually USAA insurance paid) $2,900 to have two doors, and
the A-pillar replaced on my Jetta when some brilliant young driver tried to
fit her Mazda MX6 into my lap. The Co. that did the repair was the highest
cost, (the lowest, I think, was $1,500), but the $2,900 folks made it
perfect. That was six years ago, and you can't find evidence of the
accident.

Love your van? Pay the coin. You know you will be glad you did.

G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett & Associates
Cary, NC     USA
www.bulley-hewlett.com
(888) 468-4880 toll free

-----Original Message-----
From:   Dieter Thiessen [SMTP:DThies1008@AOL.COM]
Sent:   Friday, March 12, 1999 3:31 PM
To:     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject:        paint

Folks,
I just received a hard jolt knocking me back to reality.  Diehl collision
center just gave me a preliminary estitmate on painting my 84 GL.  The
estimate includes grinding out all seams
removing all outside hard ware
removing windows and reinstall
sanding and repainting entire van
clearcoat
now hold your socks on
body labor 50.5hr......1717.00
paint labor 50.2hr......1706.80
paint supplies 57.1hr...970.70
parts............................99.70

TOTAL.....................4494.20 plus 6% sales tax....269.65

any moonliters around York,PA that need extra money?

Thanks,  I needed to get this off my chest, as I was hoping to repaint for
about half the estimate.
Dieter
84GL