[jcommin]

The cost of a paint job depends on many things. Body prep is the most important. You don't indicate if body work is necessary. Are all of the glass, bumpers, mirrors, door handles, etc removed? Are you painting the door jams (add $1200 to the total cost).

I recently had my 944 painted. I kept the original color and my door jams were in very good condition ( did not need painting). I pulled all of the glass off, removed door panels, mirrors, handles and weather stripping. Body work was minimal, door dent dings and the like.

The prep work is important. Priming, blocking, priming again and blocking prior to paint makes/breaks the paint job. I don't have any waves on the body panels. I also went everyday to the body shop and talked to the guys who did the body and paint work.

I use a cost of $100/ hour plus materials as a rule of thumb. I also spent money on new weather stripping door, and mirror gaskets, new decals, hood badge, etc. This stuff adds up.

Get a break down on costs. Most of these shops use the same format for body/paint work.