"Blow-over" cost / bodyshop

[motoroller]

I'm considering buying a car. It's quite old (1990) and has had some preventative work done to sort rust, but as a result it's now in primer on many panels.

What's the cost for a reasonable blow-over of the whole car? I'm hoping it could be as little as £1000. I can prep the remaining panels, remove lights and trims etc. Ideally looking for a shop in London/Hampshire/Surrey/Berkshire/Oxfordshire.

I have considered buying equipment and "giving it a go" but would prefer it to be done in a proper bodyshop.

[Muzzer79]

If I was getting a respray, I would expect even a basic job to take at least a week, factoring in prep, drying time, etc.

£1000 into a week means £25 per hour. That's before you've even considered materials, overheads, etc.

It's hard to estimate without seeing the car and the amount of prep that needs doing and/or you want to do yourself.

[paintman]

I would suggest you speak to a couple of local bodyshops to see if they're even prepared to take on a job with previous paint & work of unknown materials & quality without wanting to strip it all off & start again.

[CRob88]

I wouldn't touch someone who would only charge £1k for a respray- even a basic 'blow over'.
They either use very cheap materials- leading to issues, or they don't value their time. Either way it'll be a case of 'buy cheap, buy twice.'
I run a bodyshop, and I've seen the result of cheap jobs.

[mbwoy84]

CRob88 said:

I wouldn't touch someone who would only charge £1k for a respray- even a basic 'blow over'.
They either use very cheap materials- leading to issues, or they don't value their time. Either way it'll be a case of 'buy cheap, buy twice.'
I run a bodyshop, and I've seen the result of cheap jobs.

As a bodyshop/restoration workshop owner I agree with this, but also explains why I do what I do when someone wants a "cheap" job. We've got a number of good customers from all over the country who are enthusiasts/collectors and typically they will own cars which are "money no object" restorations, but they will also own a car or two which they'd like to tidy up, but don't want to spend anywhere near the same level on, so they'll enquire as to what they can get at the cheapest price point. When this happens, I always get the supplier to do me a bill for the main paint materials and get them to pay for that separately. A. so they know they're saving any mark-up on materials and B. They know they're getting quality and can see how much it costs. I don't bother with abrasives, fillers or general consumables, but always put a Primer Kit, the paint and hardener/activator and a clearcoat kit if applicable. We did this a couple of weeks ago and the bill for the paint on the car was just under £600.