10 month paint job

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Punkmastadart

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Hi everyone! Man it sure has been a good while for me since i last visited the site, too long. But anyhow i have a problem. I took my car to my friend's paint shop in May of last year and they are not even close to painting it. I have already paid them almost the amount they charged me and i have provided them with pretty much all the parts they need (another door, new rear quarter panel, all new seals, an extra windshield, etc..). What should i do?? I understand that paint and body take some time but it shouldnt be 10 months right?
 
your stuff must be on the backburner. i would go down there and ask them nicely what the deal is. if he is your friend, take him out for a brew , and find out what is taking so long
 
In the same boat here. One car, a "two month job", is over a year past "scheduled completion" time and the other was said to be a 1 year estimated time frame. It has been in the shop over 2 years now and has not been touched in 16-18 months now. I have paid $6500 of the $9500 total bill. The painter is a local "trusted painter" that does work for a lot of the area hot rodders and rebuilders. Just seems that he has no interest in finishing my cars.
 
man i wouldnt wait that long. the longest i waited on a paint job was about 8 yrs ago and it was 4 months on a eclipse. and it was a bad a$$ paint job for 4500 bucks
 
Is it at a collision shop or a restoration shop? 10 months at a shop isn't surprising. Your car is probably only getting worked on when things are slow.

What did they tell you when you took it in?

Are you being billed by the hour or just paying a set amount for a paint job?
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
10 months at a shop isn't surprising. Your car is probably only getting worked on when things are slow.
Click to expand...

Exactly. My buddy is having his friend paint this car when things are slow and it's been well over a year so far. But it is getting close, and is going to be nice when done. Sorry, it's not an A body!!!

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73AbodEE said:
your stuff must be on the backburner. i would go down there and ask them nicely what the deal is. if he is your friend, take him out for a brew , and find out what is taking so long
Click to expand...

This is exactly what i would do.
Don't be afraid to pull the car out of there and find some one else to finish it.
Pay him for what he's done so far, and tell him no hard feelings. Actually, you should compliment him on how happy you are that he's so busy! I had to do this once and it worked out well for me. I finished the car myself.
It's tough dealing with friends though.......
Good luck.
 
Welcome to the "My friend is painting my car hell"..........
Been there, done that ......... never again.

You think your doing good by paying up front........bad idea.
Your money is spent and there is always "just one more paying quicky" to get done then back to yours......
Off the street customers and insurance companies do not pay up front, so why should you?
Best to wave the money in their face and hold it all until the end.

Keep them hungry.
 
sometimes "friends" doing favors for "friends" ends up in a mess because they figure if they are your friend, you will wait and be understanding. some people take advantage of that. then you throw a few thousand bucks in the mix and now youve really got problems. not sayin this is the case, and i hope this doesnt get messy for you but, friends ,dont let friends, sit on your stuff lol
 
How close is it? A car can look far from paint to the average person. Body filer showing all over the place, bare metal here and there......

Then , "bang", it is in primer and being blocked.

It takes an amazing amount of time and effort to to restore an old car body and you mentioned 1/4 replacement. I assume rust also.

If steady, but slow progress is being made I would not pull the car out. If you put the car into another shop, at this point, it could start the year and the process all over.

The new shop may refuse to offer any kind of warranty if they have to work over someone else's body work.

How much are you paying for all this?
 
Wow thank you guys for all your imput! Ill try to answer everyone back as i can! Well It's a collision repair shop but they have done restorations in the past. They never did say a certain time on how long but did say "not too long", that should have been a red flag there huh? I would have to murder them for making me pay by the hour! They just gave me an overall estimate of 2,500. So far i have paid them that and an extra 700 for sending off my bumpers to get rechromed. 3,200 total so far in just their bill. I say "just their bill cause i have spent about that much in all the special stuf i got (new quarter panel, rear go-wing, hood scoop and new seals all around). It still needs the quarter replaced so far and most of the car has been primered for a couple months now. Im terrified of taking it from them because of what 68formulaS said, and im not interested in starting all over again. I talked to them today and they told me a couple weeks, we just need a new striker post and the panel it mounts to cause one of the previous owners decided to weld it on without measuring very well! I think i will play the waiting game a bit more and give them a chance to finish. But i certainly wont be letting buddies work on any more paint/body jobs for me any time soon ha. Oh and also thank you all again for your comments! I really appreciate reading your opinions and experiences :) i will certainly keep this updated in case anyone is that interested to see how it turns out!
 
You are getting one hell of a deal and shouldn't be bitching. You are into it for $3,200 so far (All the other stuff you bought is unrelated to what they are doing).

Sounds like most of the car is done except the 1/4 and striker area.

Once it gets to the blocking stage things start moving along.


If you brought a car to me, wanting a complete with 1/4 replacement, I would have told you $10,000 minimum as a guess and charged by the hour.
 
You are getting a good deal. I left my 70 Swinger at my cousins shop (who BTW has painted several cars for me in a timely fashion and turned out amazing) for 3 years. Within 3 months the car was straight and ready for final blocking. Then it sat while his business grew out of hand. I paid 5k up front and just had to pull it out. I didn't get my money back. I didn't get mad, I just explained myself and he understood. I still talk to him from time to time and he has expressed his disatisfaction in how it turned out. So he has asked me several times to return the car to him and he will personally finish it after hours and make things right. So it will go back after I am done with the cage install. Hopefully things will end up okay. I feel your pain.
 
This may be hard to follow, but.......

You are paying for this job with time and money, this is where your friend is helping you out.

For example:

If you wanted the car done in 1 week, the cost may have been $50,000 because of the amount to shop resourced and additional employees that would have been needed to dedicate to just your car.

If you wanted the car done in 1 month, the cost may have been $25,000 because of the amount to shop resourced and additional employees that would have been needed to dedicate to just your car.

If you wanted the car done in 3 months, the cost may have been $12,000 because of the amount to shop resourced that would have been needed to dedicate to just your car.

If you are willing to wait 10 months to a year for your friend to get the car done, the cost may only be $5,000 because of the amount to shop resourced that are needed to dedicate to just your car.
 
I agree that you are getting a deal. They have an incentive to finish because your car is taking up space. Where else could you get free storage for a year, assuming it is taken car of indoors? It is only becoming more valuable while it sits. At least you know they aren't rushing it, like a 1-day Maaco job where they spray regardless of the prep. On the flip side, I don't see how the shop can be making money with cars taking up valuable space.

Recalls a supposedly true story of a very rich guy who was going to Europe for several weeks and needed to store his exotic sports car in Manhattan. He went to a bank and got a personal loan, putting up his car as collateral. They were happy to get a foot in the door with this guy. They parked his car in their indoor garage. He returned and paid the $50 short term interest. The manager asked why he needed the loan and he said "where else in Manhattan could I park my car for $50 for 2 weeks?". Why the rich are rich.
 
I always expect about tripple whatever time estimate I'm given.
If the get it done in double, I'm very happy.
If they get it done on time, I'm ecstatic.
 
We just went through that with the Charger. We had it pretty close to blocked, collision guy came over, said stop sanding, and took it. More parts needed (door hardware, a/c parts, etc). But it came together slowly, took 3 months, seemed like 2 guys worked on it 1 day a week, taking up bay space, but turned into an award winner, first car show.
 

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I agree w/ 73AbodEE Go have a cold one and hash it out. You should have held back some cash till the end though. two thirds up front then the final third when happy. Good Luck
 
Haha kinda harsh there formula! But i understand its fairly cheap but i would have gladly paid more for them to finish faster im not rich or anything but i dont really have anything else to spend my money on. Im not one for half assing stuff but i learned (after i took my car in) that they have a terrible habit of taking forever on cars and not doing that great of job. Strangely its my daily driver and well ten months is a long time to be on the shoelace express if you catch my drift. Well its not the whole pillar but just the panel where the latch meets the striker post. And im pretty sure im not done with paying them given that they estimated me that price ha. But those were my thoughts exctly about them having cars just taking up space, there are cars there that have been there a couple years at least and working with cars im sure they make their cash by the work they do (and suckers like me who pay up front) than hourly pay. but I will bide my time and hope for the best ha
 
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