Hi all, wanted to get a gauge on what others have been seeing recently for paintwork for your cars if you've unfortunately had to deal with it. I'm in need of a fair amount of paintwork between some work that was very poorly done by the dealership I purchased the car from and continually finding new surprises from when it was with it's past owner. I live in Utah and unfortunately have very, very few trustworthy options for paint (not to mention other work) in this state. The top option I've found seems very unwilling to take on the job as they have a very busy schedule and can be picky about what work they take so I'm expecting to be price gouged, but would love any reference points the community can provide for work they've recently had done.

On the same topic - are there any resources in the Western US that people here have had good experiences with? My likely route will be finding the authorized body shop in Denver which is the closest city with an AM dealership but would love to know about any other options people would recommend.

 

I feel your pain... I have never bought a car in the color I want, as I'm always buying used cars... So, when I go to "Cars and Coffee" I stare at cars in colors I really like. I used to paint cars as a hobby and have an appreciation for the challenges of doing a job that won't cause regret. There is nothing magic about painting a AM. It just requires the crazy attention to detail that it takes in preparation to paint it, and someone who knows how to paint. Much easier to find someone who can paint, than someone who can actually prep the car. A quality whole car paint job (aka, show quality) in the DC area seems to run $20-$40K minimum.

Rather than try to find someone who paints AMs, I would try to find someone who's either had panels re-done, or whole car restorations and ask who did it. Go see what's coming into the shop, is in work, and coming out. If you have a typical weekend car gathering, that's a great place to learn who is working. As an aside, I was in Boise a few weeks ago and saw an old El Camino that had a better than new paintjob. Really impressive detail work, so there are people out there. The modern paints actually make it easier to do a great job (but will kill you if you don't have a breather). But there is no shortcut for the prep work required!

Still want my DB9 to be one of the BMW or Porsche blues... Still never going to happen.

 

Can you provide more details on the scope of work? Is it a few areas you want repainted or the whole car? Same color or a new color?

The Aston dealers do not use Aston certified paint shops when their own customers need paintwork done, FWIW.

 

The $20-40k minimum you're seeing in your area for a full car respray - are you talking about a color change like you're desiring or just a repaint in the original color? Definitely two very different jobs.

Good to know on dealers not going with Aston certified paint shops, I may call the Denver dealer and see if they have recommendations outside of a certified shop. Since I'm thinking of going out of state for the work I feel the AM certification could at least indicate a certain threshold of quality since I likely won't be able to get to know the shop beforehand.

Right now the paintwork I need is a minimum of the front bumper, hood, drivers side quarter panel, and rocker panels. And obviously all associated blending. There are some other areas that may benefit but waiting to see how things turn out after a paint correction.

 

Denver has all the exotic marques. I would call a handful of dealerships and see which body shops are mentioned more than once. Jaguar and Tesla certified body shops are highly regarded (to expand your search). The Aston certified body shop near my house charges different rates depending on the marque being serviced.

Jaguar and Tesla had similar hourly rates to Aston on their shop sign.

 

Kindig-it-designs is in Utah

 

Good to know that Tesla shops are highly regarded. One of the resources I was referred to was a Tesla certified shop but I didn't think much of the certification considering Tesla's aren't exactly well known at this point for quality.

Not familiar with these guys, nor have I been referred to them, but they've got a great site. At this point I'm starting to learn more and more about my car's history and I may just be trading it out rather than putting more work into it.

 

Think of the investment they have to do for rebuilding Tesla's means they're far from a back yard auto body shop. For Aston Martin certification, the painting has be done is a special clean room. Different paint booth than they'd use for regular cars (according to them).

 

Any update?

 

Yes and no. The shop that I wanted to take it to, which I was worried about price gouging and caused me to start this thread, didn't even put together a bid for me. They just didn't want to take on the job. I have a bid from another shop for around $11k which would include the front bumper, hood, both quarter panels, and I believe the roof as well. That second shop is likely one I wouldn't consider though, something seemed off there and I don't think I'd trust them.

The original shop that I wanted to take it to did do an assessment while I was there and seems like my car has far less original paint than I thought. It's had work done multiple times with varying levels of quality. Now that it's been pointed out to me it seems painfully obvious.

I had been looking at a different local car before I bought mine. A dealer I worked with convinced me he could get a much better car, at 90%+ condition, which is not how things have turned out. In addition to all the needed paintwork I've become skeptical of my cars past. The original car I looked at has ended up being the better example and was significantly cheaper. At this point I've absolutely fallen in love with the V8 Vantage and think it's something I'll want to keep very long term. Because of that I do really want the 90%+ condition car I was expecting but to get my car to that level just doesn't make sense. It would cost less to sell my car and just buy a different car in better condition, so I'm looking into that route.