That’s a lot of car to cover for $3500…

Chris_Hamilton said:
Think that guy was a Customer of mine.o_O
Seriously what could he expect? Guys like that are such a PITA.
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If you did work like this and wouldn't fix it, I'd let everyone who would listen know.

Is that worth losing your business over?

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dhutton01 said:
I get your point but $3500 is not a lot of money to paint a land yacht like that. To be honest I would not take something like that on for $35k…
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I agree the price will reflect the quality of the paint job, such things as perhaps over spray on trim or seals, heavier orange peel than factory and sand scratches. That picture I posted of his car is unacceptable.

The only fault I can assume the customer made was not fully checking out the reputation of that particular Maaco. He should have asked for customers cars that they painted so he could look for himself, pictures lie.

My sister had a car painted at Maaco and it came out really nice. She had the car for another 5 years before selling it, and the paint still looked good sitting out in the elements the entire time.

What the owner should do since corporate won't honor the 5 year warranty unless the paint cracks or bubbles, is to take a heat gun to the area of the picture I posted, it'll bubble, lol
 
MJM said:
If you did work like this and wouldn't fix it, I'd let everyone who would listen know.

Is that worth losing your business over?

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I'm sure you would.

Let's play Devils Advocate for a moment. What did they quote him? A repaint? Maybe they wanted to strip it and he said no. Just give me a good price on a paint job. That area is more than likely an issue with what's underneath their work., rather than what they did. Something that should have been removed but perhaps he didn't want to pay for it. I'd be willing to bet that's the case.
Get it done as cheap as you can, as quick as you can, but it should look great and last 15 years. I have heard that so many times. It just doesn't work that way. Not in this trade or anything in life.
 
I'm not advocating or defending crap work. I'm saying there is alot more to that story than what he told in that article. I've been in that position with guys like him, and have followed through and done the right thing on more than one job. Losing my ass in the process and made three or four dollars an hour. Almost broke me, something I bet you or many others would not do.
Expectations need to be tempered to the price point. $3500 is ridiculous for that car. Only way MAACO can do it is because they can get materials for less than half of what the rest of us have to pay.
 
Here's a link for corporate Maaco. Going from corporates response to the car owner, the warranty is for 5 years. Which means he paid for their "Premium Service" which is Maacos top of the line service. Reading the Premium Service, it outlines everything they do to prep the vehicle, and type of paint used.

That particular Maaco failed.

 
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i've delt with this shit for 50 years. he's your typical tight ass that pays beer prices and expects high dollar wine. he got exactly what he paid for . had someone turned out an outstanding job he would still bitch. he's the type to find a young guy starting out and fill them full of bullshit about all the work he will bring you . a repaint ? no warranty past the door .
 
Well put shine. I wish I had heard your advice 20+ years ago when I first tried going in business for myself. Would have saved me and my family a tremendous amount of heartache and financial pain
Everything you wrote is true.
 
I'm happy to leave low-end work to other shops because we literally don't know how to do it. I mean, what steps do you leave out? How crappy is just crappy enough? Do we not sand enough? Not primer? Use the cheapest paint? Not block out the body work? When I ask customers looking for a cheap job these questions, they don't know either. Then I tell them as soon as we figure that out I will start a second shop down the road called Cheap Stuff Auto Body, and everyone who wants it can get their no-promises cheap paint work done there. But not here, not ever.
 
10 dollars to a doughnut the fella went to several more reputable shops, was unhappy with the quotes and ended up there at MAACO
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I've had guys come to me, I'll give them a price or try to give a rough idea of what it will cost. Usually a old muscle car, Corvette etc. They leave and a couple weeks later come back with a quote from MAACO and tell me "MAACO will do it for this price. You are too high. Can you beat their price? When you tell them you have no interest in doing for that, they get angry at you. Makes no sense.
I've lost cou t of the number of guys who say "give me a discount I'll get your name out there"
I fell for that a few times in my 20's now when someone says that, it's an automatic disqualifier..
 
chevman said:
I've heard they over reduce their already cheap paint.
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They leverage their nationwide buying power to get paint and all their supplies below even what Dupont/Axalta jobbers can purchase it for. They only use Axalta and have a very sweet deal with them. That is what I was told by the Owner of an Axalta jobber Shop. The Shop he serviced would order paint and supplies by the pallet load. He said the jobbers hate to deal with them because they make almost nothing doing so, but they are contractually obligated to do so by Axalta. They only get a small reimbursement from Axalta corporate on each order.
I've seen what the local one orders every 2 weeks and it was a massive amount of products.
 
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