SteveM

Similar thinking to what I've decided about the past 2 vehicles I have owned. At the end of the day if you're going to own it that long it's going to be worthwhile overall. The way I see it if you buy a reasonably priced LS430 and drive it to 200K over 5-8 years, you will have gotten you money's worth. Just ask anyone who is leasing or upgrading lesser vehicles every 3 years. Do that twice on anything entry level and you've paid more for less I'd imagine.

Reminds me of those who thought I should lease/finance a new TL or G37 instead of buying a used LS....I guess it depends if you have longevity in mind or not. I like the value of a good used car over an extended period of time.

DDLexus

Actually, quality paint shops can increase the value of a car. Consider the dings and dents that caddyowner stated are on the car. If he got a good deal on it due to the condition, adding paintwork can only INCREASE the value. Plus, many shops can match/blend the paint so that it is not detectable without a paint meter. Not sure about you, but i don't have a paint meter and most buyers don't either.

I hope the paint job comes out to your liking.

warminwisc

I had my car repainted 2 days ago. I bumped into my strash cans and had a couple good crumples above the wheel well. They blended it int the back door and the toppaint strip above the door under the rain catch, And back to rear angles on the trunk and bumper.

While this Toyota body shop is rated year after year the best in the area in the newspaper yearly voting I sorry to say can easily see it was repainted. The colors matched very well but the paint lines on the door jams and areas like the gas door you can see where they stopped the clear coat and the roughness of a little overspray even though it is not visible from the outside. They did not clear the door jams and you can see where the paint stops if you look hard. I would say the value has gone down as it was pristine before but with 100 k on it I will not fret. I took pictures of the damage to show it was a simple job to the next owner. To the naked untrained eye it looks factory but I know. Thanks

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

IME, it's very, very rare that part of a vehicle can be repainted and it not show (look different from the un-painted panels) IF the paint has a lot of particles in it like most metallic and mica paints do. There are just too many things that figure in -- oxidation of the old paint, particle count, orientation of the particles in the paint, etc. -- making a perfect match nearly impossible. Get it in the right light (low-angle, late afternoon, for example) and it'll almost always show.

airtime

I had mine painted for minor and some slightly more damage with no viable detection. My paint shop only paint from seam to seam which mean they only stop until it reach the next panel.

I had a small scratch where someone tried to break my window with a screwdriver and used the upper window ledge as leverage. Made a small scratch. I was watching them mask everything else but the side of the car and I asked them why, they shot the whole side of the car to make it one continuous spray, seamless. Color matched perfectly. Same thing for other repair and subsequent paint jobs. But of course, all of these are covered by insurance so these several thousand dollars paint jobs are OK by me However, you if you to pay out of pocket, it may hurt a bit.

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

Are you speaking of the black car in your sig? Black is about one-tenth as hard to match as many of the other colors -- which is great for owners of black cars, but shouldn't be taken as too much comfort by those of us with silver, parchment, moonlight, or even flint or some of the other mica colors.

miniz

Actually, even quality jobs can easily be picked upon. I can normally tell what has been repainted just by looking at the car from 5-10 feet away. There is no need for a paint meter. Paint blending is only so good. I have trained eyes and work in the car industry, so I'm outside of the norm. Any time a part of the car is repainted, it decreases the value of the car. More and more, bumpers are just expected to have been repainted on used cars, so that is generally exempt. Original factory paint is always worth more, unless you are talking about a resto-mod car.

caddyowner

Update:

The body shop owner called today and said paint is done. They will be reassembling the car and detailing it inside and out for pickup on Friday.

Jabberwock

Cool - Sounds like a high quality job so I bet it will look virtually brand new when you pick it up. Put some pics up when you can.

SteveM

I'm excited to see the end result of this "rehab" session. I'd imagine for all practical purposes it will look good and achieve the objective.

KILLERGS4

crystal white is the hardest to match...

caddyowner

That's like the white diamond color on Cadillacs - a three layer process that is hard to match. However, I think body shops tell you most every color is the hardest to match.

I believe I have pics of all of the damaged portions of the car. I will post before and after pics.