^^^
excellent write up on the topic!
As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. As far as crack heads painting cars, I wouldn't let them touch my car with a 10 foot pole.
I shopped around before I chose the shop to paint my car, the estimates were all pretty close to one another. So you throw out the high and low and deceide from there.
75zcar, it's not getting raped, it's paying for a quality show car finish that's done right. I did find a shop that would do it for $2500 after looking at a "rod" they painted for a customer I couldn't get off the property quick enough!