you’re not wrong… it’s alot of money… which is why most people don’t do it properly. This one was not a 100% restore job… the motor was still in, the rear glass was not removed…
that said, i have really bad experience with $1500 paint jobs…and i wont ever trust my car to hacks or backyard shops again… not for a car i care about anyways
like i said, when you get a bargain paint job the shop absolutely has to cut corners. on my last paint job the paint flaked off in a car wash because the surfaces were not prepped properly.
industry standard for top tier paint and materials is about $1800 for a complete paint job… this is the stuff insurance companies expect to go on repairs meant to restore to OEM standards or as close to it as possible… since we all know you can’t replicate the OEM paint job.
I can see you getting a decent job for $2800 with decent materials if the shop is not a mainstream shop, has low overhead, billing out at $30 / hr or so… it’s possible for sure.