My poor celi :( Options

[Raves44]

Recently i just had all of the body work done to my car and the paint was supposed to come shortly after. supposed to being the key phrase! the guy that told me he was going to do it as his class project at one of the colleges here totally hosed me! 2 days before it went in for paint he was trying to charge me $500 dollars for something that he is doing in a college class. i told him i would take my car somewhere else so tell me does that sound unreasonable? either way i have another guy lined up its just heartbreaking to see goliath aka my car, with all of the primer spots all over i will put pics up later tonight

[Jamchell]

Well auto paint is expensive, if he is using high quality materials then that's reasonable. Many schools will charge you for the mats or have you bring your own. If it's just for labor then I guess it just depends on whether or not you trust him to do a $500 dollar job. He is probably going to school to learn to do this for pay and if he does good work then there is no reason not to pay him what he's worth. If this is his first paint job ever, then you might want to take your 500 bucks to someone with more experience.

[ScoobyDooCruiser]

First off, I would never let someone learning how to paint near my car... I'm more the type that going to ask to see cars a shop has worked on, and spend a bit shopping around, especially for paint. However, I know I'm a freak.

What seems reasonable in this situation though? Find out what the school charges him for materials, and pay that. If you want, give him a bit of a tip ($50-100?)... but personally, if they are learning, in a way you are doing them a bit of a favor letting them use your car.

Your call. I think it would be a good idea to call the school and see how much they are charging him for the materials. If its like $50, and he's asking you for $500, tell him to take a hike.