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Are there third-party companies that will paint Teslas with factory/OEM colors?
- Thread starter cartog
- Start date
Literally nothing about painting a Tesla is different than painting any other manufacturers car beside maybe being easier not having to remove an engine to paint under the hood. Anything can and will be done for the right amount of money. Just go find a reputable shop that wants to take your $ and bring your check book as it’s gonna cost you over 5k.
$5k? No way. Just hit up Walmart and grab a can of any color plus a few rollers. Thirty bucks tops.
My question was more specific. How easy is it to find companies that will paint Teslas using the exact same colors that Tesla uses?
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
Quality paint jobs are all about labor and prep. On the bottom end you’ve got stuff like Maaco for say $500-1000. At the top end, sky’s the limit.
I guess the question is: how much should I expect to pay a third-party shop for a Tesla OEM color at the same quality Tesla does?
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
I’d guess you’re in the neighborhood of $5k or so for an OEM-like finish, although there are plenty of limitations that go along with that. You’ll never get a factory-like finish on a car that is already put together. Door sills, panel transitions, body to glass edges, under the hood, under the lift gate, etc etc etc… unless you painstakingly dismantle and mask off basically the entire car, it will never look factory. Lots of downsides to repainting a car - color won’t match the VIN, people will forever be suspect as to why it was repainted, diminished value, etc.
Finally, I’m having a hard time fathoming why one would go through the considerable expense and headache just to repaint a car in one of the other five colors that every other Tesla on the road is already painted in? If you want one that color, you should buy one that color. You’ll almost certainly come out ahead.
Finally, I’m having a hard time fathoming why one would go through the considerable expense and headache just to repaint a car in one of the other five colors that every other Tesla on the road is already painted in? If you want one that color, you should buy one that color. You’ll almost certainly come out ahead.
A good question. The short answer is that this weird car bubble we’re in means that people have limited options on the colors they can get from some car companies, and in the case of Tesla people may not be able to get a car at all (depending on car). Which means us Tesla buyers have to look towards potentially taking over someone’s reservation, in which case we can’t control what color the reservation seller chose.
Interesting point about the reduced valuation and the suspiciousness. If cars really do lose value when you paint them, and if repainting makes it harder to sell, then maybe that’s why people don’t do it. But is that actually the case?
Edit: looks like it is. There’s a good discussion of this question here: Why does repainting a car devalues it?
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ucmndd
Well-Known Member
The bubble you mention is quite realistic. Yes, you can walk in to nearest paint shop and have them repaint your car to desired colour. But as others have pointed out it also involves removing trim panels and other parts and the shop might not know how to approach, ending up with broken fixtures of removed parts and you will see in time that something is not right.
If you need to repaint one piece of the car, like bumper or door and you accept in removing and putting back the part then why not? I just recently found paintshop around a corner (Tesla does not have any service or body shop in the country) and they did very good job on painting the front bumper. Nothing that they needed to repair, just new coat of paint as I did removed and assembled it back on the car. One thing they did mentioned was getting the right colour - PPTI, Titanium Silver Metallic. It was BMW dealership and they did ordered representative from their paint shop provider to get the correct colour. What did that mean, I don’t know but original time of completion was delayed one day.
I do see that wrap it more convenient than painting…
Great points. Does getting a car wrapped run the same risks? Personally I hate the idea of disassembling the car period.
Some people really need a vehicle now—the one they want—and times are strange. The only alternative is to wait, which isn't an option for some. Many don't want to buy an in-betweener vehicle that will lose value.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
Sure, I guess. But again, even with those constraints, I just don't think that painting a brand new car another color, at significant cost and potential downside, is the right way to solve the problem.
No "in-betweener" car is going to lose as much value as a brand new color changed fully repainted Model S, so if the objective is saving money, this isn't the right way to do it.
It would seem plausible to wait for a reservation to come available in the desired color, if color is the most important thing. I mean, there are only 5 pretty bland colors to choose from at the moment.
Or buying something already delivered from a private seller or dealer - surely there are some out there.
Or a wrap.
That's fair. Based on feedback sounds like not the best decision—makes sense now.
Re. wraps, do I need to worry about the company disassembling panels etc to put the wrap on (as I would worry with painting)? Do wrap companies sometimes mess cars up this way?
For a high quality job a qualified maybe. We had my wife’s Range Rover color changed for just over $3k, but did not do inside hood or door jambs
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