Like others have said above the key to any paint job is the prepping of the surface. It is extremely labor intensive. Maaco can do nice paint jobs, but they aren't the ones you see advertised for $299.95. Those jobs are done with a single stage enamel and most of the time wont include door jambs and areas like that, only surfaces visible from the outside of the vehicle, so it's basically spray and go. You can get a base coat/clear coat paint job from them too, but it will set you back at least $1000 depending on how much body work is performed.

Auto body prices vary from location to location though...the best thing to do is drive around and get estimates...let the shop actually see the truck so they can give you an estimate for what you are looking to have done. For reputable body shops estimates are free but there is no way a shop can give you an accurate estimate based on what you tell them over the phone.

 

hey. I was trained as an auto collision repair specialist. A fancy way of saying bodyman. I worked in the field for 3 yrs and still dabble in body work to this day. Any time you can get a truck painted completely for under 1500 dollars at a bodyshop your either doing really good or getting taken. If you do some of the work yourself you can greatly reduce the price. the labor is a large part of the cost (sometimes over half the cost) and the easiest way to reduce the price on your paintjob. Just make sure it's ok with the shop your gonna get it painted from that there ok with you doing some of the labor yourself, Most will work with you but it can be a liability to them not to mention bad rep if you do the prep work. the paint job will only be as good as the prep work is, so its important to make sure that is done well.

The prep work (aka sanding, repairing the dents and doing the filler work) is the most tedious, labor intensive work in painting. at least in my opinion.