85.7 F
San Fernando
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Buff Up Auto Resale Value With Paint, Detailing

Smoothing over dings and applying a fresh coat of paint can transform a ragged auto into something special. It can also result in thousands more in resale value. But auto buyers need to tread carefully when buying re-finished cars, owners of auto body shops say. “We don’t do a bare-bones job here,” said Alfonso Contreras, owner of ACE Collision Repair & Paint in Van Nuys. “We do good quality work. We want the paint to last and the cars to stay on the road.” At his startup body shop, Contreras has been working with a number of used-car dealers to beautify their cars. But the recently-retired Army sergeant won’t compromise his ethics. “Sometimes guys want a Mickey Mouse job done, but I tell them I won’t do it,” Contreras, 48, said. “We are looking out not only for the dealer, but also for the person who buys the car. Safety is a big factor for us.” The quickest way to transform a vehicle is to paint it, as any car restorer will tell you. But auto painters warn that customers need to know the kind of paint being applied. It’s common knowledge that a used car should be checked out mechanically. But it’s often forgotten that the car’s cosmetics, such as under-body work and the quality of new paint, needs to be explored. Some cars being resold are sprayed with a single thick coat, which can be hard to detect by the untrained eye. At ACE Collision and other above-the-board shops, multiple stages of paint are applied that will help the auto look pristine four to seven years later. “We buy quality paint. We don’t buy quantity paint,” Contreras said. Humberto Hernandez, a 19-year-old painter at ACE who recently graduated from the North Valley Occupational Center, said he once worked in a shop that did single-stage painting. “In six to eight months customers started wondering why the paint’s coming off,” Hernandez said. Among Contreras’ clients is David Rendon of Van Nuys. Rendon buys cars at auctions, and after having body shops work on the cars, he sells them in Mexico. The entrepreneur said he sells 10 to 20 vehicles a month. Most are large autos by Toyota, Ford and Chevy. Recently ACE Collision did body work and multiple-stage painting on one of Rendon’s cars a 1996 Mustang which after completion looked like it was fresh off the showroom. Rendon said he doesn’t cut corners with his cars. “My sales are based on referrals,” he said. “I’m willing to pay more money so the customer is happy.” Like ACE Collision, Royal Auto Body & Paint in Northridge is also choosy about the used-car dealers it works on. Cars brought in by dealers or private parties to be fixed up and resold tend to be sporty autos like Mustangs and Camaros, shop owner Leo Vartanian said. Vartanian won’t do half-baked repairs or cake on a single coat of paint. “If you do cheap repairs, you’ll get complaints and get in trouble from the Bureau of Automotive Repair,” he said. “If a customer wants a quick fix, I won’t do it.” Cleaning up an auto before putting it on the market can make a big difference in its resale value. A woman recently brought in a 2004 Jaguar to Royal Auto Body, Vartanian said. She had bought the car new for $70,000, he said, but the car had already depreciated to $25,000. Fixing some dings and re-painting the Jaguar cost $2,600, but she ended up selling the ride for $35,000. “It can make a big difference,” Vartanian said.

Featured Articles

Related Articles