Changing a car's color (i.e. spray painted)

I suppose you could get it painted the official Toyota black by an authorized Toyota Body shop. But it is going to be really expensive. Rough guess would be about $500 per panel. Four doors, hood, trunk, four fenders, two bumpers, back...uh....$6,500 dollars? Maybe you could get a deal for half that. Still seems very expensive. Cheaper to just buy a black Prius even if you have to wait or pay MSRP. And I think repainting the car would effect depreciation and lower the resale value too.

 

Also, I haven't ever seen a re-colored car that didn't show some interior edge bits in the original color...Are you SURE waiting wouldn't work better for you? Or trying to call around to other dealers and try to find an "unclaimed" one. I found a black package 3 in about four days, calling dealers up to a couple of hundred miles away, and ended up with one 20 miles from home, from a truly excellent dealership. (I am REALLY not gloating--I'm just trying to be helpful, and I was looking for a lower package anyway, so it was likely much easier...plus, I didn't get to pick the interior color, which would NOT have been the bisque that I got...)

 

I think you would be making a big mistake having the vehicle repainted. If you really are thinking of doing this, then I would suggest you taking the vehicle to a shop that does vehicle restoration...now you are looking at some serious money to have it you way. I would be shopping the eastcoast for a dealer who may have one. I saw one at Rice Toyota in Greensboro North Carolina this week, I don't know what package it is, but their web site is ricetoyota.com

Good Luck

 

unless you want a non-prius color, it's not worth it. for a good paint job your looking at $2000+. and you'd have to let them have the car for about a week, unless the shop pretty much has nothing else to do.

it would be cheaper to look at dealerships in the another state.

 

NO,NO,NO. Nothing is better than a factory paint job, unless you are going to spend $$$$$

 

This depends on how vain you are.

If you're pretty relaxed overall... You could do the job for under $100.

Get some newspaper, masking tape and some high quality spray paint and go at it....

4 or 5 hours, the car will be black... no biggie..

 

If you really want a black Prius and really feel like you can't wait, I think there's a better way to go about it than painting a silver one. Figure how much a good paint job would cost, and go to dealers prepared to offer that much over MSRP for a black Prius. If you're willing to go $2K over MSRP (the MINIMUM I can imagine a decent paint job costing), I'll bet you can find a dealer that will offer you one.

That said, if you widen your search radius, you definately should be able to find one at MSRP; it just takes a little work; Prii aren't nearly as rare as they used to be, and even several months ago, there were stories of people buying them within a week of starting to look.

 

Maybe there's a TV show that'd be willing to pimp your ride for free if you volunteered the car?

Can't hurt to ask...

 

In the U.S. the Prius is sold by "whatever comes in to the dealership." Some dealers are willing to trade among each other to accommodate customers' preferences. But you cannot "special order." The best you can hope for is to find a dealer whose allocation includes the car you want, and claim it before someone else does.

MY RECOMMENDATION on car color: Whatever color you get, you'll learn to like it. But if you are willing to wait, do so: a few weeks extra waiting for a car you'll have for years.

Or you could get the silver one and paint flames on it, like hot-rodders do.

 

There was a black Prius on the Carlsbad lot Monday when I was there..you could fly out here for vacation and then drive back!
Course it is probably gone by now...there was a used Magnetic Grey on the Lexus lot next door. I hope they have that color available when I trade up in 08.