Rep Power: 0

Hello everyone..I recently got into a minor accident, car is in shop, all of the damage is body work thank god..But because the bumper, hood and pretty much everything on front end needs to be replaced, the guy told me he is just going to repaint the whole car so it all matches in color- so i thought, why not paint a different color? My dad picked out this car for me, in white, which is NOT a color I personally would have chosen- i LOVE black or silver. So, which (out of black or silver) do you think is better and for what reasons? Which is more durable? I live in AZ so it is HOT, lots of sun beating down on cars here...Which is more durable? Which is easier to touch up if ever need be later on? BUT, most importantly of all questions I want to ask is- WILL repainting the car lower its value? I am pretty sure it will, but how significantly? He will paint a different color for same price (free through insurance) but an extra 200-300$ if I want to do door jambs..Cant really afford that right now, does that matter that much though? Will it look stupid if I dont get that done too?? Whether I CHANGE the color from white or not, regardless, it will need to be repainted entirely- so does a COLOR CHANGE really make any difference? Need to tell him which color by tomorrow morning, PLEASE HELP! All advice appreciated greatly!!! Thanks <3

 
Rep Power: 234

I have a black car and live in Texas with that nice bright sun that shows every single blemish in the paint. Black is cool as hell but too hard to keep clean (dirty when you get a block from the wash, I'm not kidding). Go with silver. Gunmetal is my personal favorite.

You only notice the jambs when you open the doors, hood, or trunk-your call.

Hard to say whether the repainting depreciates the value as it's all in the eye of the buyer. I do know that repainting the same color doesn't hurt by any means. About depreciation, since it's been reported to insurance be aware that it will show up on carfax now.

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks! Those are great points about black- especially living in AZ, ten times even hotter than where you are! It was the first thing that came to mind when considering black. PLUS, considering the factory paint is white, if it chips, the contrast of black vs white is MUCH more visible and obvious than white peeking through silver. The guy at the shop said that black would be better because silver traps heat more (hard to believe, i dont know about that!) so that it would start to crack and have sun damage easier than black. I somehow doubt that though, black is well known to be the heat trapper!!! I am really bad about keeping the outside of the car washed, so the dust thing is a MAJOR factor for me even more so than for most. So if i keep it white, the repaint wont change value, but it WILL if I change the color, right? And do you know if I can go back and do the jambs later on, or is it now or never?? I wonder HOW MUCH the value is decreased after the accident and after replacing with aftermarket parts, new paint, etc :/ it is stressing me out!!

 
Rep Power: 234

I'm not sure about being able to do the jambs later. Hell, I'm not even sure about a different color devaluing the car. The value will depreciate a little with the accident but not a whole lot.

If you want I'll trade ya my black '01 coupe for your white one. The the whole top of the car is faded but, it's still black...mostly. lol.

 
Rep Power: 511

someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if you change your car's color and the body shop does it correctly, they'd wetsand down to the primer, lay down another primer coat, then the new color, no? So, if the paint chipped, depending on the depth of the paint chip, it'd be grey (or black, if they use black primer) or down to metal..

yea, and if you change your color and they dont pull the engine or get the door jambs, you'd see the color difference when you popped the hood or opened your doors.

 
Rep Power: 811

a paint job like what youre describing costs $3-5k, i doubt they will put that much effort into it other than spraying the car on the outside. stick with white, its so much cooler in the summer compared to dark colors. someone at a shop that only has to paint maybe 1/2 the car and says oh what the hell, lets do the whole thing is certainly not planning to do a professional job. hes just being silly. be careful because you could end up with a junk paint job that will scratch easily and maybe even flake off over time.