yeah, avoid maaco and earl scheib. bought a car from my buddy a while back, he did all the prep work and took the car to maaco, had a $200 paint job done on it. it's much cheaper if you prep the car yourself, but that was the cheapest paint job he could get. It looked good, but the first scratch that the paint got in it, it started chipping off and flaking. but doing your own prep is something to keep in mind to cut down your paint job cost. generally all you need to do is scuff up and remove the clear coat by sanding it. the origonal paint will be a good base for a paint shop to shoot primer onto and then paint over it. do NOT use spray can primer to try to prep your car if you want a really good paint job. paint shops will use a primer that is shot just like normal paint. it works great to fill in smaller sanding scratches and provides an excellent base for paint to stick to.