...turn a $400 Maaco paint job into a $3,000 paint job...lol. Basically the cheap paint shops don't do a lot of the post-paint buffing, so you can really make even a cheap paint job look great with a little elbow grease.

You also should remove as much of the trim, headlights, marker lights, tail lights, etc. as possible before you drop it off. The more you do, the better the car will look once it's done. It might be good to have the windshield removed by a glass company before dropping it off, otherwise they'll just mask it off the best they have time for...which isn't much...lol. You can always strip the car at home, then have a flat bed transport it to the paint shop.

You can also keep the price of a paint job down by sticking with the original color, that way they don't have to paint the door jams. If you do have the door jams painted, I would remove a lot of the interior like door cards. If you're replacing the carpet, you can leave that in the car...lol