yeah, a $1000 will get you a nice paint job, usually even metallic and pearlescent colors. By all means if you can find a pro that works out of his garage go with those type of people, they usually do awesome work and charge half the price. Whatever you do stay away from MAACO, they are cheap compared to other places, but they lack the good quality. And they charge a fair amont more than $300. They charge $250 for basic paint job, plus $50 for every opening ( door jambs, trunk, hood) so that will be based on if you have a 2 or 4 door car. All in all for a 4 door car basic paint (non metallic or pearlescent) its gonna cost you about $600 at MAACO. New Earl Scheib is charging $350 for their metallic euro clear paint job, and that includes door jambs and openings. And believe it or not, they are hell of a lot better than MAACO. Been 7 years since i had my car color changed, and its still gleaming like a brand new car.