I was thinking that one day I may want to have my S repainted. Either some other OEM color or something else altogther.

What implications are involved when doing so? I think the factory color is contained within the VIN. Are there any issues when reselling? Trading in? I assume you tell your insurance company. How about the DMV?

thanks.

 

Changing the color of a car entirely is best done by a "frame off" re-paint. Even doing this, you will reduce your target buyer list, as not many people will want a re-painted car. There will always be doubt as to why you re-painted (accident damage, etc.). Unless you find someone who witnessed this transition and is comfortable with it, you will greatly diminish the resale value of the car, even to the point of not being able to sell it at all. Re-painted cars are generally "keepers" or "give aways". Do so at your own risk.
Yes, you must report this to the DMV and insurance. After all, the color is part of the registration.

 

One thing I would like to add to xvipers post, is to keep all receipts from the body shop and take as many photos as possible during the repaint process. This can help keep the car from losing as much value, since you can show potential buyers the quality of the paint job and the extent to which it was done.

 

For some reason (I don't know why, so I am asking), re-paints never seem to be as good as OEM paint. For an example, if you get pine sap on OEM paint, just a little bit of rubbing alcohol on a cloth will remove it. If you do the same on a repainted car or repainted area, a bunch of the paint comes off too.

Thanks,
Richard

 

One must differentiate between a repaint for repair and a repaint for a custom paint job. Repair repaints are usually just enough to get the job done and there may be some short cuts when it comes to the clear coats and in between coat prep work. A custom paint job can be more durable than the OEM one simply because the owner can request more base coats and more clear coats. A member in Seattle has his car repainted Imola Orange. I saw this a couple of weeks ago and the paint job was superb. I recall there were over 1/2 dozen base coats with nearly as many clear coats. The OEM paint job isn't this good.

 

Very, very wise counsel in the above posts. Having family in the auto paint business, I've seen $10K non-OEM paint jobs to nothing for the value of the car.

 

What color do you want?