Paint by Numbers : Applying a new coat or color to your vehicle may improve its looks, but is often expensive.

Maybe you have started parking far from work, so people won’t see what you are driving. Or you look the other way when a group of friends is deciding who will drive to lunch.

Perhaps you have actually considered buying a bumper sticker that makes fun of your car’s looks.

It might be time to get your car repainted.

To help people stop apologizing and to protect the public from those not-so-funny bumper stickers, we contacted a few local auto paint shops to find out what can be done to put the shine back on Old Faithful.

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“Don’t go to anybody before you get references,” said Dan Dodge, owner of Supertech Paint and Body in Ventura. “Make sure there’s a guarantee of at least one year.”

Paint shops vary in more than just price. How much preparation someone gives in sanding the car when it comes in can be crucial to how well the paint stays on.

“We spend about eight to 20 hours sanding a car,” Dodge said.

It normally costs about $1,500 to $1,700 to have a car painted at Supertech with a seemingly endless choice of colors, calculated by a computer using top-of-the-line Sikkens paint, he said.

Other things to consider when choosing a shop are the quality of materials and how many coats of paint are applied. A combination of a quick sanding and cheap paint could result in fading and peeling that leave the car owner again embarrassed by the outside of the car.

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“Those one-day painting places have their place,” said Hank Howery, owner of Leo’s Paint and Body Shop in Ventura. “It doesn’t make sense for someone with a car worth $1,000 to pay $2,000 for a paint job that will only increase the value of their car by $500.”

But in the 23 years he has been in the business, he has learned that it also doesn’t make sense for someone with a car worth thousands of dollars to put a cheap paint job on it and bring down the value of the car.

At Howery’s shop--opened by his late father, Leo Howery, 35 years ago--repainting usually costs about $1,500 to $2,000.

As at most shops, more body work or preparation can raise the price. Howery emphasized preparation--a car must be thoroughly sealed and sanded--and said that quality paint makes a big difference in the result. He prefers to use DuPont and PPG paint, although he said Sikkens is also a good brand.

Howery said no one but the factory bakes paint on because to heat up an assembled car in the same way that pieces of the car are heated in the factory would result in the melting of the rubber trim and sealers. Some places do use heat lamps to dry the car faster, he said.

Many of his customers come to him to restore older classics--he is currently working on a ’68 Mustang and a ’66 Ford truck, he said.

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Studebaker Services Auto Repair in Moorpark offers customers a range of prices, beginning with a $199.99 service for small cars with a one-year warranty.

“Unlike when you get your brakes done, you can actually see what we’ve done to your car,” said owner Mike Wedemeyer.

The lowest price buys a simple paint job with enamel and a basic amount of sanding that does not include chips, scratches and other body work. It costs more for extensive preparation, a higher quality process and materials and a longer warranty.

“I fit the job with the customer,” said Wedemeyer.

White is the No. 1 color and has been so for years because it’s easy to care for and doesn’t fade, he said, but green has made a comeback 15 years after it was last popular.

A lot of his recent business has come from dark-colored cars whose clear coat has begun deteriorating after only five to seven years, he said.

Sometimes, Wedemeyer said he even discourages customers. For instance, some people want to violently change the color of a car not in need of a paint job.

“Teenagers who have been given a car sometimes like to assert their independence by wanting to paint the car a different color,” Wedemeyer said. But “that can actually lower the value of a car.”

He also does not like it when people try to get him to lower his standards, he said.

“I throw them out of here when they come in and say, ‘Just make it shiny and nice’ so they can sell it. They don’t care if the paint peels off,” Wedemeyer said.

Nancy Needham can be reached by e-mail at nancy.needham@reporters.net.