Would painting a car in a different color affect insurance rates? And would it affect anything else?

Question

I want to buy a used BMW E46 M3 in Laguna Seca Blue but i can't seem to find one in that color. I even tried looking for one at different cities and provinces (i'm from Canada btw) and i still can't find one. The closest one that i found was from New Jersey in the U.S, which is too far and there's a lot of things to be done when buying a U.S vehicle. So i was thinking of buying one of a different color and painting it. Would that affect anything?

Answer 1

A repaint would drastically affect the value of the car since it is no longer original. A nice car like an M3 deserves to stay in original factory condition.



Paint won't affect insurance rates.



You also have to consider the cost of a high quality paint job. A change of color and the quality of paint this car deserves is going to run you well over $5000 USD.



My advise to you. Find a different color you can live with from the available cars near you. It may not be your first choice but when you're buying used you rarely get every one of your first choices.

Answer 2

Hi,



Painting a car a different colour will be ridiculously expensive to do properly. If it isn't done properly, you will regret it. You'd never see that money again. Consider the colour you'd be stripping to replace. Technically it's more work to go from darker-lighter than lighter to darker. Also everything else which is colour coded would need to be changed also, to make it look right. If you sell the car on, people that do history checks on your car will be able to see that it wasn't the original colour. Those that can find the paint code will see that it's a different colour.



So, as you can see; it probably isn't worth it. If you were buying an older car and restoring it, then I'd say the cost and the effort may be worth it. I can't say it'd be worth it for the car you are looking to buy. Buy another colour you'd be happy with; and you could always change the car to one that is the right colour when one good example becomes available.

Answer 3

I think your best bet is to find a US car, the number sold is 10X as many as in Canada.You really don't want to paint that car.As other posters have noted, it will cost at least 5000$, and will lower the car's value by thousands.Importing is not such a hassle, now that the car is a couple years old. Or just keep looking, a blue car should show up sooner or later. Try BMW clubs, an online forums.

Answer 4

Really bad idea. It would lower the value of you car by thousands. Not including the cost to paint it.



No effect on insurance or anything like that.



I happened to buy a Mercedes that was repainted many years ago. Paid thousands below wholesale for the simple change of color. I quickly resold it at wholesale for a small profit. $200-300.

Answer 5

I think you need to get approval from RTO and again you have to re - insurance for the new color with RTO approval is to attached and filed to Insurance company.

Color Doesn't matter , everything depends on your papers and model for the insurance

Answer 6

in some cases it can as darker cars have higher risks so informing company is a must or policy becomes invalid. its not always cost effective. can be very expensive and time consuming if full covering is required. reduces saleability.

Answer 7

Depends if the colour was stated on the policy.