Ever since I bought my SRT-6 Roadster (off a used car lot, a few years ago), I've had it in the back of my mind that I'd get the whole car repainted eventually.

I've never really warmed up to the SSB paint color, for starters. I mean, it's "ok" -- but I'd really like this car to be a deeper metallic "royal blue" or something along those lines. Additionally though, it has a nasty circular mark near the trunk lid where it looks like someone's magnetic mount CB antenna scratched it up. It's down through the primer so can't be buffed out. That, plus a few other misc. deep scratches means if I didn't do a full repaint, I'd at least be paying thousands to repaint several body panels and having them blended to match.

I just forked out the money to get the top replaced though, since the rear window started falling out and mine isn't one from one of the states where Chrysler extended the warranty on the top repair. (Went with a nice, custom-made top where the back window is sewn into sort of a "pocket" in back, so it will hopefully not come loose again like the OEM design with the glue did.)

Now, it makes me all the more interested in the repaint project, so the whole car looks nice again (not just the canvas top!). But here's the question. In the Maryland/Virginia/DC metro area, does anyone have a good recommendation for a shop to do the job at a good price?

I already got an estimate from a small local shop in Brunswick, MD where I live. They do great work, but told me the cheapest they could repaint my SRT-6 would be around $3,500 - and they'd need a month or so to finish the job since they only have a couple guys working there and work pretty slowly.

If I didn't just spend the $'s on the new top, I would probably be more "ok" paying that price, but right now, it's all adding up to more than I can afford, especially with the holidays approaching. Any suggestions out there, or do you all generally think $3,500 is about as cheap as you can go for a "good" paint job (EG. actually paint the underside door sills and under the hood on the inside, etc. so there's no evidence of the original paint job that can be seen)?