With Maaco, the reason they are so cheap is b/c they use cheap paint and little or no prep work. And I'm not sure if they even cook the car in the oven after it's painted for as long as they're supposed to.
The main thing however is the prep work. You sound like me in terms of what you would spend your money for. If good prep work is done to the car, the paint will last much longer even though it isn't as high quality as $2000 paint job paint. I have a friend who did all the sanding and primering himself and just got it sprayed over at Maaco for about $200 which included clear coat (since he did all the prep work and primering, he just paid for paint and clear coat). Over 2 years later, it still looks great. Now it is not 100% flawless, but they're the type of nicks or chips that you'd have to look for to find them--ie hardly noticeable. And for the money he paid (let's say $300 total which includes materials for his own prep work), if you're trying to save moeny, I feel it's worth it.
If you did the same prep work to your hood and had them spray it, it'd probably cost you less then $100. The only thing wrong with that is that you would have fresh new black paint on your hood, but the rest of your car will be old dull paint.
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351W-powered 1979 Ford Mustang notchback
Stock 5.8L under 4" cowl, C4 w/ shift kit
Holley 750 cfm, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake
1 5/8" MAC shorty headers, Al driveshaft
2.5" Off road H-pipe, 2-chamber Flowmasters
Front: 225/60/15, Rear: 255/60/15 Eagle GT II
Weld wheels (15x6;15x8), 8.8" Rear w/ 3.55s
14 x 4” K&N air filter (getting the Xtreme setup someday)
"Red, thou art my companion. Hasten now your quickened metamorphosis to Green that I may conquer all who dare abide there beside me. May they be left thither behind burnt black." ---Fox Body