A straight answer on coating pricing, what moves it, and where the value really is.
Ceramic coating quotes in Melbourne can run from a few hundred dollars to well over three thousand, and on the surface it is not always clear what you are paying for. Rather than throw one number at you that will be wrong for your car, it helps to understand what actually sits behind a coating quote. Once you know what drives the price, you can read any quote for yourself and judge whether it is fair.
The single biggest factor is the prep, not the bottle. A ceramic coating is only as good as the paint underneath it, because the coating locks in whatever state the paint is in on the day it goes on. A proper job means a thorough wash, a clay decontamination, and a cut and polish to remove swirls and marring before anything is applied. That paint correction is skilled, time-consuming work, and it is where most of the hours on your car actually go. A cheap coating quote almost always means the prep has been cut short, and you end up sealing swirls and haze under a hard clear layer.
The second factor is the grade and life of the coating itself. A basic dealership-style coating with reduced prep sits at the lower end, often around the $990 mark. A properly prepped three-year coating lands higher, and the popular five-year coatings, with a full cut and polish and a deep gloss, tend to sit somewhere between $1,650 and $1,900 depending on the car. Self-healing coatings, worth considering on darker paint that shows every swirl, run higher again, often $2,200 and up. The thickest, longest-life coatings for owners who plan to keep the car a long time can reach $2,900 to $3,500. The third factor is the car itself. A compact hatch in good condition takes less time to correct than a large SUV, a ute, or neglected paint that needs more work to bring back, and dark colours show imperfections far more than a light silver or white.
The most expensive coating is the one you pay for twice. If the prep is rushed, the swirls stay locked under the coating and the only fix is to strip it back and start again. Paying a little more for proper correction up front is almost always cheaper than redoing the whole job in a year. The other trap is buying add-ons that do not earn their keep. Interior coatings are the clearest example. Out of twenty years in this trade, the honest advice is to skip them, because no interior coating lasts more than about a year and on high-wear areas like the seats and steering wheel it can be gone in a week or two. If you want real protection against stone chips as well as gloss, that is a job for paint protection film, and our guide on PPF versus ceramic coating walks through where each one earns its keep.
For most owners, a well-prepped coating is worth it, as long as you understand what it does and does not do. It makes the car far easier to wash, holds a deep gloss, and protects against UV fade, bird droppings and light contamination, taking the fortnightly detailing effort out of keeping the paint sharp. What it will not do is stop a stone chip or a shopping trolley. Ceramic is about the finish and the ease of care, not impact protection. If you know that going in, the money makes sense. You can read more about how we approach the work on our ceramic coating page.
Roughly $990 for a basic dealership-style coating with reduced prep, and around $1,650 to $1,900 for a properly prepped five-year coating on a typical car. The car, its paint colour and its condition all move the number.
Usually because the prep has been cut. The coating is quick to apply, but the wash, decontamination and paint correction underneath it are where the real hours are, so a very low quote often means those steps were shortened.
Depending on the grade, from around three years for an entry coating to seven years or more for the thickest self-healing options. Life also depends on how the car is washed and cared for afterwards.
We look after everyday drivers, not just weekend supercars. Tell Henry, our owner, what you want to protect and what you have to spend, and he will put together a cost-effective option that makes sense for your car, with honest advice and no pressure.
Tell us your car and its condition and we will send an honest quote.
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