Painting a car question

I'm afraid this is one of those questions that you'll get a whole lot of different answers to.
So many different variables to consider. Color is only one of them. Prep time is where the costs add up and also what makes the difference in a good paint job and a bad job or even a great job. A quickie job could only cost you $500, a real quality job can easily run you $500 or more. Expect to get what you pay for.
Edit: A real quality job could easily run you $5000 or more.