How Much Does a Car Paint Booth Cost?

A booth's price, part by part

This guide works through the parts of a booth's price one by one — cabin, airflow, heating, filtration, freight and installation — and each part is set out below against the documented reference booth in the range. What any one quotation covers is stated in that quotation's own scope.

Throughout, keep one reference point in mind: the fully documented VICO VPB-SD98 European — a 6.9 × 3.9 × 2.65 m downdraft cabin with twin 7.5 kW fans, a 200 kW heat exchanger and a Riello diesel burner — is the reference specification used throughout this guide. The VICO booth range lists six SD-series models in all: the SD98, the SD88 Big Window, the SD78, the SD68, the SD58 and the SD55 Economic.

The range behind the figures: the booth range's recorded categories are the standard diesel painting booth, the electric painting booth, the bus painting booth and industrial painting lines, with custom design recorded for the painting booth station. Supply terms recorded for the range are a minimum order of one set, payment by T/T, L/C, credit card or PayPal, and trade terms of EXW, FOB, CFR, CIF, DDU and DDP.

1. Cabin size and construction

Cabin size and construction come first: a booth's internal dimensions and its panel system — the SD98 uses 50 mm rockwool sandwich panels. The cabin's recorded doors, for scale: a front door of 3,000 × 2,600 mm and a service door of 800 × 2,000 mm on the reference booth. For the same scale, the reference booth's recorded outside dimensions are 7,000 × 5,350 × 3,400 mm, its total power is 17 kW, its heating productivity is 20,000 Kcal/hour, and it ships with two ramps of 2,000 × 750 mm.

2. Airflow design

On the documented downdraft booth, the construction includes a raised full-grill floor over a basement — on the SD98, a 300 mm galvanised basement — plus the fan capacity recorded for the model: two 7.5 kW fans moving 30,000 m³/h. On the cost side, the basement and the air volume are part of the downdraft booth's construction, as its published specification records.

3. Heating

A burner and heat exchanger sized to reach an 80 °C bake — the SD98 pairs a stainless 200 kW exchanger with a Riello G20 — is a significant component, and the fuel choice is part of the specification: the reference booth records a Riello G20 diesel burner, with a gas burner listed as an option for the model.

4. Filtration and compliance

The reference booth's filtration is recorded by name: a G3 pre-filter, a ceiling filter recorded as 600G EU5/F5, a floor fibreglass filter, and an exhaust fibreglass and carbon filter. Its lighting is recorded unit by unit: ceiling 8 units of 4 × 16.5 W LED and side 8 units of 2 × 16.5 W LED. Local rules on emissions, fire suppression and electrical classification differ by market.

5. Freight, installation and commissioning

Alongside the machine price, this guide works through the items around it: ocean freight on the cabin, port handling, inland delivery, the foundation or basement works, assembly labour, ducting and commissioning. What any one quotation covers is set out in that quotation's own scope. The recorded trade terms for the range are EXW, FOB, CFR, CIF, DDU and DDP, and the recorded payment options are T/T, L/C, credit card and PayPal.

The items in a quotation's scope

• Cabin scope: cabin, fans, heating, filtration, lighting, controls, ramps.
• Freight terms: the terms a quotation is written on — ex-works, FOB, CIF or DDP — form part of that quotation's own scope.
• Specification evidence: airflow in m³/h, heating output and lighting level, as published on a data sheet.
• Installation: assembly, ducting and commissioning — whether they fall inside a given quotation is stated in that quotation's scope.
• Running figures: fuel per vehicle (the SD98 publishes 6–8 L) and fan power.

Running figures: fuel and fan power

The purchase price is paid once. The running figures are the ones a published specification states. Fuel or energy for baking is the first: the SD98's figure is 6–8 litres of diesel per vehicle, as published for the model. Second is fan power: the SD98's published airflow figure is 30,000 m³/h, moved by two 7.5 kW fans. The reference booth's filtration stages — the ceiling and floor filters among them — are recorded by name in the filtration section above; whether a given stage is replaced in service, and on what cycle, is confirmed model by model on quotation.

The reference booth's published running figures, collected in one place: diesel consumption of 6–8 litres per vehicle, and fan power of 2 × 7.5 kW moving 30,000 m³/h. The same published specification also records, for the same model: lighting of 1,200 LUX from LED units; a maximum bake temperature of 80 °C from a 200 kW stainless heat exchanger and a Riello G20 diesel burner; and a three-stage filtration train — G3 pre-filter, EU5/F5 ceiling filter, and floor fibreglass with a carbon stage — named stage by stage in the filtration section above. Its wall panels are recorded at 50 mm rockwool sandwich construction, with 0.426 mm steel sheet. Each figure is stated on the model's published specification.

The SD98's recorded construction, for the same record: wall panels of 50 mm rockwool sandwich with 0.426 mm steel sheet; ceiling panels of 0.8 mm galvanised steel; door glass of 5 mm tempered glass; a galvanised steel basement of 300 mm with two ramps of 2,000 × 750 mm.