Pearlescent white paint, do the unrepairable problems outweigh the benefits of looks?

I've heard the same thing before about how diffucult it is to repaint and alot of times people just have to repaint the entire car. One person I tlaked to about it had a Escalade in that pearl white color and he said it got keyed one time and proceded to tell me what a ***** it was to get it fixed. who knows he might have just been making it up though. But I've heard the same thing from lot's of people

 

I used to do paint repair on cars at car dealers. I only did it for a year but on more than one occaision I painted only 1 corner of a Caddy bumper in the Pearl white 3 stage and it was completely undetectable. Also the 3 stage red of the Mustang and Expedition is the same thing. I did charge more because it was more work and on a vehicle like these it has to be perfect. I would guess that more often than not it costs more because of the emblem on the car not the color. But the touch up paint does look bad, you really need to respray.

 

It is extraordinarily hard to match properly......this is true.

You have to repaint large sections to cover small blemishes......this is true.

You cannot use TU paint or it looks horrible.....this is true.

I used to manage a Porsche dealership and one of my colleagues in another dealer had a client order a 1992 911 Turbo in a "paint to sample" pearl white........PAG tried to get him to change his mind.......but he was willing to pay the $15K (paint to sample was $6K at the time) they wanted to charge him....and he had to sign a disclaimer regarding the above items.

Now I imagine Cadillac paint (or whatever) is no where near on par with the Porsche finish on that particular car...but still...you will have trouble. Try to find a used car at a dealer somewhere to see what repairs or touch ups may look like first before you buy.