When I first bought my 90 vert, it was painted by the previous owners insurance company due to his ex girlfriend taking a key to EVERY PANEL!!! I had some extra work done to it while it was at the shop and total teh aint job was near $5000. Two years later teh front end looked like it had been through a sand blasting (yes I follow to close) and although the apintjob looked pretty good it was NOT worth $5000. So fast forward to about three years ago, I did not have much money to blow so I decided om Maaco...what the heck I knoew it would look better. I had it painted when tehy were offering thier 1/2 price special. I got the top of the line pint job for around $300 out the door, teh next day it was at a car show, FFW in Atlanta, and getting complements on the paint. There certainly were flaws, a little orange peal, adn a fender that had some sand marks in it (they later fixed it) but for $300 it looked great.
The point.... its not always what you pay but WHO paints it. The painter proiduces a quality. If he knows how to spray and works for Maaco, then you get a good job. But if you have some scrub that thinks he can spry but cant, it wont matter where you go or how much you pay. I would ask to look at some of thier completed cars so you cxan get an idea of the quality they put out.
By the way, Maaco will not guarantee ANY work if you do teh prep work. I asked, thinking I would be a bit more careful. But that may depend on the individual shop....good luck.