how much would that cost me to paint my 86 honda civic hatch, or would it be better to buy the materials and do it myself?

spray bombing it yourself is good.. IF YOU WANT A REALLY GHETTO PAINT JOB. but seriously if you paint it by your self you will need a proper paint booth and paint gun otherwise the paint wont shine it needs to cure under bright lights to shine the most. if you dont care too much on how it looks wait till a warm dry day with not much wind. wet the ground outside to stop dust from rising up on to your paint. bottom line to do it your self for good primer paint and clearyour looking at about 60 bucks for enough primer 60-70 for paint and probably the same for clear coat probs under 200 but if your going to a shop expect to pay about 1000

And if I went to a shop and payed $1000 would that include all the sanding and prep work or am I going to have to do all of that myself then pay up?

what kid of paint do you want? metallic, gloss, matte. do you want pearls or anything? they might do the prep included if you look around. but if you want a dark metallic grey say with a blue pearl so that it will show some blue in different light your looking at possibly 2000-3000. if your looking for a metallic gray probably gonna be 1200-1300 for the paint. Look into the exact paint color you want and go to a paint dealer and ask them on how much they charge a liter or a quart. I think you would need maybe 3 quarts or so to do a couple coats. then go to a body shop and ask how much they charge an hour for painting and you will get a much more exact price also ask them how much paint you will need to make sure you buy enough. if money is tight and you know what your doing make the repairs your self that what i would do.

Thanks guys, really helpful stuff here, I'm going to get to it