Vespa Scooters- Advice Needed

Does anyone know anything about Vespa scooters? I bought one (P200e) to get around the hood without having to deal with my car. It is used and mechanically sound, but needs bodywork and a fancy paintjob. I've priced this work at scooter specific shops and they are asking for bank and none of them seem to work very quickly (I'd like to use it this summer)...should I trust a regular body shop with my scoot?

Any help is much appreciated.

Go join the Scooters group.. I'm sure someone there can help.

if it's rideable you could just skip the bodywork and paint.

is it an old one? if not you could probably purchase the relevant body panels and install them yourself. shouldn't be too hard.

Books like this will tell you most of what you need to know and there are websites galore. My best advice would be to pay attention to what the manuals say that you can and can't do on your own.

you can buy parts online and on ebay.
i would take it to a place that works on motorcycles rather than one that works mostly on cars.

as far as looks go, if it were my i wouldnt wrry about it. i mean, after all, youre gonna be on a vespa

i agree. get a manual, get proper tools, learn to deal with it yourself.

Talk to some of the paint shops, If you can strip the panels yourself sometimes they will cut you a break on spraying them. Most shops should be OK, unless you want a show quality finish, then its gonna cost, also new panels are a good way to go If you know they fit properly, try before painting, some after market sources are better than others. Or you could just buy some Bondo and spray bombs and go nuts.

Thanks for the help...I didn't know there was a scooter group...I'll check it out.

Thanks for the other tips...but they would require my pansey-ass to get dirty. Also, I am a stud at taking things apart...putting them back together...not so much. I did buy the Haynes manual (have tools) and will work on cars/scooter to get them on the road in a pinch, but don't enjoy it...plus I live in an apartment and body work/paint is a tough do-it-yourself. I didn't know if anyone had experience with the break down and rebuild...if I should stick with a Vespa specialist or is it simple enough that any grease monkey can do it.

I know folks own these things because they like to work on/restore them, I just like riding it and always having a place to park in Hollywood.

Lostarchitect: It is an older one with the vintage look, but new enough that it has disc brakes, fuel mixer and electric ignition. I like the vintage Vespas, but didn't want to deal with vintage technology.

It is very rideable...but I've seen too many episodes of Pimp my Ride to cruise a banged up whip.