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Hi Daniel
Unfortunately this is a little difficult and often goes on recomendation by 'word of mouth'. In my limited experience; firstly the paint shop should be capable of mixing the paint themselves on their premises and have a wide selection of base paints in stock. MB recommend only a couple of brands - look out for 'Spieshecker'.
The shop should also have the necessary equipment, ie a sufficiently large spay booth to fit a whole car and ancillery parts and be completely enclosed. There's a massive difference between the 'DIY'er' and an established sprayer.
I personally wouldn't use a paint shop that contracts out to insurance companies which push through high volume cars - Vauxhal and Ford (in the UK) as the guys working on the floor are paid on throughput. I have a sprayer friend who quit his precision spaying job to work for one of these and was horrified by the work ethos, he was unfortunately was lured by the 'possible' salary - over here 70% of salary comes from bonuses, and that directly correlates to throughput!
Thankfully I have found a local shop which meets all the above, they also contract to insurance companies BUT, only the top brand cars - such as Porsche, MB, BMW, Jaguar, Aston Martin etc.... so as you can probably tell I've been in your position a while back too.
If your shops are getting 'annoyed' bin them! They should be happy to show you around and want your custom. Go view the booth, paint mixing system and talk to the lead sprayer if you can. Ask which vehicles they typically work with, ask around for recommendation - why not even ask your local MB dealer which spay shop they use. Remember they may not even have their own or when times get busy, sub contract out..
Hope this helps a little
Lea
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