Paint or Polish?

[single_digit]

I have a black '98 NB that has some front end damage. It has a new front fender (already painted) and will have a new bumper cover (aftermarket-comes primed) plus a used hood (also black from a '98). This car, nor the hood, has never lived in a garage and the finish looks pretty bad overall. So should I:
a) have the whole car painted when they paint the bumper cover (most expensive, but in theory should look best)?
b) have only the bumper cover painted and then try to rub out the grime of the last 8 years, followed by polishing compound and lots of wax (cheaper, but labor intensive on my part and not sure what kind of results I will get)?
I have little experience with the whole rubbing/polishing route, but understand it in concept. How much am I going to typically save only having the bumper cover painted and detailing the finish myself?
How long will the rubbed/polished/waxed finish hold up compared with having the car repainted?
In general what is a fair price to repaint the car in the midwest?
Note that the fenders have to come off to get the bumper cover on, so how much (if any) should I be saving since these would be painted off the car?

[single_digit]

Well after speaking with the body shop it sounds like painting is out. Too damn much dough! I just hope I can use rubbing compound and polishing compound to rejuvinate the finish.

[noR]

If you pick up their slack and prep the car. Alot of paint places will give a huge discount. Most of the cause is the labor involved in sanding, priming, wetsanding.

Be careful going the polishing route. If you have no practice; using a polisher can cause a fair bit of damage as well.

But polishing CAN take of yrs of neglect when done w/some care and knowledge.

Also, maybe you should try to get the hood painted w/the bumper. They have ALOT of area that 'touches' and if the color doesn't match it'll be obvious as day & night. Fenders are important too; but the hood's really the most visible thing. So making that match would be key.

[single_digit]

Thanks for the input, yeah I recon that the rubbing compound could also really do some damage.
Am I correct in assuming that a new car has coats of clearcoat that will stand up to abuse a lot better than wax will after I polish?