First off, most of the costs come into play with the pre-paint prep. The actual painting is not that much of the budget. Painting an entire car and then cutting and buffing should be able to be accomplished in a few days. But the prep can often stretch to weeks.

And contrary to a previous posters experience, base/clear does not have a problem with peeling.

Virtually every new vehicle built the last 35+ years has been base/clear. Notice many peelers? And only a couple of the responses here has noted a problem with it.

Like many others here, I have sprayed both. I am not a professional painter by any means, but I have never had clear peel on one of my jobs. Never. But I have seen it happen. And the problem always comes down to mis-matched products or poor prep. Base/clear is no more prone to problems than single stage.

Spray what you want, just don't let an isolated negative experience or two sway you the wrong way.