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I realize this is an old thread, but the topic is still current. I purchased a pre-cut kit on eBay from "chipgardman" recently for $195.50 including shipping. I installed it myself and am satisfied with the result. It is not that easy and takes a fair amount of time so I understand why professional installation is expensive.
The kit came with a squeegee (seems to be of good quality and works well), a good 33 minute how-to video on CD and he also emailed me a bunch of written instructions. I received permission to post the written instructions here. See the attached PDF file.
The material was genuine 3M and there were a few surplus pieces of film. I used the surplus to protect the area right behind the front wheels and this was the first part I installed for "practice."
The installation was tricky and I would say a professional could probably do a slightly better job but I do not regret doing it myself. The trickiest part is the bumper because of its size and the alignment and curvature. A second person to help for a short time with the bumper would have been good. The hood is actually the easiest part because it is just a large flat area with no tricky curves to worry about.
Sharp curves can cause the film to want to pop back up off the surface repeatedly as you keep pushing it down with the squeegee. But the video explains how to deal with this (a little heat from a hair dryer) and the technique worked for me. In general, I understand warm temperatures are supposed to make the film easier to install. It was about 85 degrees in my garage, so that was plenty warm.
I probably spent about 5 hours on the job, not including giving the car a real good wash job and doing a little paint touch-up first.
So if you are fairly skilled with your hands and careful, you can do this yourself and save a good amount of money.
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