Prices
Every Estimate Is Priced, and Every One Is Credited Back
Three tiers: 1 hour at $210 for a collision teardown, $150 for an RV systems estimate, 1 hour at $285 for an in depth diagnostic. Each is credited against an authorized repair, so it costs nothing extra if you proceed.
Why nothing is offered at no cost
On a laminated vehicle the visible damage is routinely a minority of the real scope. A stain on a ceiling panel appears where water exits, which is frequently several feet from where it entered. Nothing about that is knowable from outside.
So a number given without opening the vehicle is a guess. The guess is almost always low, because a high guess loses the job, and the owner finds out in week three. That pattern reads as a bait and switch even when it was honest incompetence.
Charging for teardown and crediting it against the repair means the number we give is the number. It also means we are the more expensive option for anyone comparing on estimate cost alone, which is a trade we make deliberately.
Which tier applies to you
The collision teardown at 1 hour at $210 applies to impact, structural and anything a carrier is involved in. It buys disassembly to the point where the real scope is visible and photographed.
The RV systems estimate at $150 covers slide, awning, water, electrical and generator complaints. It buys the diagnostic time to find the actual fault rather than the symptom.
The in depth diagnostic at 1 hour at $285 with a one hour minimum is for intermittent and multi system faults, which are the hardest problems on a coach and the ones most often misdiagnosed by replacing parts until something changes.
Every service page on this site states which tier applies as a data field, so you know before you call rather than after.
What credited actually means
If you authorize the repair, the estimate charge comes off the invoice. Not a discount and not a coupon: it is deducted, because you already paid for that labor.
If you do not proceed, it is a real charge for real work, and you keep the output: the written scope, the photographs and, on water jobs, the moisture map. That documentation is worth something at another shop or on a claim.
Questions
Questions on this
Can you quote from photographs?
We can tell you which band you are probably in, and we will. What we will not do is call that an estimate, because photographs cannot show substrate condition and substrate condition is what moves the number by a factor of five.
What if the teardown finds less than expected?
Then the number comes in lower and you pay less. It happens, particularly on roofs where the sealant failed recently enough that the decking is still sound. The estimate is what the work is, not what we hoped to sell.
Is the estimate charge refundable if I go to another shop?
No, because the work was performed. You keep the documentation, which is the thing of value. It is credited only against a repair authorized here.
Does an insurance claim change the estimate charge?
The teardown is frequently a reimbursable line on the claim itself, because the carrier needs the teardown to write an accurate estimate too. We handle that submission.
Turn a band into a number
The band tells you the territory. A priced estimate on your vehicle tells you the number, and it is credited against an authorized repair.