Collision Damage

[Toolman0114]

I got hit, driver side.
Where do you take a class B for repairs?

[hbn7hj]

Any body shop. Take the water heater out for them.

[mumkin]

I contacted my insurance company, and they suggested a local body shop that I knew had a good reputation. My damage was just cosmetic and just required a paint job fortunately.

[booster]

A lot will depend on if you can find a body shop that can pull that out from the outside or not. If they need access to the inside of panel, that means whatever is on the inside would need to be removed and reinstalled after the repair. The interior work would have to be at an RV shop, I think, as a body shop won't want to mess with it.


Could get very expensive, and depending on the value of the van, the insurance might total it out. You could buy it back pretty reasonably and still get it fixed, but it would carry a salvage or rebuilt title which would reduce it's value.


It appears there must be a filler panel in there where a sliding door would go and the seam has opening up, so the whole filler may need to be replaced.

[hbn7hj]

I repeat. Do not let an ignorant bodyshop take out the water heater.

[Toolman0114]

Thank you, I’ll make sure it’s done by experts

Originally Posted by hbn7hj

I repeat. Do not let an ignorant bodyshop take out the water heater.

[Toolman0114]

Thank you for your help

[Retired Navy Chief]

Is there any damage to anything inside?

[Toolman0114]

No interior damage, everything works as it should and looks like it should.

[olybsnow]

One issue I ran into when I needed body work done is that many shops paint booths were not tall enough to accommodate the height of my Class B.

[kevnancy]

We had to find a place in the Chicago area because of booth height.

[Tom 98072]

Originally Posted by olybsnow

One issue I ran into when I needed body work done is that many shops paint booths were not tall enough to accommodate the height of my Class B.

This was my biggest problem, finding a shop with a tall enough bay. Call around first; they all know how tall their bay is.

I got bids from 2 RV dealers and two body shops. Both RV dealers were nearly 3 times higher than the body shops. I asked around about the body shops’ reputation. My mechanic actually had heard good things about one shop and not good about another.

Besides price (which didn’t matter as other person’s fault) the body shop was willing to let me keep my B until the day they needed it. The RV dealers wanted it on their lot in order to keep my place in line; which was 3 months down the road. My shop had it 2 days.

It was a 2 step process; bring it in to decide which parts to order. After parts arrived we set up a day to bring it in. They had already painted the parts.
We were aware of the possibility of internal damage so we weren’t certain how long it might take. Luckily no internal damage and they had the van back to me by end of business the next day.

[Toolman0114]

Im gave limited places to take it due to booth size. There are already saying they would want the fridge, kitchen cabinet, and wall panels removed.

[Toolman0114]

That’s the same issue I’m having but I’ve found 2 places that can do it.

[Boondocker]

We had some minor damage to a quarter panel and the only thing the body shop worried about was if the van could fit in their paint booth. The decided they could remove the panel and bumper to paint it in. Best of luck getting this repaired. Shop around for body shops. There are good ones and others not so much.

[Toolman0114]

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Boondocker

We had some minor damage to a quarter panel and the only thing the body shop worried about was if the van could fit in their paint booth. The decided they could remove the panel and bumper to paint it in. Best of luck getting this repaired. Shop around for body shops. There are good ones and others not so much.