Paint and Body
RV, Van, Trailer and Fleet Paint and Refinish in Southern California
Typical range
$5,000 to $35,000+
Shop hours
40 to 250+
Labor rate
$210/hr
The short answer
Full paint and refinish strips, corrects, primes, and resprays the exterior of an RV, van, trailer, or fleet vehicle in single-stage or basecoat clearcoat. Work runs $5,000 to $35,000 and up, or 40 to 250 plus hours at $210 per hour plus $55 per paint hour in materials.
01
What this work actually involves
Painting a forty-foot coach is not painting a car with more square footage. The substrate changes every few feet. A Class A has gelcoated fiberglass caps, filon or laminated sidewall, extruded aluminum trim, ABS compartment doors, and often a steel or aluminum rub rail, and every one of those takes a different adhesion promoter and a different flash window. Spray the same primer over all of it and the ABS doors will be delaminating at the edges inside two summers while the fiberglass looks fine. Substrate mapping is the first hour of every full respray we write.
Southern California is the hardest paint environment in the country outside of Arizona. A unit stored uncovered in Palm Springs or Victorville sees surface temperatures past 160F on a horizontal panel while ambient is 115F, and the UV index runs high nine months a year. That combination drives clearcoat failure from the top down: the UV absorber package in the clear depletes, the clear goes matte and then powdery, and once it opens the basecoat pigment oxidizes fast. Coastal units in Newport Beach and Oceanside fail differently, with salt driving filiform corrosion under the edges of the film at every fastener and seam.
We spray PPG and Axalta systems in a downdraft booth with the coach masked, jambed, and edged rather than taped at a body line to hide a shortcut. A full respray includes color sanding and buffing the clear, because a coach that leaves with orange peel is a coach that shows every ripple in a laminated wall under low afternoon sun. Deposits apply on jobs over $2,000 at 50 percent, with a further 25 percent at parts arrival.
Systems and brands we work on: PPG, Axalta, BASF Glasurit, Sherwin-Williams, Matthews Paint.
Location: All work is performed at our Yorba Linda facility. We do not offer mobile, roadside, or fleet route service.
02
What the job includes
- Substrate mapping across fiberglass, filon, aluminum, ABS, and steel on one unit
- Chemical strip, mechanical sanding, or scuff-and-shoot depending on existing film condition
- Failed clearcoat and oxidized basecoat removal down to sound material
- Body work, fairing, and seam correction before any primer goes on
- Adhesion promoter and epoxy or urethane primer selected per substrate
- Single-stage urethane or basecoat clearcoat in factory or custom color
- Full masking, jamb work, and edge treatment rather than taped body-line cutoffs
- Roof, rub rail, and compartment door refinish where included in scope
- Color sanding and machine buffing of the finished clear
- Reseal of every fastener, light, and penetration disturbed during prep
03
When you need this service
- Clearcoat that has gone matte, chalky, or is peeling in sheets off the roof and upper sidewall
- Basecoat that rubs off gray or pink on a clean white towel
- Fading that stops at a shadow line, showing the original color against the sun-facing side
- Filiform corrosion creeping out from under paint at rivets and screw heads
- A previous repair panel that no longer matches the rest of the unit
- Crazing or spider cracking across a cap that has telegraphed through the finish
- Graphics that have cracked and lifted, taking the clear with them
04
How we do it, step by step
- 01
Substrate survey and scope
We walk the unit and identify every material on the exterior, test film adhesion with a cross-hatch in a hidden area, and decide strip versus scuff before pricing anything.
- 02
Teardown and masking
Lights, trim, awnings rails, and hardware come off rather than get taped around. Removed hardware means no paint edge sitting on a seam waiting to lift.
- 03
Strip, sand, and correct
Failed film removed to sound material, dents and seam irregularities faired, and the entire surface brought to a uniform sanding scratch so the primer lays down evenly.
- 04
Primer and sealer
Adhesion promoter on ABS and plastics, epoxy over bare metal, high-build urethane over faired areas, then a uniform sealer so the topcoat sees one color underneath.
- 05
Color and clear
Sprayed in a downdraft booth in the correct number of coats with proper flash times. Rushed flash between coats is the single most common cause of solvent pop.
- 06
Color sand and buff
Clear leveled with progressively finer abrasive, then compounded and polished. This is what separates a refinish from a repaint on a large flat sidewall.
- 07
Reassembly and reseal
Hardware reinstalled with fresh butyl and sealant at every penetration, then the unit is water tested before it goes on the delivery list.
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Pricing and posted rates
| Item | Rate or range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Typical job range | $5,000 to $35,000+ | Varies with extent of damage and parts availability |
| Shop hours | 40 to 250+ | Quoted after teardown, not before |
| Body and paint labor | $210 per hour | 2026 posted rate |
| Paint supplies | $55 per paint hour | Calculated automatically on every estimate |
| Body supplies | $5 per body hour | Calculated automatically on every estimate |
| Parts | 100% markup under $100, 35% over | Special order parts require a non refundable deposit at order |
| Deposit | 50% at authorization over $2,000 | Additional 25% when parts arrive on jobs over $10,000 |
| Sales tax | 7.75% on parts and materials | Labor is not taxed |
Insurance billed jobs may be billed at carrier negotiated labor rates that differ from the posted retail rates above. See all posted rates.
06
On the insurance side
Repair-driven refinish and blend panels are claimable. UV-driven clearcoat failure is not. We line-item the two separately so the adjuster is reviewing a clean estimate.
07
Vehicles we do this work on
Vehicle
Class A Gas Motorhomes
A Class A gas motorhome is a flat-front coach built on a Ford F53 or Workhorse front-engine chassis, typically 28 to 38 feet. Rear
Vehicle
Class A Diesel Pusher Motorhomes
A diesel pusher carries a rear-mounted diesel on a raised-rail air ride chassis, usually 34 to 45 feet with full-body paint and pa
Vehicle
Class C Motorhomes
A Class C is a coach body built onto a cutaway van chassis with a sleeping or storage cabover extending above the factory cab. Tha
Vehicle
Standard Fifth Wheels
A fifth wheel couples to a hitch in the truck bed through a kingpin and pin box, with a raised forward bedroom over the truck. The
Vehicle
Travel Trailers
A travel trailer tows from a ball hitch behind the tow vehicle rear axle on an A-frame tongue, which makes it the most sway-prone
Vehicle
Sprinter Vans
Mercedes Sprinter vans run last-mile routes, trade service, and camper conversions across Southern California. Sliding door tracks
Vehicle
Box Trucks
Box trucks put a separately built cargo body on a cab chassis, and the joint between them is where most failures start. Rear frame
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Questions about paint and refinish
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to repaint an RV?
A full exterior refinish runs $5,000 to $35,000 and up, or 40 to 250 plus hours at $210 per hour, plus paint materials at $55 per paint hour. A twenty-four foot travel trailer in a single color sits near the low end. A forty-five foot diesel pusher with a multi-color scheme, full strip, and extensive fairing sits at the high end and occasionally above it.
How long does a full RV repaint take?
Plan on four to ten weeks in the shop for a full unit. Prep is the majority of that time, not spray. A coach that needs a full chemical strip, seam correction, and fairing across a laminated wall can spend three weeks in prep before it sees primer. We give you a real date after teardown, when we know what the old film is hiding.
Will insurance pay to repaint my RV?
Refinish tied to a covered loss is generally paid, including the blend panels needed to make the repair invisible. Refinish driven by age, UV chalking, or clearcoat failure from sun exposure is maintenance and is generally not covered. Many units have both, and we separate the covered repair refinish from the elective full respray clearly on the estimate so your adjuster is not guessing.
Can you match my original factory color?
Usually, and where we cannot we build it. Factory RV paint codes are frequently unavailable a few years out because the coach builder bought a custom mix rather than a catalogued color. We spectrophotometer the actual panel, spray letdown cards, and check them against your coach under shop light, LED, and direct sun before committing to a full unit.
Do I have to repaint the whole coach or can you do one side?
One side is possible and sometimes correct, particularly when a single side took hail or road debris and the rest of the film is sound. The risk is a visible difference at the front and rear caps where the new film meets the old. We check the existing film with a gloss meter and tell you honestly whether a partial will read as a repair.
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Ready to move on paint and refinish? Bring it to Yorba Linda.