Roof, Slide and Awning
RV and Trailer Hail Damage Repair for Roof, Caps and Panels
Typical range
$1,500 to $25,000+
Shop hours
10 to 120+
Labor rate
$210/hr
The short answer
Hail damage repair addresses dented aluminum roofs and sidewalls, cracked fiberglass caps, shattered AC shrouds, split vent lids, and bruised membrane. Work runs $1,500 to $25,000 and up, or 10 to 120 plus hours at $210 per hour plus materials, and is usually a comprehensive claim.
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What this work actually involves
Hail is the single largest source of insurance work coming out of the high desert. Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley, Lancaster, Palmdale, Barstow, and Twentynine Palms all take storms that owners in the basin never hear about, and a stone-sized hit on a 30 foot aluminum roof leaves dozens of dents in a few minutes. The parts that shatter go first: AC shrouds, vent lids, skylight domes, and antenna housings are all UV-embrittled thin-wall plastic, and after a few desert summers they break rather than dent.
The roof itself damages in a way most adjusters do not expect. On a one-piece aluminum roof, hail leaves shallow dimples that pond water and eventually crack the coating at the deformation edge. On an EPDM or TPO membrane, hail rarely punctures. It bruises, driving the sheet into the deck and fracturing the substrate underneath while the surface still looks intact. That is why a membrane roof needs to be walked and metered after a storm rather than looked at from the ground, and why late claims on membrane roofs get disputed so often.
Fiberglass caps crack differently again. A hail strike on a molded cap produces gelcoat crazing, a spider pattern that means the laminate underneath flexed, and those hairlines propagate through the next heat cycle whether or not anything is done. Repairing them means grinding to a taper and laying in new glass, not filling. We map every panel, count and measure the dents, photograph the crazing at raking light, and build the estimate line by line so the adjuster is looking at the same evidence we are.
Systems and brands we work on: Dicor, Dometic, Fan-Tastic Vent, MaxxAir, EPDM.
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
- Full damage mapping with dent counts and measurements by panel for the claim file
- Aluminum roof and sidewall panel dent repair or panel replacement
- Membrane bruise assessment with deck moisture metering under the impact zones
- Fiberglass cap crazing and crack repair ground to a taper and relaminated
- AC shroud, vent lid, skylight dome, and antenna housing replacement
- Roof reseal at every penetration disturbed by impact or by the repair
- Awning fabric puncture and slide topper replacement from the same storm
- Window, marker light, and trim replacement where impact broke lenses
- Full or partial refinish with color match and blend into adjacent panels
- Supplement documentation and photographs submitted directly to your carrier
03
When you need this service
- Visible dimpling across an aluminum roof or the upper sidewall after a storm
- A cracked or shattered AC shroud, vent lid, or skylight dome
- Spider-web crazing in the gelcoat of a front or rear cap
- Small circular bruises on a membrane roof with no visible puncture
- New water staining inside that started after a hail event
- Punctures or star tears in awning fabric or a slide topper
- Broken marker lenses or a cracked windshield surround following the same storm
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How we do it, step by step
- 01
Storm documentation and intake
Date of loss, storm event, and claim number recorded, then the unit is photographed from every angle before anything is touched or cleaned.
- 02
Panel-by-panel damage mapping
Dents counted and measured per panel under raking light, cap crazing photographed at angle, and every broken component itemized. This map is what supports the estimate.
- 03
Roof and deck evaluation
The roof is walked and the deck metered under every impact zone. Membrane bruising fractures substrate without breaking the surface, so metering is the only way to find it.
- 04
Estimate and carrier submission
A line-item estimate with the photograph set goes to your adjuster. We handle the back and forth, and nothing gets repaired until the scope is authorized in writing.
- 05
Component replacement
Shattered shrouds, lids, domes, lenses, and torn fabric are replaced first, since those are the items that let water in while the rest of the repair is scheduled.
- 06
Panel and laminate repair
Aluminum panels worked or replaced, fiberglass crazing ground to a taper and relaminated, and any deck damage under a bruised membrane corrected.
- 07
Refinish, reseal, and test
Color matched and blended into adjacent panels, every disturbed penetration resealed, then water tested and re-metered before delivery.
05
Pricing and posted rates
| Item | Rate or range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Typical job range | $1,500 to $25,000+ | Varies with extent of damage and parts availability |
| Shop hours | 10 to 120+ | 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.
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On the insurance side
Hail is a comprehensive loss on nearly every RV policy. We produce the dent-count map, raking-light photographs, and deck moisture readings that carriers require to approve full scope.
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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 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
Toy Hauler Trailers
A bumper pull toy hauler carries cargo behind the axles on a ball hitch, which is the worst possible combination for tongue weight
Vehicle
Truck Campers, Slide-In
A slide-in truck camper sits in a pickup bed and is clamped down at four points, so it absorbs the truck frame twist directly. Jac
Vehicle
Cargo Vans
Cargo vans on Transit, ProMaster, Express, and Sprinter platforms carry trade tools, parts inventory, and route freight. Rear door
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Questions about hail damage repair
Frequently asked questions
How much does RV hail damage repair cost?
From $1,500 for a handful of broken roof components and a reseal, up to $25,000 and up for a coach with a dented aluminum roof, crazed caps, and a full refinish. The range is 10 to 120 plus hours at $210 per hour plus materials. Refinish labor is usually the largest line, because hail spreads damage across panels rather than concentrating it.
Is hail damage covered by RV insurance?
Yes, under comprehensive coverage on almost every policy, subject to your deductible. Hail is the textbook comprehensive loss. What causes trouble is timing. Carriers dispute claims filed months after a storm because the damage becomes hard to separate from age. Document it immediately, even if nothing is visible from the ground.
My membrane roof looks fine after the hail. Do I still need it checked?
Yes. EPDM and TPO almost never puncture from hail. They bruise, and the stone drives the sheet into the deck hard enough to fracture the substrate while the rubber springs back looking undamaged. The only way to find it is walking the roof and metering the deck under each impact. Hidden substrate damage becomes a leak the following rainy season.
Can dents be pushed out like paintless dent repair on a car?
Rarely on an RV. Paintless work requires access behind the panel, and on an RV the back side of the roof and sidewall is decking, insulation, and framing. Some aluminum sidewall panels can be worked from an accessible edge. Most hail damage is corrected by panel replacement or by filling and refinishing, which is why refinish drives the cost.
Do you work with my adjuster on a hail claim?
Yes. We write the line-item estimate, produce the panel-by-panel photograph set, and negotiate the supplement directly. Hail claims are won or lost on documentation quality, because the difference between an approved scope and a denied one is usually whether the adjuster can see what we saw. Insurance-billed jobs may use carrier-negotiated labor rates.
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Ready to move on hail damage repair? Bring it to Yorba Linda.