Our Repair Process, Step by Step
The RV repair process at OCRV Center runs in six stages for Brea customers and everyone else: paid assessment, written scope and authorization, teardown and supplement, structural and body work, refinish and reassembly, then quality check and delivery. Each stage has a defined output and a defined moment where we contact you. Nothing moves to the next stage until the previous one is signed off.
This page describes the operational sequence for any repair. If a carrier is paying, additional approval steps are interleaved between stages two and four, and those are documented separately in the insurance section rather than repeated here.
- All work performed in shop at our Yorba Linda facility
- California BAR licensed ARD00288521
- Direct billing with 16 major carriers
- 35,000 square feet facility
Ready to get this looked at?
We inspect on the lift, document the damage, and give you a written scope. The estimate fee is credited against the repair when you authorize the work.
Why the sequence is fixed
Shops that work out of order produce the failure everyone has experienced: a quoted price that grows twice, a delivery date that slips three times, and a vehicle that sits in a corner of the yard while somebody waits on a decision nobody asked you to make.
The fix is boring. You verify before you quote, you quote before you authorize, you authorize before you cut, and you never start a stage you cannot finish because a part has not landed. Every rule below exists because breaking it cost somebody a week.
The durations given are typical ranges for work that stays inside its scope. Parts availability is the single largest variable and it sits outside our control. A discontinued slide rail or a body panel that ships from the manufacturer on a build schedule can add weeks to a job whose labor content is two days.
Stage 1: Intake and paid assessment
You bring the vehicle to the Yorba Linda facility. Intake is a documented process: we photograph the vehicle on arrival from every side, record the odometer or hour meter, note existing damage unrelated to your complaint, and log what you told us about the incident or the symptom.
Then the assessment itself. The vehicle goes on a lift or into a bay and a technician opens what has to be opened to see the real condition. On a collision job that might mean pulling a fender skirt and a section of trim. On a water intrusion job it means probing the subfloor and checking moisture readings at the seams. This is paid work because it is real work, and it is what separates a scope from a guess.
Typical duration is same day for a straightforward impact, up to three days when the vehicle needs to sit under moisture testing or when the schedule is full. You hear from us once the technician has something worth reporting, with photographs attached.
Stage 2: Written scope and authorization
The assessment becomes a line item document: every panel, every part number, every labor operation, and every refinish hour, priced at posted rates. You get it by email. If a carrier is involved, they get it at the same time.
Nothing is disassembled until you sign it. That signature is the legal authorization required of a licensed repair dealer in California and it is also the practical point where the job becomes real. If a deposit applies to your job size, it is collected here, and the thresholds are published on the pricing page.
This stage takes one to four days. The variable is almost never us. It is how long a carrier's RV desk takes to review a scope, or how long it takes you to decide whether to include the optional items we flagged as recommended rather than required.
Stage 3: Teardown and supplement
Now the vehicle comes apart. Panels come off, interior finishes come out where access requires it, and the damage gets measured rather than estimated. This is where hidden damage appears, and it appears often enough that we treat it as expected rather than exceptional.
When teardown finds something the assessment could not see, work stops and you get a call before anything else happens. A supplement is written, documented with photographs, and submitted for your approval or your carrier's. We do not perform unauthorized work and then present it on the invoice.
Teardown runs two days on a contained panel repair and up to two weeks on a full water intrusion job where cabinetry, flooring, and wall structure all have to come out to reach the subfloor. Parts ordering begins the moment the supplemented scope is approved, because lead time is the thing that decides your delivery date.
Stage 4: Structural and body work
Structure comes before cosmetics, always. If frame or chassis geometry moved, it gets pulled and measured back to specification before a single panel is fitted. Fitting body panels to a frame that is still out of square produces gaps that reopen, doors that bind, and a slide that will not seal.
Once geometry is verified, the body work runs: panel replacement or repair, sidewall bonding, fiberglass laminate work, welding on steel or aluminum structure, and fabrication of anything that is no longer available as a part. Substrates get prepped for refinish as each section is completed.
This is the longest stage and the widest range: three days for a single panel, up to five weeks on a heavy structural rebuild. You will not usually hear from us during it unless something changes. Stage transition photographs go into your file whether you ask for them or not.
Stage 5: Refinish and reassembly
The vehicle moves into the downdraft booth. Color is matched against the existing finish rather than against a factory code, because a coach that has spent eight years in Southern California sun does not match its own build sheet anymore. Blend panels are used where a hard edge would be visible.
After cure, reassembly runs in reverse order of teardown: trim, glass, seals, mechanisms, interior finishes, and appliances all go back with new fasteners and fresh sealant at every penetration. Sealant is not a place to economize, and a reassembly that reuses tired butyl is a leak you have not noticed yet.
Four days to three weeks, depending on how much came apart. We tell you when the vehicle leaves the booth, because that is the point where a delivery date becomes reliable.
Stage 6: Quality check and delivery
A technician who did not perform the repair inspects it. That is deliberate. The person who spent three weeks on a panel is the worst possible judge of whether it looks right, because they have stopped seeing it.
The check covers finish quality under corrected lighting, panel gaps and alignment, mechanism operation through full travel, seal integrity, and a water test where the repair touched anything that keeps weather out. Systems that were disconnected get tested under load rather than just switched on.
Then we call you. Delivery is a walkthrough with the documentation file open: what was found, what was done, what parts went in, and what we recommend watching. One to three days from the end of reassembly, and longer only if the quality check sends something back.
| Stage | Typical duration | What you hear from us |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Intake and paid assessment | Same day to 3 days | A call after the vehicle is on the lift, with photos of what we found. |
| 2. Written scope and authorization | 1 to 4 days | A line item scope by email, then a signature request before anything is disassembled. |
| 3. Teardown and supplement | 2 days to 2 weeks | A second call if teardown exposes damage the assessment could not see. |
| 4. Structural and body work | 3 days to 5 weeks | Stage transition photos. No contact required unless the scope changes. |
| 5. Refinish and reassembly | 4 days to 3 weeks | Notice when the vehicle leaves the booth and enters final assembly. |
| 6. Quality check and delivery | 1 to 3 days | A call to schedule pickup, and a walkthrough with the file in hand. |
Where insurance changes the sequence
The six stages do not change when a carrier is paying. What changes is that approval gates get inserted at stage two and stage three, and each one adds calendar time that has nothing to do with how fast anyone is working.
In practice, an insurance job adds an adjuster review after the initial scope, and a supplement approval cycle after teardown. Carriers we bill direct move faster on both because their documentation requirements are already built into how we write a scope. Carriers we do not bill direct are still workable, but you become part of the paperwork loop.
The full sequencing, the documentation each carrier expects, and realistic timelines by claim type are covered in the insurance section rather than duplicated here.
Get a written scope before the damage spreads
We inspect on the lift, document the damage, and give you a written scope. The estimate fee is credited against the repair when you authorize the work.
What can move your delivery date
We would rather set expectations badly early than well late. Four things move dates, and only one of them is under our control.
In descending order of how often they are the actual cause:
- Parts lead time. Recreational vehicle parts are built in small runs and discontinued quickly. A sidewall panel for a nine year old coach can be a fabrication job rather than an order.
- Supplement approval. Hidden damage found at teardown has to be documented, submitted, and approved before the work can proceed. That cycle is measured in days, not hours.
- Scope changes you request. Adding work mid repair is normal and welcome, and it moves the date. We will tell you by how much before you decide.
- Shop schedule. Structural bays and booth time are finite. If your job needs the frame rack and it is occupied, we tell you at authorization rather than discovering it in week three.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the whole repair process take from drop off to pickup?
Add the stage ranges and a typical contained repair lands between two and four weeks. A heavy structural rebuild or a full water intrusion job with subfloor replacement runs six to twelve weeks. A single panel with no hidden damage can be done in under two weeks.
The honest answer is that we can tell you accurately only after stage three, because teardown is the point where the unknowns become known.
Can I get an accurate price before the paid assessment?
Not a reliable one. We can tell you on the phone whether a job is the kind of thing we do and give you a rough magnitude, but a number that has not been verified against the actual condition of the vehicle is a number that will change. The assessment exists specifically so the scope you authorize holds.
Do you contact me at every stage?
No, and that is intentional. You hear from us at four defined points: after the assessment, at scope delivery, if teardown finds hidden damage, and when the vehicle leaves the booth. Between those points, work is proceeding against a scope you already approved and there is nothing to decide.
If you want more frequent updates than that, ask at intake and we will note it on the job.
What happens if I decline the supplement after teardown?
The repair proceeds against the original approved scope only, and we document in writing what was found and left unrepaired. Sometimes that is the right call, particularly on an older unit where the additional damage is cosmetic. Sometimes it is not possible, because the undiscovered damage is structural and finishing over it would be unsound. If that is the case we will tell you plainly and give you the option to stop.
Can I visit my vehicle while it is in the shop?
Yes, with an appointment. The production floor is an active work area with lifts, welding, and booth operations running, so we escort visitors rather than letting them wander. Call ahead and we will meet you at the office.
Do you store the vehicle if a part is on backorder?
Yes, and for the first stretch of a documented parts wait there is no storage charge. Extended holds after parts arrive and the vehicle is ready, or after a customer declines to authorize work, are subject to posted storage terms. Those terms and their thresholds are on the pricing page.
Written and reviewed by the OCRV Center Technical Team. Last updated .
Book your paid estimate
We inspect on the lift, document the damage, and give you a written scope. The estimate fee is credited against the repair when you authorize the work.
Where to go next
- how a claim is sequenced through these stagesThe approval gates that get inserted for carrier paid work.
- what happens when teardown finds more damageStage three in detail, from the claim side.
- realistic claim timelines by damage typeCalendar time added by carrier review.
- labor rates, deposits, and storage termsEvery figure referenced on this page.
- the equipment each stage runs onFrame rack, booth, welding cell, and bay clearance.
- how structural measurement and pulling worksThe technical detail behind stage four.
- how color matching and blending are doneThe technical detail behind stage five.
- book an intake appointmentHours, directions, and what to bring.