# Repair for People Who Live in the Coach

> Full time RVers cannot leave a coach in a shop for six weeks and go home, because the coach is home. We plan those jobs backward from the day count: parts staged before intake, work sequenced so the coach stays livable as long as possible, and hard dates in writing.

**Type:** Customer situation  
**Canonical:** https://ocrv.pro/who-we-serve/personal-and-recreational/full-time-rvers  
**Updated:** 2026-07-29

## Summary

No second home means cycle time is the whole job. We stage parts before intake, keep livable systems working where possible, and give you a real day count.

When a retail owner drops a coach off, the worst case is a ruined vacation. When a full timer drops a coach off, the worst case is six weeks of hotel rooms at $180 a night plus a storage unit for everything that had to come out of the bays. That is $8,000 of collateral cost sitting on top of a $12,000 repair, and it is invisible on the estimate. We treat it as part of the job anyway, because it is the part you actually feel.

The practical consequence is that we plan full timer work differently. We would rather spend three unbilled hours on the phone chasing a part to a warehouse in Elkhart that can ship today than start a teardown and then discover a four week lead time with your coach already in pieces. Sequence matters more than efficiency here.

We are at 23281 La Palma Ave in Yorba Linda, about 45 minutes from San Clemente on the I-5 or the SR-73. Everything is done in shop. There is no mobile service, and no, you cannot sleep in the coach in our lot while we work on it. Insurance and fire code both rule that out, and it is the question full timers ask first.

## Cycle Time Is the Job, Not a Nice to Have

A full timer with a $14,000 slide and sidewall repair is really facing $14,000 plus displacement. Every day we shave off the calendar is worth real money to you, so we will make trade offs that would be irrational for a weekend owner. Paying $340 in expedited freight to avoid five days of waiting is obviously correct when five days costs you $900 in lodging. We will propose those trades and price them openly.

The other side of that is honesty about what cannot be compressed. Paint cures on its own schedule. A backordered front cap from a manufacturer that builds them in batches will not appear faster because your situation is difficult. When the calendar is genuinely fixed, we say so early, so you can plan lodging around a real date instead of a hopeful one.

- **Parts staged before intake:** We quote, order and physically receive long lead items before your coach comes in. You keep living in it during the wait instead of watching it sit in our lot in pieces.
- **Expedite offered as a priced choice:** Air freight, overtime and booth priority quoted as a stated cost delta. You compare it against your own lodging and storage cost rather than guessing.
- **Written day count:** Working days, not calendar weeks, with the cure and cycle times that cannot be shortened called out separately so you know which part of the estimate is fixed.
- **Phased repair where possible:** Structural and water intrusion work first, cosmetic and paint batched into a later visit. You get a livable coach back sooner and accept two shorter stays instead of one long one.
- **Early warning on backorders:** If a part goes from three weeks to twelve, you hear it the day we hear it, because you may need to change a lease, a job or a reservation on the strength of it.

## What Happens to Your Belongings and Your Systems

A full timer coach is loaded. Tools in the basement, a chest freezer in a bay, a residential refrigerator full of food, medication in a cabinet, a cat. Before we can open a sidewall or pull a slide, some of that has to come out, and the honest answer is that we are not equipped to store your household. We will tell you at estimate time exactly which compartments and which interior zones have to be cleared.

Systems are the other question. Depending on the repair, we can sometimes keep the refrigerator on shore power through most of the job, and sometimes we cannot because the 120V distribution is exactly what is being repaired. We flag that before authorization so you can move perishables and medication rather than discovering it on day two.

## Full Timer Policies Behave Differently on a Claim

A full timer policy is not a recreational policy with a bigger number on it. It typically carries liability coverage closer to homeowners, personal property coverage for contents, and in some cases loss of use that pays for lodging while the coach is unrepairable. That last item is the one owners forget to claim, and it is frequently worth thousands on a long structural repair.

Check your declarations page for loss of use or emergency expense coverage before you authorize a long job, and tell your adjuster the coach is your primary residence in writing. Adjusters handle a hundred recreational claims for every full timer claim, and they do not automatically apply the right sections. We will support the file with dated photographs and a written repair duration estimate, which is usually what the coverage requires.

- **Loss of use coverage:** Some full timer policies pay lodging while the coach is undrivable or uninhabitable. It generally requires a written repair duration from the shop, which we will provide.
- **Contents coverage:** Personal property damaged in the incident is usually a separate line from the vehicle repair. Photograph everything before we start clearing compartments, because after that the record is gone.
- **Primary residence declaration:** State in writing to your adjuster that the coach is your domicile. It changes which policy sections apply and it changes how urgency is treated on the file.
- **Documentation of modifications:** Full timers modify heavily: lithium, solar, washer and dryer, upgraded suspension. Receipts and installation photographs are the only way those survive an adjuster review.

## The Repairs Full Timers Bring Us Most

Full time use is hard use. A coach that sees 18,000 miles a year and is lived in 365 days accumulates problems that a weekend coach never reaches. Slide mechanisms wear out because they cycle daily instead of six times a year. Roof membrane at high traffic areas fails early. Subfloor near the entry step and the wet bath softens. Residential appliances installed for a stationary house get shaken apart on the road.

The collision work is different too. Full timers drive more and drive in more places, which means more low clearance strikes, more tight campground maneuvering damage and more highway debris. We see rear caps taken out by a tree at a state park, awning arms wiped off by a fuel canopy, and roof AC shrouds destroyed by a branch nobody saw. All of it is repairable. Most of it is claimable.

## Pricing

| Line item | Range | Hours |
| --- | --- | --- |
| RV collision repair, insurance or customer pay | $1,000 to $150,000+ | 5 to 800 |
| Water damage and subfloor repair | $750 to $15,000+ | 4 to 70 |
| Slide out mechanism repair | $500 to $8,500+ | 2 to 34 |
| Electrical diagnostics and repair | $285 to $5,000+ | 1 to 19 |

## What is included

- Parts sourced and received before intake wherever lead time allows
- Written working day count with fixed cure times identified separately
- Expedite options priced as a stated delta against the standard timeline
- Clear list of compartments and interior zones you must clear before intake
- Advance notice of any period when 120V or refrigeration will be unavailable
- Written repair duration statement for a loss of use claim
- Itemized documentation of lithium, solar and other owner installed upgrades
- Phased repair option so a livable coach returns to you sooner

## Questions

### Can I stay in my coach in your lot while you work on it?

No. Fire code and our insurance both prohibit overnight occupancy on the property, and a coach in active repair usually has no functioning water, power or egress anyway. Plan lodging from the day count we give you at authorization, and check whether your policy carries loss of use coverage that would pay for it.

### How do you shorten the time my coach is in the shop?

Mostly by ordering and receiving parts before intake instead of after teardown, which is where most of the dead time hides. Beyond that we offer expedited freight, overtime labor and booth priority as priced options, and we will phase the job so structural and water work finishes first and cosmetic work happens on a later visit.

### Will insurance pay for my hotel while the coach is being repaired?

It depends on your policy. Full timer policies often include loss of use or emergency expense coverage that a standard recreational policy does not. It usually requires a written repair duration from the shop and a statement that the coach is your primary residence. Read your declarations page before you authorize a long repair.

### Do I need to empty the whole coach before bringing it in?

Not the whole coach, but more than you would expect. We give you a specific list at estimate time of which basement compartments and interior areas have to be clear for the work. We cannot store household goods, and anything left in a work zone is at risk, so plan a storage unit for a long job.

## Related

- https://ocrv.pro/rv-repair
- https://ocrv.pro/rv-collision-repair
- https://ocrv.pro/repairs/water-damage-and-delamination
- https://ocrv.pro/rv-slide-out-repair
- https://ocrv.pro/claims/how-claims-work