Repair for Vehicles That Are the Business

A food truck working lunch at a business park and dinner at a brewery lot has two service windows a day, and those windows are usually contracted or at least expected. Missing them does not just cost the day of sales. It costs the slot, because the brewery books somebody else for the next four Fridays and the lunch crowd forms a new habit. That is why a $3,000 repair can cost $14,000 by the time it is finished.

So we ask for your schedule before we write the estimate. Which days do you actually operate. Which of those are contracted. Is there a health department reinspection window you have to hit. Then we build a plan that protects the highest value days, even when that means doing the job in two visits instead of one. Two visits is more total downtime on paper and often far less lost revenue in practice.

Mobile business vehicles fail in specific and predictable ways. Service window frames get bent and stop sealing. Step van and box body rear corners get hit in tight lots. Interior wall and floor coverings fail at the seams because they are washed down daily. Generators run at high load for eight hours a day and reach their service intervals in months rather than years. Electrical systems get added onto until the load exceeds the original design and something browns out mid shift.

We do the body, structural, paint, graphics, electrical, generator and interior surface work on these units. What we do not do is any of the food service equipment itself. A broken fryer, a failed refrigeration compressor on a reach in, a propane appliance certification: those go to the specialist for that equipment. We will coordinate around their schedule if your unit needs both, and we will say clearly which line items are ours.

Insurance on a mobile business unit is usually a commercial policy, sometimes with an inland marine or equipment schedule covering the built in gear. That distinction matters, because the body damage may be on the auto side while the damaged prep table and hood are on the equipment side, and the two adjusters do not talk to each other unless somebody makes them. We document both and route each set of photographs to the correct file.

Permits are the other complication. Depending on your jurisdiction, structural changes to a mobile food unit may need a plan review before the modification is legal to operate. We are not your permit expediter, but we will not perform a modification we know will fail a reinspection, and we will tell you when a repair crosses from repair into modification.

Rates are the same for you as for everyone: $210 per hour body and paint, $260 per hour mechanical and electrical, $285 per hour diagnostics with the first hour credited against an authorized repair, and $95 per hour detail. Materials bill separately at $55 per paint hour and $5 per body hour, with $45 flat hazmat and 7.75 percent tax on parts and materials only.

Deposits follow the standard schedule: 50 percent at authorization over $2,000, another 25 percent at parts arrival over $10,000, balance at pickup, and 3.5 percent on card payments above $1,000. Special order parts, which includes most service window hardware and generator components on older units, require a full non refundable deposit. If you operate as a business with history here, we can discuss terms, but the first job runs on the standard schedule.

Body and paint labor is posted at $210 per hour. Mechanical and electrical is $260 per hour. Diagnostics run $285 per hour with a one hour minimum that is credited back against an authorized repair. Ranges below reflect jobs we have actually completed.