Question Damaged basement door estimate

[Texas Clodhopper]

I was in the paint and body shop business and in hindsight wished I had worked on nothing but RV's. It's crazy what shops can get away with charging. The issue starts with there are no established book times for RV's like there are for autos. The shops can tell the adjuster almost anything and the adjuster has nothing to dispute their estimate. Like others, I had a post jump out and attack the left rear cap on my Ventana. I estimated/guessed that it would be about a $2 -3,000 job. The shop presented an estimate of $21,000 and the insurance agreed with it. I huge part of their estimate included R & I of the rear cap. They didn't remove it and I knew they wouldn't need to repair the fiberglass on the cap. They completed the job in 3 days using one man.

I think the charge the OP is asking about is absurd. He could go to five different shops and get five hugely different prices.

 

[NWIP]

Price you are being quoted is ridiculous. Too put in perspective, that was more than Newmar Service Center quoted to remove, install and paint new rear cap on 2017 DS. I actually had them repair fiberglass damage instead. I would try and get a quote from them.

 

[Buly]

What about looking around for a door at the many RV grave yards? If you can buy a door and have it painted, could be much less?

 

[Neal]

There's not much to the door, you could build your own. Seeing mine before paint it's just a sheet of aluminum stock with foam core attached, etc. The paint is where the money is.

 

[MapNerd]

Crazy. Walk away. Had a similar scratch on my wetbay. $1,200 at Newmar.

 

[Ken C]

My front left basement door got damaged. Functionally the door is fine. It's cosmetic damage. Repair estimate from local Newmar dealers is $6800. Much higher than I expected. Should I expect it to be this much?

I can claim on insurance but wondering whether there are alternatives for getting this repaired?

Thanks,


View attachment 8235

You might consider just ordering a new outer skin from Newmar. It appears to be just bonded onto the door frame so should not be a big deal to change. Paint work will be the most costly portion of the repair cost.

 

[Webz]

Had a tree root jump out and took out 3 bay doors. Dealer wanted 11K to fix. Ordered new unpainted doors from Newmar. $600.00 each. Had a body shop come and take off the doors and take them to his shop. Painted all three and installed for 1K.
Happy with the results.

 

[Rich-MLsRV]

Email [email protected] and include a picture.

Thanks Neal. Quote came back at $1870. Much more reasonable price. Definitely need to shop around.