# Collision and Structural Services > Collision and structural services cover any damage that changed the geometry of the vehicle: bent frame rails, twisted sidewalls, separated caps and impact damage that propagated past the outer skin. Three service lines sit under this category, collision repair, frame and structural repair, and fiberglass repair. Labor runs 4 to 800 hours depending on how far the damage traveled. Source: https://ocrv.biz/services/collision-structural/ Business: OCRV Center, 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887. (949) 799-3387. Serving Tustin, California. Ballpark range: $1,000 to $150,000. Posted rates at https://ocrv.biz/prices/ ## What separates structural damage from cosmetic damage? Structural damage is anything that moved load-bearing material out of position. Cosmetic damage stops at the surface. The reason the distinction matters on a large vehicle is that the two look identical from ten feet away and cost an order of magnitude apart. On a laminated coach, a parking lot scrape into the sidewall leaves a scuff in the gelcoat. The same scrape at speed, or against a fixed post, transmits force through the fiberglass skin into the adhesive bond and the aluminum or wood framing behind it. The gelcoat may show a hairline. The framing behind may be fractured across two studs. Nothing about the exterior tells you which one you have until the panel comes off. Three checks separate them. First, panel gaps: a door, compartment hatch or slide that no longer sits square in its opening means the opening moved. Second, a tap test across the panel, listening for the dull note that means the skin is no longer bonded to its substrate. Third, on frame-mounted damage, a measurement of the chassis against the manufacturer's control points. If any of those three fails, the job crosses into [frame and structural repair](/services/frame-structural-repair/). Collision repair on a vehicle this size ranges from $1,000 to $150,000, which is a wide band because a scraped rear cap and a rollover rebuild are both collision work. Labor spans 5 to 800 hours. Frame and structural welding runs $750 to $20,000 across 5 to 80 hours. Full rate detail is on the [posted price sheet](/prices/). ## Which service lines live in this category? Three, and they escalate into each other. A job that starts in one frequently pulls in the next once the panel comes off. - [Collision Repair](/services/collision-repair/): impact damage from minor contact through full vehicle restoration, including insurance coordination, teardown documentation and ADAS scan and recalibration after the body work is complete. - [Frame and Structural Repair](/services/frame-structural-repair/): frame straightening on a rack, chassis alignment, subframe and outrigger repair, unibody work on van chassis, and written structural damage assessment. - [Fiberglass Repair](/services/fiberglass-repair/): cap repair and replacement, delamination, crack and hole repair, full panel replacement and gelcoat restoration. The sequencing rule is simple: geometry before substrate, substrate before surface. Straighten the frame, restore the framing and panel bond, then refinish. Reversing that order produces a repair that looks correct on delivery and opens a seam six months later. ## How does frame rack anchoring work on a coach? A frame rack pulls metal back to its original position by anchoring the undamaged portion of the structure and applying measured force to the damaged portion. On a passenger car that means clamping the pinch welds. On a motorhome or a truck chassis there are no pinch welds, so anchoring happens at the frame rails themselves, usually through the spring hangers, crossmember bosses or purpose-built chassis clamps that grip the rail flange. The measurement system matters more than the pulling equipment. Force is applied slowly and in stages, with the structure re-measured between pulls, because steel that has yielded once will spring back part of the way and needs to be over-pulled slightly to land on the target. Pulling too fast in one motion tears the rail or transfers damage to the next section back. Coach construction adds a second problem. The house is bolted or welded to the chassis through mounting brackets that were never designed to be pulled through. If the chassis moved, the house moved with it, and the house has its own framing that also yielded. That is why structural jobs on RVs are quoted with teardown included. You cannot see what the house did while it is still skinned. Welding on structural members is performed by certified technicians in shop, where the fixturing and the measurement equipment live. Once the structure is back on spec, the job hands off to [paint and body](/services/paint-body/) for surface work. ## What does the estimate cover before teardown? A written collision estimate carries no charge, and insurance walk ins are always welcome. That first estimate documents visible damage, obvious related operations and the parts that are clearly required. It is honest about being incomplete, because on composite construction it always is. What follows is a supplement. Teardown exposes the damage that the skin hid: crushed foam block, delaminated luan, corroded staples, a slide rail bent 3 degrees out of plane, wiring pinched inside a wall. Those findings get photographed, documented and submitted to the carrier as a supplement to the original estimate. Adjusters expect this on large vehicles and the good ones budget for it. Where the fault is a systems problem rather than an impact problem, the pricing path is different: an RV systems estimate at $150, applied as a credit against an authorized repair, or an in depth diagnostic at 1 hour at $285, also applied as a credit. Those apply to slide, awning, water, electrical and generator faults rather than collision work. Jobs over $2,000 take a 50 percent deposit at authorization. Jobs over $10,000 take an additional 25 percent when parts arrive. We stand behind our work. ## Questions ### Is my RV a total loss if the frame is bent? Not automatically. A bent frame is repairable when the deformation is within the range a rack can pull and the metal has not torn. Total loss is an economic decision the carrier makes by comparing repair cost against actual cash value, and a written structural assessment is what that decision gets based on. ### Can you match paint on a repaired cap? Yes. Color is sprayed on a test card and checked against the adjacent panel under both shop lighting and daylight before anything is applied to the vehicle. On faded gelcoat the blend is mapped across neighboring panels rather than stopping at a seam, because a hard edge against oxidized finish is visible from across a parking lot. ### How long does a major collision rebuild take? Labor alone runs 5 to 800 hours. Calendar time is usually driven by parts. Front and rear caps for discontinued models can take weeks because they are pulled from a mold on order, and special order parts require a full deposit at order for that reason. ### Do you perform ADAS recalibration after collision work? Yes, on vehicles equipped with it. Scan and recalibration runs $275 to $1,800 across 1 to 7 hours. Any repair that moved a bumper, windshield, mirror or grille has likely moved a sensor with it, and the system needs to be verified before the vehicle leaves. ## Related - [Services](https://ocrv.biz/services/) - [Collision Repair](https://ocrv.biz/services/collision-repair/) - [Frame and Structural Repair](https://ocrv.biz/services/frame-structural-repair/) - [Fiberglass Repair](https://ocrv.biz/services/fiberglass-repair/) - [Paint and Body Services](https://ocrv.biz/services/paint-body/) - [Insurance Help](https://ocrv.biz/insurance/) - [Prices and Posted Rates](https://ocrv.biz/prices/)