What's a typical hourly rate for Mobile RV Repair? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

lb311 · RV-Dreams Family Member

What's a typical hourly rate for Mobile RV Repair?

rclvnv · RV-Dreams Family Member

We fulltime in a static position for 9 mos,(till this June) and so even though we are close to our dealer who is good, (but charges $130/hr.)we've called a mobile service locally,because we don't want to take our rig in and be "homeless". Our rig is still under wnty.,but for anything else we need, we use the mobile service. The one we use here has an hourly of $110, but does not charge for a service call. They are great. They once came over to help with an awning issue and didn't charge. We had them install our washer/dryer on site,perfectly.If you are in ever in Las Vegas, Apache RV is the one to call,imho! On the road this summer,we used one that was good, in the D.C. area. Again,charged fairly,as they do a lot of work in the park in which they advertise. Usually there are people who the RV park people know to be honest. I find the rate is not so much the issue as fairness in billing. I've learned to discuss this up-front. The two I have experience with are very dependent on referral. Try to find such a service where you are, if you can.

Richard

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

We've been forced to use a number of them in the last few years and the hourly charge has been in the $70 - $80 range. One charged a travel fee and the other not. I think the prices vary with the area of the country and closeness to metropolitan centers. In general though, they should be considerably less than RV dealers.

Bill Adams · RV-Dreams Family Member

Service in Las Vegas or NY is going to be more expensive than what might be charged in Hays, KS. Hourly rates in the $100+/hour range appears to be pretty standard at any of the major service providers. While $130 is high, if you ensure that the work that was done was done correctly you will still be miles ahead by going to a local guy. If something is not done right and the mobile guy is gone, what do you do?

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

I will go out on a limb a bit and say that the Oklahoma City area is roughly $100 an hour. That assumption is based on the fact that my dealer charges that, and I would guess the other dealers would be the same.

I can't speak at all to the independent RV tech's prices as we have are still under warranty and also have an extended warranty. The two different independents that I have talked to will NOT deal with an extended warranty company.

I would suggest that you check with local RV parks and see if any of them have independents come to their park to repair customer's RV's. Once armed with their names, and hopefully their phone numbers, contact them to see what they charge. I would venture that they will be less than dealers simply because they want business.

Terry

lb311 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks guys! Great ideas and suggestions. I'll start hunting around for a tech...or else take road trip to the towns mentioned

53 Merc · RV-Dreams Family Member

One thing that might be of use is to check at www.rvservicereviews.com and see if someone in your area has done business with a mobile guy. I had a great experience in Oregon. Guy made two trips, replaced the slide motor gear box and charged $95.00 all in. To say I was pleased is an understatement.

APlusMM · RV-Dreams Community Member

I love these threads, they make me sound like a prince! A quick introduction since I'm new here, I own/operate A+ Mobile Maintenance in the St Louis Metro East area (that is to say I'm on the Illinois side of the river). A+ Mobile Maintenance is an on-site RV repair & maintenance service only, I don't have a brick & mortar facility, just my big yellow truck.

Anyway, my rates are nothing compared to those described above but then the shops around here don't charge that much either. I won't quote my rates here but if you are ever in the St Louis area (within about an hour of O'Fallon IL) please call me, I'll be glad to quote my rates over the phone.

Happy trails!
Eric

dannick · RV-Dreams Family Member

I've started a site for Mobile RV Repair services. If you've had good experiences with a Mobile Repair business, please pass our site on to them so they can get their business listed. The site is http://www.mobilervrepairservice.com.

Steve C · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for taking the time to set up a link. We spent two winters in the Florida Keys and mobile repair services charge around $85 to come and $85 an hour once they get there. They never could fix the problem when they came and had to order parts. One had to borrow my tools and a neighbor's tools. One charged $170 to discover that the new owner had mistakenly hit the switch that cut off the house batteries. And he was already in the park working on another broken down RV.

This year we have paid over $1,500 on mobile repairs in Arizona and New Mexico, with the hourly rate being around $100. The rest was for parts and welding. We paid $150 to have a fuse replaced in our microwave. Authorized SHARP repair services and the factory 800 # told us the fuse was in the back when, in fact, it was in the front. It took the repair man with me working with him several hours to replace the fuse, in part we were advised by the factory to take the microwave down and the fuse was hard to get to and get to fit back in place. I paid about $3 for a package of fuses at a RadioShack that was closing -- rest of $150 for the two service calls it took to troubleshoot and replace. Both of the repairmen were fair, competent and honest, unlike the ones in Florida.

dannick · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Steve,
If everyone can encourage Mobile RV Repair businesses that you've used to list their business we can make this a great resource for RVers across the county!

-- Edited by dannick on Monday 22nd of June 2015 10:19:35 PM

RickandJanice · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you are in the Las Vegas, NV area, you need to call Precision Maintenance & Repair. When we had work done in May of this year, the service call was $75 and the labor to repair was $50 per hour. Our techs. name was Doug and he was both quick to diagnose the problem and at doing our repair /modification. We are extremely happy with his work and he is pleasant to work with and seems very knowledgeable.

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

It varies by location; but usually from $75.00-125.00 for the service call and $85.00-135.00 an hr. for repairs with a minimum of 1 hour rate. I worked as an auto and golf cart mechanic and tools equipment is expensive. A diagnostic computer scanner can cost upward of the $10K range. A good service truck and the tools and equipment can set a self employed or contracted mechanic into debt for many years. Don't take this as offensive, but the cost of doing business now is way out of most being able to afford it!

Anyting that has to do with recreation says: You have to pay to play!

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

New Braunfels Texas the guy we used was $85 an hour.
There is perception to consider as well.
Who would you use more-

1- Newer model truck, with vinyl lettering, Guy with business logo shirt, toolkits for various repairs, computer in truck to make orders or download information and make out invoices.

OR

2- Beat up truck, slobby appearance, plumbers crack, dashboard full of torn bits of envelopes and cigarette packs, and a misspelled hand written bill.

APlusMM · RV-Dreams Community Member

www.rvservicereviews.com/ is out there for honest reviews as the business doesn't pay for their name to show up.

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

There's nothing cheap about RV's......For those that think it's a cheap way out better look again. The biggest thing with most people, is thinking an RV is a substitute for a "Stick 'n' Brick" house. Well most RV's are just "Sticks 'n' Staples". Huge depreciating assets and very high maintenance. They are mainly intended for casual use on short holidays and trips and nothing more. Once the RV starts showing it's signs of aging through continuous full time use it then becomes constant tedious maintaining. If the maintaining is held off or neglected it will soon become a can of worms. Then when try get someone out to fix it for "Cheap"..................It begins to be a "Patched Up" piece of junk that you will keep throwing money at it. Unless you are able to do the constant necessary work on your own (and I mean fixed properly, not barbed wire and duct tape fixin') then you will always be vulnerable to empty your wallet to whoever can fix it.

Camper Chronicles · RV-Dreams Family Member

My husband charges $85 an hour with no service call. He also will take a quick look at the problem for free and if he can't help doesn't charge anything...of course he isn't usually traveling beyond the immediate are we are in. I agree to some extent with Trailer King. Part of the reason Lee went to RV Tech school was to fix things that went wrong with our rig. We've had several minor issues already and although we are covered by warranty it's nice that he can fix the small stuff himself so we don't have to go to a dealer. Our experience prior to him going to school was getting a tech was a challenge especially when your moving around a lot. That being said if you budget allows it why not hire someone, but don't underestimate in your budget RV maintenance items.

Trace

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

What anyone reading this thread should keep in mind is that the original posting of the thread is almost 4 years old. Thus, some of the information in the 2011 posts may be out of date.

Many times, it is better to start a new thread about a topic instead of resurrecting an old one because new readers may think the earlier postings contain valid information, when they may actually be out of date.

Terry

Rvtech183 · RV-Dreams Community Member

I am an RV tech myself and it definitely depends on your area about the pricing. And while the pricing may seem ridiculously high take into consideration how much uncle Sam digs into the little business mans pocket when it comes to net profit. I bet nobody out there but would believe it but where I live in Sonoma county California. It's well over 1/3 of the gross profit. Not to mention paying for insurance , business licence, resale license when it comes to parts, drive time, where and tear on personal vehicles most times, gas. And of course the usual time of just the customer asking questions he wants answered most times at the end of the job. It all adds up. And that's if he's alone. Imagine if the man has an employee? It's almost enough to make a new business owner give up to just work for a dealer for a steady paycheck because you might even get health benefits that you would otherwise also have to add into your cost of being an independent mobile RV technician. Bet you never thought of all those variables into your equation right?