# Inspection and Evaluation for Laguna Niguel owners Inspection is paid information: a full RV systems inspection with moisture readings, an LP pressure drop test, a generator run under load and a written report with photographs, or a claim assessment where we write the estimate. Full RV inspection is $400 to $1,200, three to six hours, in shop. ## What a written report has to survive A report gets read by people who were not standing there. A seller reads it and argues with it. A lender reads it. Sometimes a carrier reads it, and occasionally an attorney does. So it is built to be read that way: every finding tied to a photograph, every measurement written as a number with the location it came from, and the conditions of the inspection recorded, including anything that could not be accessed and the reason why. What that buys an owner is a decision made on evidence. A full RV systems inspection with a written report runs $400 to $1,200, three to six hours, and on a coach with water history the report regularly matters more than the asking price, because it is the difference between negotiating and inheriting. Trailer inspections are shorter and cost less, van inspections shorter still, and a cosmetic and structural body inspection on commercial equipment is one to three hours, since the scope is body and structure rather than living systems. ## A full RV systems inspection, system by system The inspection runs in a fixed order so nothing gets skipped when something interesting turns up. Exterior and structure first, then roof and sealants, then interior surfaces and cabinetry, then each system in turn: LP, fresh water, waste, twelve volt, shore power, generator, heat, cooling and appliances. Slides go out and come back in under observation, not simply to confirm that they move but to watch how they move, since a Schwintek rail rounds its teeth long before the motor gives up. The deliverable is a written report with photographs, organised by system, with findings graded by what they mean rather than by how alarming they look. A missing detector is a checklist item. A soft spot at a slide sill is a decision point. Everything gets photographed, including healthy findings, because a report documenting only problems tells a buyer nothing about what was actually examined and what was skipped. - Roof membrane, every seam, every flange, and the condition of the lap sealant. - Slide travel, sync between rails, seal contact, and the sill under the room. - Frame, hangers, spring or torsion suspension, and evidence of previous structural repair. - Every appliance run through a full cycle, and the generator started and then loaded. - Moisture readings logged by location rather than summarised as a pass. ## Moisture readings, seams and slide sills Water is the thing that quietly ends coaches, so this part is deliberate and slow. A pin type meter and a non invasive meter both get used, because the non invasive one surveys quickly and the pin type confirms what it found. Readings come from every seam: cap transitions, the belt line, window and door frames, corner mouldings, the roof edge, ladder and rack mounts, and under every slide at the sill where a wiper seal has been pushing water inward for years. A number on its own proves nothing. What matters is the difference between a reading on a wall and a reading two feet away on the same wall, and whether an elevated area maps to a seam somebody resealed badly. Delamination gets checked by hand and by tapping, since a sidewall separated from its substrate sounds hollow and flexes under palm pressure well before it shows a bubble. Soft flooring at a slide opening or along a wall base is subfloor, and subfloor is the expensive end of water damage. ## LP pressure drop, generator under load, appliances one at a time LP gets a pressure drop test rather than a sniff around the regulator. The system is pressurised and monitored for a set period, and a drop means a leak somewhere in it whether or not anybody can smell one. Regulator output pressure gets read and compared against specification, since a regulator drifting low makes a furnace and a water heater both misbehave in ways owners tend to blame on the appliances themselves. The generator gets started cold, run, then loaded, because an Onan that idles happily with nothing on it can still drop out under a pair of air conditioners. Appliances run one at a time: a refrigerator on both gas and electric with temperatures actually measured, a furnace through a full cycle, a water heater on both modes, air conditioners checked for supply and return temperature difference, and every fan and vent operated. Suburban and Atwood water heaters and Dometic and Norcold refrigerators each have known failure signatures, and running them is the only way to see one. ## Claim assessment, intake photographs and the supplement that follows Claim work starts differently. Insurance walk-ins are welcome and we write the estimate. Bring the policy, the claim number if one exists, and the keys, and expect the vehicle to be photographed from every corner and then close on each damaged area with a scale reference in frame before anything at all is touched. That photograph set becomes the file, and it is what makes everything after it credible. A supplement after teardown is normal rather than a sign of trouble. Panels come off, structure gets measured against published tolerance, and damage the first estimate could not see gets photographed and written up. On a coach that usually means a cap, a sidewall skin or a slide face has to come off before anybody knows what the wall behind it looks like. A supplement changes the carrier's exposure rather than your deductible, unless the work moves outside what the policy covers. Fleet operators use the commercial body inspection differently again, as documentation before a vehicle changes hands or comes off a lease. One to three hours, written up the same way, with photographs of every panel, every mounting point and every previous repair, so that a dispute six months later has something factual sitting under it rather than two people remembering a walk around differently. Body and equipment condition only, since that is the scope of this shop. ## Who chooses the repair facility, and what will not go in a report In California the vehicle owner chooses the repair facility. A carrier can recommend a shop in its network, and it can decline to pay above what it considers a reasonable rate, but the choice of who performs the repair belongs to the owner. Knowing that changes the conversation, because an owner who believes a shop has been assigned to them negotiates from a position that does not actually exist. Several things will not appear in a report from this shop. No opinion on market value, since that is an appraiser's work rather than an estimator's. No prediction about how long a component will last. No line describing work nobody performed. If a system cannot be tested safely, the report states that it was not tested and why, which is less satisfying than a checkmark and considerably more useful to whoever reads it next. ## Where the inspection happens, and why that is a fixed limit Everything described here happens at the Yorba Linda shop. The reason is equipment: a lift to get under a chassis, light strong enough to read a seam, a bay where a slide can cycle fully without hitting anything, water to test with and a drain to catch it, and meter readings taken with the vehicle at rest and dry instead of an hour after a drive through rain. Owners coming up from Laguna Niguel generally make a morning of it and wait for the report. If the coach or trailer being inspected is not yours yet, arrange access with the seller and arrange transport, or ask the seller to bring it up. There is no inspection here that goes out to a storage lot, and that is a deliberate limit rather than a scheduling problem, because half of what makes a report worth paying for is what this shop has bolted to the floor around the vehicle. ## Questions ### What does a pre purchase inspection on a used motorhome cover? Structure first, then systems, then cosmetics, in that order, because the expensive faults are the invisible ones. Sidewalls get tapped for released adhesive. Roof sealant lines, slide seals and the subfloor around every wet area get checked. Slides run full travel under observation. Twelve volt, shore power, LP and appliances get exercised. The report is written, with photographs. Roughly $400 to $1,200 across three to six hours, and it is the cheapest paragraph in any RV purchase. ### Is there a charge to have someone look over my RV systems? Yes. An RV systems evaluation covering slides, awnings, water, electrical or a generator is $150, and an in depth diagnostic is one hour at $285. Both are credited against an authorised repair, so the money returns to you the moment work is approved. Insurance walk-ins are a separate case: we write the estimate as part of the claim. Nothing at this shop is priced below $500 once actual work begins. ## Related - [class-a-diesel-pusher](https://ocrv.guru/vehicles/) - [standard-fifth-wheel](https://ocrv.guru/vehicles/) - [utility-cargo-trailer](https://ocrv.guru/vehicles/) - [camper-van-conversion](https://ocrv.guru/vehicles/) --- Source: https://ocrv.guru/services/additional/inspection-evaluation/ OCRV Center, 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887. (949) 799-3387. Serving Laguna Niguel, California. All work performed in shop. No mobile or roadside service. Licences: California Bureau of Automotive Repair ARD00288521; EPA CAL000367879. Published ranges are ranges, not quotes. Every figure traces to https://ocrv.guru/prices/.