# Vans and Camper Vans Sprinters, Transits, ProMasters, Metris vans and electric delivery vans all repair to a factory body procedure first and to whatever was built into the back of them second. OCRV Center writes both halves on one estimate and completes the recalibration the vehicle needs before it leaves. ## One shell, four completely different vehicles The same Sprinter body leaves the factory and becomes four unrelated vehicles. One gets shelving and a ladder rack and carries a plumbing business. One gets a bed, a galley and a lithium bank and becomes a camper. One gets seats and a wheelchair lift and becomes a shuttle. One gets a refrigerated body and delivers food. All four repair identically from the outside and nothing alike once a panel has to come off, because what sits behind that panel is different in every case and is fastened to it in a way the factory never specified. That is the single most useful thing to know before booking a van into a body shop. A shop that only sees the outside will quote the panel and then discover the upfit, and the estimate grows in week two. We inventory what is behind the damage on the day of intake: which cabinets, which racking, which wiring, which tank, and how each is attached. Those hours go on the estimate as disassembly and reassembly rather than being absorbed, because they are real and because a carrier will pay for what is documented. ## Roof height and the parking structure that catches everybody A high roof van stands over nine feet tall and a great many parking structures around here are posted lower than that. The event is always the same: the driver clears the entry and catches a sprinkler main, a ventilation duct or a clearance bar a level further in, and the damage lands on the front roof edge, the roof rack if there is one, and the leading edge of any roof penetration. On a camper van that means the fan, the solar array and the air conditioner in one strike. The reason it matters beyond the panel is that a roof strike loads the body at the windscreen header and the A pillars, and that is structure with published tolerances on a modern van. Measuring it is not optional and it is not visible from a photograph. Van collision repair and refinish runs $1,500 to $40,000, ten to two hundred hours. Roof reinforcement and solar roof rack install runs $750 to $6,500, and rebuilding a roof array properly is often the larger half of a roof strike repair. ## For a working van the schedule is the product On a commercial van the repair bill is rarely the biggest number in the incident. Downtime is. A contractor van off the road costs a crew day, a delivery van off the road costs a route, and neither is on the estimate. That changes what a good repair plan looks like: parts ordered on day one from the first estimate rather than after supplement approval, work sequenced so the vehicle is not sitting between trades, and an honest date rather than an optimistic one. It also changes some technical decisions. Straightening a distorted sliding door track is sometimes the right repair and sometimes the wrong one, and the deciding factor for a business is whether a replacement assembly gets the van back three days sooner. Sliding door repair runs $400 to $3,500. We price both routes when both are legitimate and let the operator choose against their own week, because a shop choosing for them is guessing at a cost it cannot see. ## What has to happen after the panels are back on A current van carries radar behind the grille, a camera at the windscreen, blind spot sensors in the rear corners and often a surround view set in the mirrors and the tailgate. Every one of those references the body. Replace a bumper, straighten a rail, change ride height, or refit a mirror, and the aim moves without any warning appearing on the dash. The vehicle keeps operating with a bias, and the driver adapts to it without knowing that is what they are doing. ADAS scan and recalibration runs $275 to $1,800, one to seven hours, with the scan report filed before and after. Diagnostics, scan and programming labour is $285 per hour with a one hour minimum, credited against an authorised repair. On a fleet van this is also a liability question rather than only a technical one, because an operator who cannot show that a safety system was verified after a structural repair is carrying a risk nobody priced. - Forward radar and camera aim after any front end repair - Blind spot sensor targets after a rear corner or quarter repair - Ride height verification when suspension work was involved - Scan report filed with before and after values, on every job ## Related - [Sprinter Van](https://ocrv.guru/vehicles/vans/sprinter-van/) - [Camper Van Conversion](https://ocrv.guru/vehicles/vans/camper-van-conversion/) - [Cargo Van](https://ocrv.guru/vehicles/vans/cargo-van/) - [Electric Delivery Van](https://ocrv.guru/vehicles/vans/electric-delivery-van/) --- Source: https://ocrv.guru/vehicles/vans/ 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/.