Ballpark cost to repair this body damage?

[stenuto]

Hi, I'm looking at a used airstream and have included some pictures of the pretty major body/shell damage. Would anyone be able to ball park estimate how much this would cost to repair? It looks like they've repaired the inside completely, and everything else is totally functional (axle, windows, A/C, lights, etc).

Are we talking $5k, 10k? 20k?

Thank you!

[Janet H]

Would you be doing the work yourself or having and Airstream shop doing it?

Before you consider this rig too hard make sure you know about the title. Is it a salvage title? Do you care?

[Buzzr]

If you are going to have it done I am guessing at least $20,000. I was quoted $2,000 for a small quarter panel. It looks as though you are looking at fixing four exterior and interior panels and maybe some frame damage as well. It could be as high as $25,000. Not sure it can be repaired cost effectively. If it is not yours, keep looking.

[stenuto]

Thank you for the input! They are asking $7900 (2003 16'), and say it doesn't leak, and is usable as is.. We're looking to get our first trailer, and the price is obviously tempting, but it doesn't sound like a very good investment in terms of resale value later on.

[mojo]

That has a rather interesting pattern to it...kinda like a wrinkled space blanket.
Might be easier to dent the rest to match!

[Belegedhel]

If you do all the work yourself, the formed segments will run you about $500 each (part+shipping). Add in another $200 for buck riveting tools, and figure on it taking several months.

If you have a shop do it, the number I have heard repeatedly is about $2000 per segment, so $8000 for the job. The issue is that when a shop replaces a single segment, they are pretty likely to do it on "the cheap" by performing all the work from the outside and using Olympic rivets. To replace most of the front of the trailer, you would want these bucked in, which will require removal of the interior sections as well. This might drive the price up.

Definitely check on the status of the title. If the PO already has had the trailer totaled by an insurer and has pocketed all the pay-out, then they are just getting greedy asking what they are for this damaged trailer. It is kind of like the song about the thousand-dollar car, ie., you buy a thousand dollar car, then you put a thousand dollars into it to fix it up, and you end up with a two-thousand dollar thousand dollar car.

good luck!

[twolanehwy]

I would go with Mojo suggestion.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by stenuto

Thank you for the input! They are asking $7900 (2003 16'), and say it doesn't leak, and is usable as is.. We're looking to get our first trailer, and the price is obviously tempting, but it doesn't sound like a very good investment in terms of resale value later on.

I wrote the Airstream "crash book" in 1970 when I worked for the insurance division of Airstream.

Then traveled the country and taught most of the Airstream dealers how to do body work.

Each segment costs ball park $ 500.00 each. You would need 380 Olympic rivets and 2 tubes of Vulkem sealer.

Labor wise, the first segment takes 6 hours and each additional adjoining segment takes 5 hours. Total time then is 21 hours. I only see 4 that are damaged. Bump it up to 25 hours if you wish.

Therefore total cost (round numbers) would be $ 2000.00 for segments, $ 200.00 for the rivets and sealer. No painting necessary.

Therefore $ 2200.00 for materials. Labor then, even at $ 150.00 per hour is only $ 3750.00, for a grand total of less than $ 6000.00 plus sales tax.

Obviously, the quotes way way beyond that, are nothing but guesses, that don't work when you deal with insurance companies.

Andy

[Starlight Mike]

Run don't walk, Mojo and Belegedhel got it right. Don't buy no thousand dollar car, let alone a totaled AS!

[fwjumper]

I have repaired a few damaged Airstreams, some as bad as that or worse. IMO, $7,900 is about $6,400 too much. There is always damage you can't see or haven't thought of. With all that said, it is interesting, but not at anything near that price. Best wishes to you, with whatever you buy.

[Janet H]

It looks like the OP is going to pass on this rig but I found the comment that the seller says it doesn't leak pretty funny. In eastern WA (and likely in other arid places) no trailer 'leaks'. Of course, it rarely rains either so how would you know...

Our Minuet never leaked until we camped on the OR coast

[Belegedhel]

Here's the lyric I was thinking of...poetic and on the mark:

"A thousand dollar car ain't even gonna roll
'til you throw at least another thousand in the hole,
sink your money in it, and there you are,
the owner of a two-thousand dollar thousand-dollar car."

Keep looking--for the $16-20k you would invest to buy this this beaten trailer and get it fixed up, you could buy plenty of other decent trailers with less hassles.

[PeterKV]

That is some really strange damage, it would be interesting to know what actually happened.

[revbill]

My 1st post. I believe the damage has been hammered out from the inside and it left the dimpled look.. really kind of neat. Run as is!!!

[Billyg]

I just had to replace my lower side panel on my 27th International. It ran $8000.00 which included labor. Mostly labor. The labor alone ran $175.00 an hr. and the part was just a bit over $800.00. This unit looks like it's worth fixing up. Hope this helps a bit.
Happy Camping !

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by stenuto

Hi, I'm looking at a used airstream and have included some pictures of the pretty major body/shell damage. Would anyone be able to ball park estimate how much this would cost to repair? It looks like they've repaired the inside completely, and everything else is totally functional (axle, windows, A/C, lights, etc).

Are we talking $5k, 10k? 20k?

Thank you!

A good first question might be:

Would you accept this trailer as a free gift, as she sits right now, not knowing for sure whether she leaks like a sieve in really windy monsoonal storm conditions?

Wind-driven rain can easily run uphill, so every seam would have to be as fresh as factory-new IMO, or else the answer to the gift is "no."

Good luck, hope you will keep us posted!

Peter

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by stenuto

Hi, I'm looking at a used airstream
. . .

Wondering if you decided to pass on this?

Thanks