How much does a caravan service cost?

What you should get done and what you should pay to service your RV

Everyone knows that a vehicle needs to be serviced and maintained on a regular basis but it’s easy to forget the requirements -- and costs involved -- of servicing and maintaining your caravan or motorhome.

Why service a caravan?

A caravan is much simpler to maintain than your tow vehicle - there’s no engine, no steering, no transmission and so on. Therefore it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking of your caravan as a transportable version of your home.

So perhaps you might think that all you need to worry about is things like replacing a blown 12-volt light globe (but that’s less likely with today's LED lights) and perhaps re-gassing a gas bottle or filling water tanks.

However. there’s much, much more to that when servicing a typical modern caravan, with not only the basic moving parts that all caravans need to have serviced (such as bearings and brakes) but all the electrical equipment and hardware fitted.

It often pays to get your van serviced by professionals

What needs to be done during a service?

Wheel bearings and brakes are two things that should be inspected on a regular basis.

Bearings can lose tension, the all-important lubricating grease can dry out and the bearings themselves can deteriorate, with a scored shell or pitted rollers; they don’t last forever. A service should include cleaning, inspecting, re-greasing, and refitting and adjusting the bearings.

If equipped with disc brakes, the brake pads and rotors should be checked for wear and/or damage. If it’s an electric over hydraulic disc brake system, the brake lines and connections should be checked for wear or damage.

Drum brakes on caravans --the most common type -- should be checked for shoe wear and drum wear and adjusted if required. Brake magnets should also be checked for wear and operation and their wiring checked. Lastly, the hand brake cable and handle should be checked for wear and adjusted as necessary.

The coupling needs a quick look-over too: to check it's engaging properly, that bolts are tensioned to specification and that there’s sufficient lubrication.

Drawbar components also need regular maintenance

Other checkpoints

Trailer wiring can be really problematic when it ages, so it needs to be inspected and circuits tested. The trailer plug can corrode and wiring can be damaged due to rubbing on chassis components or being caught by road debris.

The suspension springs and bushes should also be checked and lubed if required.

A service should also include inspection of tyres for wear (including uneven wear, suggesting alignment issues), excessive age and/or damage such as the carcass cracking. Wheel nuts need to be checked for correct tension.

For the service check of the interior fit-out, an inspection should include the operation of the smoke alarm, appliances, hot water heater anode, 12volt and 240volt system, water pump operation/pressure and plumbing (and gas connections/regulator) for leaks.

Door, window and hatch operation should be checked and parts lubricated where necessary. Drop-down legs and jockey wheel should also be checked for operation and greased if required and the awning checked and lubricated if needed.

Brakes and bearings need regular attention

How often should your RV be serviced?

Most of the industry puts a 12 month/10,000km time/distance cap between services. This is a general benchmark, which can change for different circumstances.

For example, if you tend to tour on plenty of rough outback dirt roads, you should consider reducing the time/distance between services, or having a basic bearings and brakes service interval between the annual service.

For those on extensive two-three month tours, it makes sense to time the annual service for just before you leave on the big trip.

This all assumes you keep an eye on some basic maintenance items yourself. For example, cleaning the dust filters in the reverse-cycle air-conditioning unit and replacing water filters (if equipped).

Gas and electrical fittings should be left to the professionals

Who can you trust to service your RV?

If you're not familiar with the service scene, looking online for reviews is a good start. You do have to take some negative comments with a grain of salt, but if it's all bad it might not be a good sign. Ask around at caravan parks and the like too; good work always attracts word-of-mouth recommendations.

There are many RV service agents across Australia, but they're not as common as vehicle mechanical services. There are often not enough of them in key urban areas to take a short-notice booking, so be prepared to book well ahead.

What should you pay for a service?

While capped price servicing has become common in the car industry, the RV industry appears a long way off that. However, many RV service centres advertise their routine service prices online, so you can check them out for yourself.

We can give you a general idea of what you can expect to pay. Bear in mind that just like car servicing, a large city RV dealer’s service department on expensive real estate and with several staff is likely to charge more than a caravan repair/service specialist in the outer suburbs or country areas. These prices are averages rather than exact, so you may need to pay more, or less.

Service costs can vary depending on location of repairer

Just like your tow vehicle, when a caravan is fairly new, most servicing costs are minimal. As it gets older and parts wear out, servicing costs rise. If you own a large, luxury off-road tandem van that’s getting on a bit and is used often, don’t be surprised to start seeing the annual service bill reach $1000 or more for servicing and maintenance.

For most vans though, you’ll be paying less -- perhaps a lot less.

If all you can have done due to time or cost constraints is a bearing and brakes check/lube/adjustment, it’ll cost you about $200 for a single axle and about $300 for a tandem.

For an annual service of items outlined above on a single axle on-road caravan, you’d pay around $250-$350 and around $400-$500 for a tandem. For a tandem with a sophisticated independent off-road suspension and every appliance and accessory option ticked, you may have to pay around $600 for the annual service.

Sealing is another issue to keep an eye on

These prices do not include replacement parts, but in general they're not as horrendously expensive as they can be on your tow vehicle. Assuming good quality parts are used, an axle set of bearings cost about $100 and an axle set of brake shoes is about $80.

Add a few other bits and pieces such as electric brake magnets and a water heater anode to the bill, and you can soon be looking at an extra $400 in service parts over the annual service bill.

Save money and do it yourself

If you’re handy on the tools you can do most caravan servicing yourself. While it’s not that hard, there is a fine art to adjusting bearings and brakes, and it can turn to disaster if you get it wrong.

As for your RV’s 240 volt electrical equipment and gas plumbing, you can’t work on them without the appropriate trades licences.