Caravan Repairs and Servicing Costs: What Workshops Publish

A routine caravan service starts from around $399 for a single-axle van and $649 for a dual-axle on the premium tier — those are Oz Off Road's published prices, and they were one of only two workshops out of six that published a price at all. Repairs are a different story: no one quotes that work up front because the cost depends on what they find once they start looking.

That is the frustrating part of budgeting for caravan maintenance. The service price is findable, but repairs, water damage and anything beyond the routine checklist are all "ring us for a quote". This guide covers what the published prices actually include, how often the work needs doing, and what you are entitled to if it is done badly.

What caravan repairs and servicing cost

We checked six Australian caravan servicing businesses on 12 August 2026. Only two — Oz Off Road Caravans and Caravan Gas Certificate — had prices on their website. The other four (North East Touring Solutions, Alpine Caravan Services, CARAC and Revive Caravan Repairs) all said to phone for a quote.

Read the "from" carefully, because it is doing work. Oz Off Road heads each tier with a "From $" figure, so the published number is a starting price for that tier rather than a fixed quote.

The premium tier is $200 more on both axle sizes, and the difference is the running-gear work described in the next section. These are Oz Off Road's prices as at 12 August 2026 — your local workshop may charge differently.

What a full caravan service includes

Oz Off Road's basic tier covers wheel removal and magnet wear inspection, wheel hub adjustments, suspension, springs and shackles, chassis, drawbar and A-frame condition, tyre condition and pressure, and wheel nut torque. It also takes in the gas system (bottles and lines), the water system, the toilet and flush, interior and exterior lighting, 240V mains operation, battery charge and performance, stabiliser legs, roof seals, windows and J-moulds, tank mounts, air conditioner bolts and filter, the fridge and washing machine, the hot water system and anode, and the Anderson and 12-pin plugs.

The step up to that workshop's premium tier adds five items: wheel bearing removal, clean and repack; rust treatment on the chassis; a handbrake and jockey wheel check; an ESC and brake safe system test where fitted; and replacement bearing seals. Note that the bearing repack sits in the dearer tier at this workshop. It is worth confirming which tier includes it when you compare quotes, because at this workshop the basic tier lists a wheel hub adjustment and a magnet wear inspection instead.

Alpine Caravan Services describes a comparable scope and states that every service comes with a full written report with photos. A written report is worth asking for, whoever does the work, because it is the record you will need if you later have to argue that something was missed.

How often a caravan needs servicing

The three workshops that gave an interval all landed on the same number. Oz Off Road recommends every 12 months or 10,000km, whichever comes first. Alpine Caravan Services says the same, and CARAC says every 10,000km or 12 months by a qualified technician.

Your suspension manufacturer may set a schedule of its own. Cruisemaster, an Australian independent suspension manufacturer, publishes intervals for its own suspensions and axle systems that are more granular than an annual service.

Two things in that table catch people out. The wheel bearing service is every six months or 10,000km, so on the time trigger it falls twice as often as an annual service. And Cruisemaster states plainly that these periods assume normal road usage: for off-road and abnormal conditions, intervals need to be more frequent and daily visual inspections are recommended.

Those intervals are Cruisemaster's, for Cruisemaster running gear. If your van runs different suspension, the schedule in your owner's manual is the one that governs. Cruisemaster also notes that the suspension fitted was selected against the Aggregate Trailer Mass on your compliance plate, and that those figures should not be exceeded, which is worth reading alongside our guide to GVM and GCM towing weights.

Why a firm quote is hard to get up front

Repair work is different. Take water ingress and delamination: none of the workshops we checked will quote that up front, because the cost depends entirely on how far the water has spread before someone finds it.

Scheduled servicing has the same problem in smaller form. CARAC states that hot water system servicing, new tyres and wheel balancing all incur charges on top of the service. On that workshop's own terms, a quoted service figure may not be the final invoice.

There is one rule from the Cruisemaster sheet worth knowing before you get a quote, because it doubles a line item. If a shock absorber is found to be leaking, Cruisemaster says shock absorbers must be replaced in pairs. Slight misting of oil on the outside of the shock is described as normal and not a fault, so it is fair to ask which one you are looking at.

Gas work carries its own paperwork

Gas work generates a legal record that a routine service inspection does not. In Victoria, for a standard gas installation in a private caravan, the gasfitter must lodge a Compliance Certificate with the Building and Plumbing Commission within five days of completing the installation.

That certificate is your evidence the work was done by someone licensed to do it. Requirements are set state by state, so check your own state's regulator rather than assuming the Victorian rule applies where you live. If you are buying a used van, asking for gas paperwork is a reasonable question, and a seller who cannot produce any is telling you something.

One operator does publish certificate prices. Caravan Gas Certificate, a mobile service covering south-east Queensland, charges $135 for a gas certificate, $135 for a trailer roadworthy and $135 for an HVRAS certificate, with a discount if you book all three in one visit. Those are certificate fees, not servicing prices, and they are one operator's rates in one part of the country.

What servicing costs across seven years

A seven-year window is a useful frame for the running-cost side of the decision. At Oz Off Road's published dual-axle starting prices, seven annual basic services come to at least $3,143 and seven premium services to at least $4,543, a gap of $1,400 across those seven years.

A single-axle van on the basic tier starts at $2,793. Because these are "from" prices, treat each figure as a floor rather than a forecast.

Distance changes that arithmetic more than the tier does. Because those three workshops recommend servicing at 12 months or 10,000km, a van towed 20,000km in a year needs two services in that year, which starts at $1,298 at the premium dual-axle price. A retired couple doing laps and a family doing two trips a year are not on the same servicing budget, even in the same van.

If you are working out what you can afford, the servicing line belongs in the calculation next to insurance, registration and storage, not as an afterthought. Our guide to secured and unsecured caravan loans covers how the structure of the loan itself affects what you pay.

How to choose a repairer near you

Most workshops will not put a price on their website, so choosing one comes down to ringing two or three, asking the same questions, and comparing the answers. Compare what is included, not just the headline price — Oz Off Road's own two tiers differ by five specific items underneath similar-sounding names.

Ask whether a wheel bearing removal, clean and repack is included or an extra, since at Oz Off Road that item sits in the dearer tier. Ask what is charged on top: CARAC lists hot water system servicing, new tyres and wheel balancing as extras, so a quoted service figure may not be the final invoice. Ask whether you get a written report, which Alpine Caravan Services provides with photos on every service.

For gas work, ask to see the licence and the certificate, and check what your own state requires, because the lodgement rule described above is Victoria's. And if you tow off-road, say so before the quote: Cruisemaster's schedule assumes normal road usage and calls for more frequent intervals in abnormal conditions, which changes what a sensible service looks like for your van.

Your rights if a repair is not done properly

Repair work is a service, and services carry consumer guarantees under Australian Consumer Law. The ACCC sets out three: the service must be carried out with an acceptable level of care and skill, it must be fit for any particular purpose you stated, and it must be supplied within a reasonable time if no time frame was agreed. The fit-for-purpose guarantee does not extend to professional services from qualified architects or engineers.

Which remedy applies depends on how serious the problem is. The ACCC states that a business must fix a minor problem with a product or service by at least giving a free repair, and that where a service has a major problem the consumer can choose to cancel the contract and get a refund, which may not be a full refund because a reasonable amount is payable for work already done as expected, or keep the contract and pay a lower price that takes the problem into account. This is why the written report matters, and why it is worth keeping every invoice.

A dated service history, photographs, and an invoice that itemises what was actually done turn a disagreement about workmanship into a much shorter conversation.

This article is general information only and is not financial advice.