"OutdoorBarren is supported by its readers. Please assume all links are affiliate links. If you purchase something from one of our links we make a small commission from Amazon."

How Much Does It Cost to Clear Coat an RV?

how much does it cost to clear coat an rv

How much it costs to clear coat an RV can vary depending on if you are doing it yourself, are hiring a professional, as well as the amount and quality of clear coat you will need. It all depends on the route that you want to go down, as well as how large your RV is.

If you are doing the job of clear coating of your RV, then you could be spending as little as $250-$500 if you do things yourself. If you have to hire a professional to clearcoat your entire vehicle, then it may cost several thousand dollars.

Clear coating an entire RV can be very labor intensive due to the size of these vehicles. Doing it yourself can save you a lot of money, but it will cost you a lot of time, especially if you have no prior experience or knowledge in clear coating a vehicle.

Do You Need to Clear Coat Your RV?

In theory, no. However, it isn’t really recommended.

The purpose of a clear coat is to protect the paint on the RV. Without the clear coat in place, the paint will start to fade. It will start to peel away. It will lose that beautiful ‘flair’ within a matter of months. 

Most RVs will also have a base coat made from watercolor paints nowadays. If these are not protected properly, then there is a chance that the color could run. This is because watercolor paints are not waterproof, they are only water-resistant.

With a clear coat, any minor damage to the paint job can be buffed out. You don’t get that with normal paint. The normal paint would just chip, which means that you have to repaint your vehicle. 

Don’t think that you are saving any money if you do not clear coat your RV. In the long term, it will actually cost you a lot more cash. 

Different Prices of Clear Coat

If you are hunting around for some clear coat paint, you will notice that the prices vary wildly. This may baffle you. After all, a clear coat is just meant to be a clear paint, right? Well. Yes. However, there are varying qualities of clear coat out there.

Without getting too technical here, the higher-priced clear coats will often have more ‘solids’ in them. This will be quoted as a percentage. The higher the number of solids inside the clearcoat, the more protection that it is going to be offering.

Cheaper clear coat paints will have a mixture involving 20-30% solids, while more expensive clearcoats may go all the way up to 40-50%! There may even be more options than this on the market.

Due to the level of protection that clear coat paint has to provide, it will always have more solids than your standard paint. This includes the cheaper clear coats. Since solids are the most expensive material when it comes to paint manufacture, this pushes the price of the clear coat all the way up.

Expensive clear coats will also have better UV protection, but this tends to go hand in hand with the solids in the clear coat paint.

We cannot possibly tell you the exact prices that you will be looking to pay here. However, we can tell you that covering your RV in a cheaper low-solid paint (i.e. in the 20%-30% range) may save you up to $1000-$2,000 if you take your vehicle to a professional.

This may seem like a good deal but, in the long term, the lower amount of protection you get means that you will spend a lot more on clear coating your vehicle. This is because RVs covered in a cheaper clear coat need to be repainted more often. 

How to Find a Shop to Clear Coat an RV

Looking for a shop that will clear coat your RV should be simple. There are not that many of them around.

You will want to be looking for a shop that deals with RV bodywork. It is unlikely that your average car body shop will be able to do this, but you can always ask. 

When you are looking for a company to work with, make sure that you do your research beforehand. This means checking that they have at least a few years of experience in the business. They should have plenty of decent reviews online too. 

Since you are likely going to be spending thousands of dollars on a clear coat for your vehicle, it is vital that you are comfortable with the company before you part with any of your cash. This means asking them for examples of the work they have carried out in the past, details on the clear coats that they will be using, etc. 

No matter where you live, it is likely that a decent amount of discussion has happened on some of the top RV forums about the best places to have a clear coat done!

What to Ask About Clear Coating

There are a few questions that you will probably want to be asking when you are looking to have a clear coat done.

What Clear Coat Are You Using?

Ideally, you will want that clear coat to have the highest amount of solids in it as possible. It is expensive, but it really does provide more protection.

Do You Have a Choice in the Type of Clear Coat Used?

While you will likely want to buy the best clear coat possible, the potential extra few thousand dollars that you may be spending isn’t feasible for everybody. Feel free to ask an RV body shop whether you have any choice over the type of clear coat that is used. Don’t go too cheap, though.

Is There Any Warranty Provided?

You need a warranty. This is an expensive job. Clear coats should last at least a decade if they are of a decent quality. Find out what the body shop would do if the clear coat started to peel away within a year or two. If they say they won’t do anything, then walk away.

Final Thoughts

The price to clear coat an RV can vary greatly depending on the size of your vehicle, if you are doing it yourself or hiring a professional, and the amount of clear coat needed.

You can expect to spend a few thousand dollars if you hire a professional shop to clear coat your RV. You may be able to spend as little as $250 dollars if you purchase the clear coat and do the labor yourself.

Whether you decide to clear coat your RV yourself, or hire a professional to do it, we hope this has been a helpful guide to helping your decision to clear coat your RV.

Outdoor Barren

All of us at Outdoor Barren love the outdoors. We all specialize in different areas to give you the best possible information on each topic. Land, sea, or air, we've got it handled.

Recent Posts