After accident need a new (used) rear door for my Jeep Cherokee - where to source?

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Had my first accident in over 20 years last night. Guy in a minivan slammed into me and buckled my rear passenger door beyond repair. Thing is technically he wasn’t in the wrong so my insurance is not going to cover the repair. I’m in no financial position to just take it to an auto body shop and ask them to fix it so I need to do some research on where I might be able to find a replacement door, from a salvage yard or wherever, and a shop that’d be willing to work with me bringing them used parts. I may be asking the impossible here, I have no idea, I’ve never had to deal with something like this before.

My question is: I’m looking for any advice I can get on where to possibly source car parts like a complete door (are local salvage yards my only option?) and if there’s even a possibility that there are repair shops out there that would be willing to work with used parts due to trying to keep the cost way down?

I’m in Northern California, 30 minutes north of San Francisco

Any suggestions would be of great help.

Thanks

Sean

2

Just about any body shop can source a serviceable used door and install it.

3

Look for “You PULL IT” Salvage Yards in your Area…Methinks there should be quite a few. The are a Haven of mine in my area. Parts pulled by YOU…and you save A TON of money. Downside? They RARELY keep any kind of inventory…so dont call to ask if your model is there…JUST GO AND LOOK. At least that is how it is around here (Philly Area).

Blackbird

4

I’ve had good luck with these guys, and they keep inventory and have a set fee listing. Looks like there’s plenty in the bay area. http://www.picknpull.com/locations.aspx . There should be tons of other salvage yards in your area, though.

5

A reputable body shop will source the used part making sure it is serviceable such as the window and it’s mechanism. It will cost a few dollars more but will probably be worth it in the long run. Be careful of spending a dollar to save a dime.

6

I ran into a similar situation a few years ago

My mom buggered up the front door on her older car, to the point that the door post also needed to be straightened, in addition to a replacement door

I looked in pick a part yards, couldn’t even find a decent door in any color, let alone my color. After a few days, I gave up and went to the local body shop

I talked to the owner for a long time, and judged that he did pretty good, but not outstanding work. I said I’d like him to source a same color door, install it and straighten the post. I also said I’d like to deliver it to him with the door already removed

I used my “free” auto club tow to deliver it to the shop. I could have driven it there, since it was about 1/2 mile from my house, but I didn’t want to risk getting pulled over

Anyways, the shop sourced a correct door from a few counties over. Complete, with glass, mirror, airbag, speaker, door panel, everything. He straightened the post and installed the complete door. It was literally plug and play. He charge me $300 for the door and $400 for the labor. So just over $700 with tax. Not rock bottom prices, but fair. I paid cash, so the shop was grateful for that.

The only thing I had to do was install my inner door panel, since the donor car had a different color interior.

Even if I had found a correct color door, I didn’t have the knowledge and/or tools to straighten a door post.

The shop didn’t clean the new door, or the car, either. And they didn’t plug in the mirror connector all the way. But it took me only a few minutes to fix those things.

I believe the shop made a fair profit from me, but I don’t feel I got taken to the cleaners

And I have a lot of spare parts . . . glass, window regulator and motor, switches, airbag, speaker, etc.

7

Even local boneyards these days are usually subscribers to a larger database that enables them to find replacement doors from other boneyards. They’re all linked together now.

Is the door jam damaged? If not, hanging the door should be a perfectly doable DIY job. If it is, you’ll need a shop.

8

Thanks very much everyone for such great answers, makes me feel a lot better about this. Now I have a direction to go. Thanks again for the help!

9

mountainbike

The local body shop that fixed my car . . . that’s how the owner found that correct color door from a few counties over

10

You lucky bum, you. I never get that lucky. {:slight_smile:

11

Yeah I think a body shop is likely to be better able to get the part in good condition for a better price but check the local yards or visit “car-parts.com” and search your area or nation-wide. Problem is shipping will not be cheap. First thing though is getting an estimate from a good body shop. You may well need other work such as hinges and straightening. They’ll be able to evaluate it so you know exactly what is involved.

12

Good point about the shipping. Some years back I ordered a fender for my daughter’s vehicle. The fender was pretty reasonable, but the shipping… yikes! Size DOES matter!

13

LKQ is another line of pull your own parts salvage yards and they even sell on eBay. If there’s an LKQ in your area you might give them a call as they also remove and sell parts.
Craigslist is yet another option.

Try to find one in the same paint code and the repair should be an easy one. When my youngest son was in college someone rammed his parked Camaro and caved the passenger door in badly enough that any repair was not feasible.
After a little digging around I found a complete door in the same shade of red for 75 bucks at a local salvage. Half an hour later (with the son’s help of course…) it was on and ready to go.

Given the number of Jeeps produced and the fact that most rear doors don’t get creamed I would think that with a little bit of footwork you could find a same color door on the cheap.

14

I use car-part.com a lot for my shop in getting parts. The site is very easy to navigate and you may even score the right color for your vehicle.

15

I’m in an urban part of Northern California. The tailgate rusted out on my 70’s Ford truck 15 years ago or so, and I had no problem finding a replacement at the local truck-junkyard. Yes, there’s a specialty junkyard just for truck parts here. I think they prefer the term “recycler” rather than junkyard. Anyway, it fit perfectly, was the wrong color, but that was easily rectified with two or three rattle-cans of spray paint. And since it was from a Northern California truck, no rust. At the time it was quite inexpensive, about $100 I think for the replacement tailgate. I doubt price is available now, but it is still likely the most economical method. Look in the yellow pages under auto-recyclers.

16

“was the wrong color, but that was easily rectified with two or three rattle-cans of spray paint”.
I wouldn’t paint a mismatched body part. A mismatched color of a replacement part won’t affect the gas mileage. It makes the vehicle less attractive to thieves. I keep vehicles so long that a mismatched body part doesn’t affect the price at the recycle yard. I had a cyst removed from my neck. The surgeon said he would try to leave a scar. Mrs. Triedaq wanted him to leave a scar to make me less attractive to other women. I wanted a scar to prove I had been through something.

17

I hear ya. Just after my hernia surgery we went to Germany. I practiced (might be off a little its been a while) “Fraulein, machen sie meine narben sehen?” (Young lady, would you like to see my scars?) Got a few laughs but no takers. My wife was not impressed.