This week I took a chance and bought a '14 JKU rollover from an insurance auction. I'm starting this thread to track my progress and honestly, help me keep track of the build many months to come (my memory isn't as good as it used to be). Tentative plan is to build an affordable trail toy that I can still take out on the road around town.

Here's what I know about the JKU - it's 2014, auto, no key, D30/D44, lots of damage. I have no idea if it runs or any indication of mileage at this point. From the damage, I believe it fell backwards and then landed on its passenger side...but hell, I could be completely off. Hood, side and rear gate are thrashed. Open to theories here...

Anyway, my first step - get a key. I need to make sure it runs before I start spending $ on other repairs. I'm heading over to the local Jeep dealer on Saturday morning with Jeep on my trailer to get a key. It's around $200 for the key & programming.

Here's the starting point:

 

That looks like it has potential to be a fun project. Do you mind me asking generally what something like that costs to buy?

 

i would pull the plugs and then turn it over before just trying to start it

 

This looks like fun! Looking forward to reading updates. Pretty high profit margin at $200 for a key, but that's what happens when technology has a single source solution...

 

Oh that will buff out, duct tape, band-aids and super glue. besides hit the trails someone would think you've got miles of off road experience under your belt.

 

With auctions, pricing is all over the place. I'd say an average would be around 50% of retail value. Biggest factor at auction is competitive bidders. For this one, another bidder and I went back and forth for a bit. If he wasn't there, it could have been really cheap. Regardless, my overall budget all-in is roughly $20k. Let's hope I stay under....

 

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3 out of 4 rims is not bad at all... lol. I would just hold of on the 200 dollar key... Pull the plugs then go ahead and hot wire it. Its not like your gonna mess it up.

 

Took the Jeep over to the dealer on Saturday am as planned. When the tech finally came out to program a key, he noticed the original key was broken off in the column. The key is set in the on position. Hmm, that explains why the battery was dead. Not sure how I missed that; probably because it's been raining here for a week and Sat was the first time I'd really seen the Jeep in the daylight. Regardless, I felt like an idiot. It happens. But, I'll know to look next time I buy a vehicle w/o a key (and you will too).

In better news, the service rep gave me the key which works the doors and I scheduled an appt to go back next Saturday to replace the ignition cylinder. While I was there they ran the vin # and we learned the Jeep is still under warranty until Nov. WHAT??? Score. If I have any mechanical issues, I'll just need to clean up the body work before bringing it back in (they photograph/scan all vehicles in service shop but not mine as it was on the trailer in the parking lot). Bonus, they printed out all of the maintenance and service records for me too. So, I left the dealer with my paperwork, warranty, key and no bill. They cut me a deal on programming the key and replacing the ignition cylinder - $175 all-in. I'm good with this as I'll retain factory setup. Last service mileage was 44k. Should know more next Saturday.

Thanks for all the posts so far. I thought about hot wiring the jeep, but decided against it for now. Biggest reason here - I'm also in the process of remodeling our kitchen and guest bathroom, so figured I'd just wait another week on the jeep and work on the house to keep my lady happy. This strategy will help me more when large boxes start showing up with parts....

 

Hey any updates? I just got one from a rollover too.

 

Yes. Updates!