T-bone accident to driver's side. Body shop cannot seem to source the correct new part from Chrysler for the driver's side door sill. They say the part (ordered it twice) keeps coming up 4"short. They're working with the dealer and Chrysler to figure it out. Meanwhile my Jeep's been in the shop since Dec 4, and I want it back. My guess is a part number mixup. If anyone can provide insight I'd appreciate it. The alternatives are a junkyard part or custom fabrication using two of the "wrong" parts.

 

Wow sorry bout the damage. Now why would they have your jeep stripped down so much to repair what seems as minimal damage. From what I see in the pics anyways. Good luck.

 

They had to take the body off the frame to get to the floorboards from below or something like that for welding/straightening. Yeah, it's a bit disconcerting to see. Thinking about getting the whole vehicle sprayed with a matte clear coat since it's already at this level of disassembly.

 

It's odd that Chrysler can provide the right part by dad has to get the can of his truck cut in half and new half welded on.... They had his truck from May 6th till Aug 10th. All summer he was out his truck. Turned out great cant even tell. It took too long though if u ask me. Glad u weren't hurt tho, I hope they get u back on the road soon!

 

Wow, I've been in the body shop business for about 8 years now and I've NEVER seen a vehicle stripped down so far for a repair. The cost of labor just to take it apart and put it together would easily total it, never mind the repairs and parts. The insurance company must be getting a KILLER deal on labor.

I wouldn't hesitate to find used parts. Used parts are factory parts too, just dirty

 

What hit you? That does seem really extreme to tear it that far apart.

 

I was hit square-on by a full-size Dodge truck. Total damage is under $8K. I'm assuming most of that is labor for the strip-down. Front driver's fender, driver's door skin, driver's door window motor and heated mirror parts, driver's front wheel, front door sill, cross-member, full left a-pillar between doors, rear door sill and rear fender all replaced - plus misc mounts, alignment, etc.

Hard part for me is imagining they get it all put back together without missing something or introducing other problems. Accident was my fault, so unfortunately I cannot ask to be compensated for Diminished Value.

Alignment will be done after vehicle body is finished, but might need to replace any bent steering components that may add to the cost. (Steering wheel was not straight after accident). Going to ask for insurance to total it, but with under $10k in damage on an over-$30k vehicle, it's unlikely I would assume. Only chance of totaling it I may have would be to argue that on top of the body work they may have unknown drivetrain damage to add once vehicle is reassembled, alignment done, and road tested.

 

Wow.....that's a tough hit to take. The typical "total" value is 75% of the vehicle's value, but even then it'll be tough to ask for a total. Also, once they've started the work usually they won't stop mid-way and total it (at least in my experience).

 

It's not hard to total a $30k vehicle at all. At out shop, $8000 doesn't get you a frame sep, full interior gut, etc. just as am example, a quarter panel replacement is usually about 10 hours. The total body labor for disassembly, repair, reassemble, frame rack set up, pulls, etc is usually going to be 40 hours. Add another 15 hours of paint and that's 55 hours @ $72 per hour. That's $4k in labor plus parts and paint materials. $5k to $6k is our typical cost for a quarter panel replacement, and that's the cost to our contract insurance companies. I don't see how the estimate to fix that Jeep, that extensively could come in anywhere under $15k on the low side. We wouldn't have even taken it apart. It's a total easy. Not going to total now that the shop has started it, unless they try to write a $12k supplement, at which time the shop just wasted a ton of time.

I'm actually gonna email those pics to my boss. I'm curious to see what he says about it.

 

Thanks. Yeah, it's a local chain with a good rep and not even Geico's preferred vendor. I was surprised, too, at the low cost for that amount of work. Maybe the hourly rate is lower here. I'll have to check the estimate when I get back home.