Anyone bought a salvage vehicle for parts?

[mfreund]

I have a 2002 Chevy 2500 hd. I cannot afford to replace the vehicle anytime soon. The rust monster is really working on the bottom of the extended cab doors. There is a Copart salvage yard within 2 miles of my house. I was thinking i would watch their web site for a totaled vehicle of the same colors, bid on it and swap out the doors. If you buy the doors from a auto recycler they want 500 each.

Has anyone bought from Copart USA - The Source for Online Car Auctions - Home Page these guys?

Should I have the doors fixed at a body shop, buy new? Any recomendations?

 

[not2old]

Seems steep to me considering I bought a new door for my 1990 Ford for about $125.00. I've bought used ones for $35.00 at Pick-a-part.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have a 2002 Chevy 2500 hd. I cannot afford to replace the vehicle anytime soon. The rust monster is really working on the bottom of the extended cab doors. There is a Copart salvage yard within 2 miles of my house. I was thinking i would watch their web site for a totaled vehicle of the same colors, bid on it and swap out the doors. If you buy the doors from a auto recycler they want 500 each. Has anyone bought from Copart USA - The Source for Online Car Auctions - Home Page these guys? Should I have the doors fixed at a body shop, buy new? Any recomendations?

If the rust is that bad your doors are the least of your problems. Frame, brake lines, oil pan, ect. I would make sure you really want to keep it.

Chris

 

[Looking4new]

Most of your parts jobbers sell body tin, pop rivets, and either fiberglass kits or bondo. Not to mention paint. Get the stuff and do it yourself. IF the jobbers don't have the stuff, they can direct you to someone that does.

 

[94BULLITT]

Just because a vehicle is the same color does not mean it will match. Some colors have over 20 variations.

Honestly if the truck is rust in the doors it is probably rusting in other places like Chris said. You would probably be better off in the long run to get rid of now before it gets really bad.

Can you buy patch panels for the doors?

 

[Looking4new]

Yup and you can get lower door bottoms too. Rocker panels as well.
Dog legs and lower cab corners.

 

[D7E]

I buy a lot of parts vehicles from insurance salvage auctions . I've bought a few to rebuild over the years too . A truck like yours would make around $6-800 salvage here as scrap is so high right now .

 

[dodge man]

Like others have said how is the rest of the truck? When I bought my truck I had rust in the rockers and over the rear wheels. I crawled all over this truck to make sure the frame is solid and there weren't a lot of other problems. I spent about 3k getting this fixed and it will probably pop up again some place else in the future. I've have battled rust on classic cars in the past rust never sleeps but it can be repaired and done well. You just have to decide if its worth the money or not.

As far as body works goes, unless you don't care how the truck looks leave it to a good body shop. A good body shop will use bondo(body filler) but it will be a thin skim coat over new sheet metal. Patch panels are probably your best bet. As far as buying a junker its possible that would work out well. The paint may or may not match. There might be other parts you could use off of it. Do you have a place to store it long term? The problem is its a popular body style and used body parts are probably still in demand. In 10 years they will be a lot cheaper.

 

[bigtiller]

There is a local guy here that did that, except he didn't worry too much about the color. He had a white car and he ended up putting black doors and hood on it from the junk yard. At first glance it looks like a cop car.

 

[flyerdan]

I'm a big fan of having a parts vehicle if you have room and can buy it right. Not only for body parts, but if you need a radiator or alternator it's right there for the grabbing.