Update: I can't find any youtube videos on replacing the exterior door panel, so maybe it's not as easy as I thought. I also found two car part yards I'm going to check out:

http://www.demol-auto.ch/

and 

http://www.avrupp.ch/Francais/francais.html

Callie

How about you travel across the border into France and ask a Carosserie here whether the exorbitant amount to be paid in CH could be much less? There are lots of carosseries in our neighbourhood. If you need further help, just let us know. Just a thought.

Not sure if it helps much but if the car is a standard color I'm almost sure that you can order the door painted from the manufacturer. If you choose to install it yourself you can save on the labour cost. However removing and replacing the door panel, insulation, speakers, window lowering system and balancing everything to work and close correctly will be a challenge to say the least.

Thank you for your pertinent comments, Catalin.

It’s often a mystery to me that some highly educated folk who will, understandably, expect to have a lucrative career path can baulk at paying the skill of a manual worker who is worthy of his hire.

When one considers all that is required in replacing a damaged door, and the tune it involves, the quoted cost of a professional repair doesn’t seem all that exorbitant.

In any case, who will want to purchase a second-hand car with a DIY replacemend door?

R.

Thanks Sheila and Catalin for your input. My husband got a quote from another garage and they confirmed the $1k+ quote. I think we're just going to do that and work it out through insurance.

Ritchie, your comment assumes a couple things that I don't appreciate. Most physicists I know have modest but certainly not "lucrative" careers (industry or engineering pays higher). And secondly, I'm not baulking at paying someone for their job or questioning their worth. I simply want to be informed, and when repairs are manageable I prefer to do them myself. I grew up in a low-middle class family in which my dad fixed most things himself, with the help of instruction from friends or instruction manuals. It seems here the the Swiss prefer to hire a professional for everything, at higher cost and seemingly without much pricing competition. But sometimes it is unnecessary (case in point: Our leaky bathroom faucets that the regies have yet to repair after four months and two plumbers coming in to do estimates. I could have done it myself in an afternoon, but that doesn't seem to be the way things are done here, so we are still wasting water..)

Old World Europe does NOT have a DIY mentality.  They have a litany of excuses for not getting their hands dirty.  In the colonies, I'd just visit a wrecking yard and buy an entire door assembly; glass, panels, electronics, and all.  Over here?  I think I'd go the insurance route.  It kills me to say this but working on your own car around here is a frustrating, head-banging Sisyphean climb and I've been avoiding it as much as I can.  This is coming from a guy who lifted and armored his own Jeep back in California.  Just getting your hands on speciality tools in Switzerland requires an act of parliament.  :-(

Richard has put it in a nutshell and confirms the old adage “when in Rome ...”

And in similar fashion, you could go to ASLOCA for help about your plumbing problem.

All the best, R.

If your french is ok you could get quotes from the french countryside south of Annecy and have a nice weekend trip going there. The prices right across the border aren't really much lower. 

Thanks Sebastian, good advice. Richard, your reply made me LAUGH! I think you have hit it spot on, as Ritchie said! Re the plumbing, I think I'll just keep calling the regie once a month and see out of curiosity how long it takes them to actually deal with the problem.

Thanks all, glocals is a great forum for interesting people and perspectives :)

I think at CERN there is a car-repair club of DYI enthusiasts who have tools and knowledge to possibly help you fixing the thing or suggesting cheaper options. Perhaps it's worth a try, if you are associated with CERN or know somebody who is.

-D. 

To be honest... the price is crazy...

If the damage is not to big.. accept it.. it will not be the last one ;-)

My car from survived 6 years without scratches in Germany. Six weeks in Switzerland and all the doors were dented by my nice colleagues in the company parking lot....

What would help.. In order to reduce the scratches to the paint, you could sanded with wet sandpaper and then polish ... I do this with my car or other cars .. but in Zurich