A protective shell protects an interior door panel of a vehicle having an inner face with a protruding door pull defining a door well for receiving a user's fingers and a door sill leading to a window opening. The protective shell has a deformable sheet of hard plastic with an exposed side and a reverse side, the reverse side being profiled to fit over the inner face of the vehicle door interior panel. An outwardly directed top surface portion rests on the door sill. A protrusion on the exposed side of the deformable sheet encloses the vehicle door pull. A locking well extends downwardly from an upper ledge of the door pull and is responsive to downward pressure on the upper ledge to fit snugly into the door well to hold the protective shell securely in position on the interior door panel.