Harold Bloomer — auto appraiser, Grand Rapids
Harold Bloomer has run an auto restoration and repair business in Grand Rapids since March 2018. The appraisal work grew out of it.
That order matters. He didn't learn what cars are worth from a valuation guide. He learned it from having them apart. Pulling panels off, chasing rust back to where it starts, sourcing parts for cars that stopped being made before the internet — that's an education in condition, originality, and what work costs, which is another way of saying an education in value.
Most of what's wrong with an automated valuation is a condition problem, an options problem, or a work-that-was-never-counted problem. Those are what somebody who repairs cars notices first.
The shop
5723 Division Ave S, Grand Rapids, MI 49548. Appraisal customers can be received there, and Harold travels to the vehicle across West Michigan — Wyoming, Kentwood, Grandville, Holland, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, and out to the lakeshore.
The phone is (269) 680-7706, and Harold answers it himself. No call center, no intake team, nobody who'll pass you along. That's a smaller operation than the national platforms competing for the same searches, which is the point — those platforms don't have a name or a face anywhere on them.
The credential
Harold is a licensed Michigan vehicle dealer. In Michigan that license is what's required to perform vehicle appraisals; the state doesn't license auto appraisers as a category of their own, which is worth knowing when you compare what appraisers say they hold.
He does not work for insurance companies. Not as a staff appraiser, not on contract, not on a panel. Every report is written for the person who owns the vehicle, and the fee is the same $350 whether a claim moves by $500 or by $12,000 — so nobody has a reason to shade a number either way.
What he does
Total loss and insurance appraisals — $350. For owners whose insurer has totaled a vehicle and put a number on it that doesn't hold up.
Pre-purchase inspections — $500. For buyers, frequently out of state, who need somebody to look at a car properly before the money moves.
Prior to loss and agreed value appraisals — $350. For owners who want a documented value on file before anything happens.
Roughly half the work is inspections and half is insurance appraisals. Most of the vehicles are classic, custom, or collectible — a category that runs through all three services, not a service of its own.
Cars only, including trucks and SUVs. Not motorcycles, boats, RVs, or heavy equipment.
What the work has done
A 2003 Toyota Tundra the insurer valued at $880 settled at $3,300. A 1990 BMW 325i offered $10,800 settled at $20,286. Both documented, both published with the owner's consent. The rest are here.
"I got into cars when I was about ten, working on a 1967 Chevelle SS with my old man. Working on that old iron showed me how much craftsmanship went into cars back then, and it's since spiraled into my own personal obsession with all things automotive."
— Harold Bloomer
Talk to Harold
Call, or send the vehicle details through the form. Either way it reaches him directly, and nothing about the first conversation costs anything.