Harry's Appraisals
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Classic and collector car pre-purchase inspections in Michigan

A pre-purchase inspection is having somebody look at the car before you buy it. Harold Bloomer drives to the vehicle, goes over it properly, photographs everything, and sends you a written report before you wire the money. $500, flat.

It matters most on the car you can't get to yourself — the listing two states away where the photos look right, the seller sounds reasonable, and the only thing missing is somebody standing next to it.

Request an inspectionOr call (269) 680-7706

White Porsche 911 GT3 RS in profile against a gray brick wall

Who this is for

Cars where being wrong is expensive:

  • Classic, collector, and muscle cars, where condition and originality are most of the value and neither shows up in a listing.
  • Restomods, custom builds, and restorations, where the quality of the work is the car.
  • Cars you're buying remotely, on somebody else's description.
  • Auction cars, where bidding closes whether or not you've seen it.

Buying a $9,000 commuter across town? Shops in Grand Rapids will look it over for around $175, and that's the right tool for that job. This is for the car where a missed frame repair costs you five figures.

What Harold looks at

Five areas, in person. It isn't a checklist read off a clipboard — it's someone who has had cars like this apart since 2018 checking whether the work in front of him was done properly.

Body, paint, and panel fit. Panel gaps, paint that doesn't match in the right light, overspray where nobody bothered to mask, filler where there should be steel.

Structure and underbody. Rust, and where it actually starts on that model. Frame and unibody repair. Floors, rockers, rails. A previous impact straightened rather than replaced.

Mechanical condition. Engine, drivetrain, brakes, suspension, cooling, leaks. What runs, what's tired, and what's about to become your problem.

Interior and electrical. Trim, glass, seals, upholstery, gauges, switchgear — cheap to check, painful to source later.

Originality and documentation. Numbers, tags, date codes, and whether the paperwork matches the car. On a collector vehicle that's often where the money is.

What you get

InspectionMany points, in person, by Harold
PhotographsMany photographs, including what listings never show
ReportA comprehensive written report
TurnaroundWithin 1 business day
Price$500, flat

The report says what was found, what condition each area is in, and what it would take to put right — in language you can hand a seller mid-negotiation, which is often where it ends up.

One thing a pure inspection service can't give you: Harold appraises cars for a living, so the report doesn't stop at what's wrong with it. It can tell you what the car is worth in the condition it's actually in. Buy it, then need a documented value for an agreed-value policy, and that's a prior to loss appraisal with the groundwork already done.

Buying from out of state

This is what the inspection is best at.

You're in Arizona. The car is in West Michigan. You won't spend two days and a plane ticket on a car you might not buy, and you won't wire five figures on eleven photographs and a phone call.

Harold is local to the car. You get photographs of what a seller doesn't photograph — the underside, inner fenders, trunk floor, door jambs, the engine bay from unflattering angles — and you decide with what you'd have seen standing there yourself.

A serious seller with a good car has no reason to refuse. How they react tells you something either way.

What happens if it's bad

You find out for $500 instead of for $45,000.

Harold isn't buying the car, selling it, or taking a commission either way. Sometimes it checks out. Sometimes you walk. Sometimes you go back to the seller with a documented list and a different number. All three are the inspection working.

Documented inspections

1969 Chevrolet Camaro

What happened

A customer found a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro for sale more than 500 miles away. The seller’s listing ran more than 150 photographs — a numbers-matching car in Garnet Red, with the “Hockey Stick” stripe package, the D80 spoiler option, and a factory air conditioning system updated to R134. The buyer still wanted someone to look at the car in person before buying it.

What the inspection found

Harold’s multipoint, in-depth inspection covered the whole car. It turned up a leaking transmission — a problem none of the listing’s 150-plus photographs showed.

How it was documented

Harold photographed the leak and wrote it into the inspection report, the same as every other finding. Then he and the customer got on a follow-up call to go through the results.

Outcome

The customer negotiated a better purchase price, backed by a documented, photographed defect instead of just a listing.

Red 1969 Chevrolet Camaro convertible with the top down, parked outside a tan metal building
Photographs of the 1969 Chevrolet Camaro taken during the appraisal.

Pricing

$500, flat — inspection, photographs, report. No hourly rate, no percentage, no quote process. Almost nobody in this industry publishes an inspection price at all, so here it is up front, alongside everything else Harry's charges.

Travel. Not folded silently into the price — if your location changes anything, Harold says so on the call, before you book.

Where Harold works

Out of 5723 Division Ave S, Grand Rapids, MI 49548, and out to the car anywhere in West Michigan — Grand Rapids, Wyoming, Kentwood, Grandville, Holland, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, and the lakeshore.

Questions people ask

What does a pre-purchase inspection include?
An in-person inspection covering body and paint, structure and underbody, mechanical condition, interior and electrical, and originality and documentation. It’s carried out by Harold Bloomer, a licensed Michigan vehicle dealer, and delivered as a written report with many photographs. $500.
How much does a pre-purchase inspection cost in Michigan?
Harry’s Appraisals charges $500, flat, for a classic or collector car inspection in West Michigan. Inspections on ordinary used cars run about $130 to $220 locally; the difference is an in-person inspection by an appraiser, on a vehicle where condition carries most of the value.
Can you inspect a car for me if I live out of state?
Yes, and it’s a large part of this work. Harold drives to the vehicle in West Michigan, inspects it, photographs it, and sends the report wherever you are. You don’t need to be present.
How long does it take to get the report?
Typically within 1 business day of the inspection. Booking usually depends on the seller’s availability more than Harold’s.
Do you inspect ordinary used cars, or only classics?
Both — but be honest about the car. At $500 this is aimed at collector vehicles, custom builds, restorations, and remote purchases. For a $9,000 daily driver across town, a local shop inspection at a fraction of the price is the better call.
Will you tell me not to buy the car?
He’ll tell you what’s wrong with it and what correcting that would take — the decision stays yours. Harold isn’t buying the car, selling it, or brokering it, so nothing pushes the answer either way.

Book an inspection

Send the listing, the VIN, and where the car is. Harold will tell you whether he can get to it and when.

Request an inspectionCall (269) 680-7706

5723 Division Ave S, Grand Rapids, MI 49548