Agreed value and prior to loss appraisals in Michigan
A prior to loss appraisal is a documented value on file for a car you own now, while it's still sitting in your garage in one piece. $350, flat.
If your vehicle has already been damaged or totaled, this isn't the page you want.
Establishing what a car was worth in the middle of an active claim is a total loss appraisal — same appraiser, same $350, different document.
It exists because of one common problem: the money you've put into a car is invisible to anyone who hasn't seen it. Four years of work, a drivetrain swap, an interior, a paint job that cost more than the car did — none of it appears in a valuation guide, and in a claim, undocumented value is treated as though it doesn't exist.
Who this is for
Modified, custom, and restomod builds. The strongest case by a distance. No guide has an entry for what you built, and if the car is destroyed with nothing behind it but your word and a folder of receipts, the conversation about value starts from a bad place.
Restored cars. A proper restoration and a tired original of the same year and model can differ by a multiple, and nothing in the vehicle's description separates them.
Cars that have appreciated. The market moved, the paperwork didn't.
Vehicles above a carrier's no-appraisal threshold, and stated-value policies that require you to substantiate the figure.
An honest note before you spend $350
A lot of people don't need this. Several collector-car insurers, including the largest, write agreed-value coverage from photographs alone. For a stock, guide-listed classic on a specialty policy, an appraisal is frequently unnecessary. Call your agent first. If they don't need one, don't buy one.
Where it earns its money is the modified and custom end, where the photograph-based process runs out of road — a car that isn't stock, isn't in any guide, and can't be valued against similar ones, because there aren't any.
Agreed value and stated value
Not the same thing, and the difference only shows up when you claim. Agreed value pays the figure you and the insurer settled on. Stated value typically pays the lesser of your figure or the car's actual cash value — so you can end up back where you started, arguing actual cash value with an adjuster.
Wording varies between carriers and the policy governs, so read yours.
What Harold does
Inspects the vehicle in person. Photographs the build, the work, the condition. Researches what comparable vehicles have sold for, where comparable ones exist. Then writes a valuation report giving what the car is worth today and how that figure was reached. It's dated, which matters — on an appreciating car, an old appraisal is worth progressively less.
Harold has run a restoration and repair business since 2018 and is a licensed Michigan vehicle dealer, which in Michigan is what's required to perform appraisals. More about Harold.
What it costs
$350, flat, the same as an insurance or total loss appraisal. A numbers-matching survivor and a ten-year-old sedan are charged identically, because the same report gets written for both. Full pricing is here.
Where Harold works
Grand Rapids and West Michigan, out of 5723 Division Ave S, Grand Rapids, MI 49548. Farther out than that? Ask before you book — it costs nothing to check.
Questions people ask
- What is a prior to loss appraisal?
- A documented valuation carried out before any loss occurs, so the owner has an evidenced figure on file if the car is later damaged, stolen, or destroyed. It’s most often used to support agreed-value or stated-value insurance on modified, restored, or collector vehicles that standard guides don’t cover. Harry’s Appraisals charges $350.
- Do I need an appraisal to get agreed value insurance?
- Frequently not. Several collector-car insurers, including the largest, write agreed-value coverage from photographs and don’t require one. An appraisal becomes necessary on modified, custom, and restomod vehicles with no guide value, on vehicles above a carrier’s no-appraisal threshold, and where a stated-value policy requires substantiation. Ask your agent first.
- What’s the difference between agreed value and stated value?
- Agreed value means the insurer and the owner settle on a figure when the policy is written, and that’s what a total loss pays. Stated value generally means the policy pays the lesser of your stated figure or the vehicle’s actual cash value at the time of loss — so the stated figure may not be what’s paid. Wording varies between carriers and the policy governs.
- How often should an appraisal be updated?
- Every few years, and after any significant work. An appraisal describes a vehicle at a point in time, so on a car that’s appreciating or still being built, an older one becomes progressively less useful. Some carriers set their own requirements.
- My car isn’t finished yet. Can it still be appraised?
- Yes — a car mid-build is exactly the case this service is for. There’s no guide value for a vehicle that doesn’t match its factory spec yet, and the money already put into it isn’t documented anywhere else. Harold appraises it in its current state, with a follow-up appraisal once the build is finished.
Get a value on file
Tell Harold what the car is and what's been done to it. If an appraisal isn't what you need, he'll say so.