I must say at the beginning of this review that I've never purchased the services of an auto appraiser before; but I do know a lot about automobiles, classic cars and how to repair them.
I was interested in a '64 Chevrolet Impala restomod in the Charlotte area and because I live in Minnesota, I couldn't readily just "hop on over" to RK Motors; so I hired Mr. Manning at a cost of $450.
That included him driving the car, taking photos and writing a report on it. In other words, he was suppose to be my eyes and ears.
Mr. Manning promptly went to RK Motors and drove the car (they only allow driving any vehicle in their parking lot, about 1/8 mile-no street driving).
I got many photos from him. Most were good, some were out of focus or without a flash. I suspect he was using his phone, but I don't know.
He also had two extremely short videos of the engine running. During that footage I could hear a slight knocking/ticking in the engine. That usually means something is wrong on the top end of the engine-such as a push rod or valve.
Mr. Manning didn't mention that, nor is it mentioned in his report. I brought it up to him and he admitted he also heard it. He heard it, but apparently wasn't even going to tell me about it until I mentioned it. That's kinda important. It's the engine for Pete's sake.
I decided not to buy the Impala, but wanted the report to just see what they are like; and I paid for it.
After closing in on a month I emailed him asking if he was going to send one, and he promptly did.
The 15 page report actually had 6 pages of anything useful. The majority was "lawyer" stuff. The report simply had the basics of the car. It didn't even verify that the 327 cu. in. in the car was the one it was "born" with; or that it was a genuine SS model and such. There were two colorful pages where items were listed off and a check mark in a column from POOR to EXCELLENT was checked. The other information was about what you would receive from RK Motors.
In MY opinion, this gentleman's service wasn't worth $450.
I see in another review that he/she was given a 20 page review. Mine was 15 pages, but 9 were filled with waivers and such; like I'm not responsible for anything.
I personally could have done a much better appraisal; in my opinion. But then again I was looking for someone with much more experience and expertise than me. I did not see that in MY interactions with Mr. Manning.
Maybe you'll have better luck. read more