{"id":63719,"date":"2019-07-12T07:35:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T14:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=63719"},"modified":"2019-07-18T11:08:05","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T18:08:05","slug":"evaluating-your-project-car-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/evaluating-your-project-car-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"jetpack-slideshow-noscript robots-nocontent\">This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p><div id=\"gallery-63719-1-slideshow\" class=\"jetpack-slideshow-window jetpack-slideshow jetpack-slideshow-black\" data-trans=\"fade\" data-autostart=\"1\" data-gallery=\"[{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Judge-1-min-1.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63721&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Rewind to last issue and you\\u2019ll recall we addressed appraising a car (part one of this series discussed a personal experience I had with appraisal). That article showed the basics of a stationary evaluation. If it passes (and looks reasonably safe!), it can be started and, if possible, test driven. More below. Next week, I\\u0026#8217;ll key you in on the best ways to find information on getting your build done to perfection. But first, I\\u2019ll share a long distance shipping experience with you. You might be surprised!\\n\\nStart the Car! \\n\\nIn many, many cases, the appraiser (or you) cannot take the car for a test drive. There might be a lot of reasons for this \\u2013 no insurance or registration, not roadworthy, poor weather and\\\/or road conditions and so on. But if the car passes all of the items in a stationary inspection, the next step is to check the operation of everything electrical \\u0026#8211; lights, horn, fan, radio, windows, wipers, etc. Once that is complete, check the fluids and start the car; check the operation of engine, transmission, brakes, park brake, accessories (for example, the air conditioning) and so on. The appraiser will inspect gauge operation, carefully examine the odometer (to see if there\\u2019s evidence of a rollback) and with the owner\\u2019s permission, check operation of the transmission, check for unusual drive train noises, leaks, exhaust system performance and the like.\\n\\nWith many appraisals, this is usually the time the car gets photographed. Typically, the appraiser photographs the good and the bad. And with digital cameras, it\\u2019s not hard to shoot 25-50 photos of a given car. Obviously when it comes to photos, the more, the better.\\n\\nHow Much Does It Cost?\\n\\nSo how much will all of this cost you? Depending upon the appraisal company, expect to pay between $250 and $500 for a quality appraisal. And depending upon the location of the car (and the location of the appraiser), you might have to pay travel mileage expenses. For that money, you likely won\\u2019t receive a blow-by-blow list of matching numbers. It takes way more time to research and document absolute correctness, and you can expect to pay much more for that type of service. Instead, you should receive a comprehensive report on the condition and overall originality of the car. You should also receive a number of high-resolution photos along with comments on what needs work.\\n\\nThe Real Bottom Line\\u2026\\n\\nIs the appraisal process worth it? Just ask me! I spent well over four times the cost of a good appraiser to personally visit that misrepresented Buick T-Type in Texas. A few days later, a stunning T-Type turned up in Florida. I learned my lesson: I hired an appraiser with Buick experience (along with big volume insurance company experience). The car checked out perfectly. $300 for an appraisal definitely beats flying completely across the continent. And by the way, that Florida Buick ended up in my garage.\\n\\nFor a closer look, see the accompanying photos. If you\\u2019ve found a long distance love affair, hire a good appraiser. It\\u2019ll be worth every nickel.\\n\\nThe Long Distance Checklist\\u2026\\n\\nSEARCH \\u2013 Finding the Car\\n\\n\\t\\t\\u0026#8211; Print resources\\n\\t\\t\\u0026#8211; Internet resources\\n\\nINSPECTION \\u2013 Checking Out the Car\\n\\n\\t\\t\\u0026#8211; High resolution photos of the car\\n\\t\\t\\u0026#8211; Close up photo of the VIN\\n\\t\\t\\u0026#8211; Photo copies of all paperwork, including the Title\\n\\t\\t\\u0026#8211; Compare Title to VIN\\n\\t\\t\\u0026#8211; Hire an appraiser to evaluate the car\\n\\t\\t\\u0026#8211; Contact a friend or acquaintance to check out the car\\n\\t\\t\\u0026#8211; Fly in or drive in to examine the car\\n\\t\\t\\u0026#8211; Google the seller\\u2019s name, address, telephone number\\n\\t\\t\\u0026#8211; Cross reference the seller\\u2019s phone number with the telephone \\n company, checking street address\\n\\t\\t\\u0026#8211; Zoom into the street address with Google Earth or Google Maps\\n\\u0026#8211; If necessary, have the title searched for liens (Car Fax and other \\ncompanies offer this service for a minimal fee)\\n\\nPURCHASE \\u2013 Dealing with the Money\\n\\n\\u0026#8211; Down Payment \\n    \\u2022 Credit card down payment\\n    \\u2022 Paypal down payment\\n    \\u2022 Wire transfer down payment\\n    \\u2022 Cashier\\u2019s check down payment\\n\\u0026#8211; Final Payment \\n    \\u2022 Cash \\n    \\u2022 Cashier\\u2019s check\\n    \\u2022 Personal check\\n    \\u2022 Wire transfer\\n    \\u2022 Escrow service\\n    \\u2022 Paypal\\n    \\u2022 Money forwarded to close friend or associate who turns the money over to the seller and in turn, takes possession of the car\\n\\u0026#8211; Title, spare keys and other paperwork sent to you by way of Fed-Ex or other courier \\n\\nSHIP IT \\u2013 Getting the Car Home\\n\\n\\u0026#8211; Drive it home yourself from the purchase location\\n\\n\\u0026#8211; Rent a truck and trailer at the location of the car and haul home\\n\\n\\u0026#8211; Have a friend or acquaintance haul the car\\n\\n\\u0026#8211; Trucking companies (see the accompanying sidebar)\\n\\n\\u0026#8211; Insurance \\u2013 buy transport insurance. It\\u2019s critical!&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Sidebar-_1_-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63730&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;\\u201cNightmare Transport\\u201d&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;A few years ago, I purchased a (super) low mileage 1969 Nova from a dealer in the Southwest and, as mentioned earlier, I live in the Pacific Northwest. I had to get the car from point A to point B. I checked various companies for rates and also asked the dealer if they had someone local they used regularly and trusted. They did. The dealer also figured they could get me a discount on the transport costs. Bonus! I booked the transport through the dealer, and my only stipulation was that the same folks who owned the transport company would haul the car.\\n\\nGoing into it, I knew that the car would be torn down in short order and repainted (it was a low mileage piece but had a mediocre paint job once in a past life, and I knew going in there was some prior damage to the right side of the car \\u2013 but I certainly didn\\u2019t know the extent of the damage \\u2013 see last week\\u2019s issue for the inside story). Because of that, I decided the $600 difference between an enclosed and an open hauler wasn\\u2019t worth it. I went with the open hauler. My only other request was that the car be top loaded at the front of the trailer. So far so good. I had the telephone number of the transport company. They provided me with the cell phone number of the driver. I was to make contact a day or so into the haul to arrange the drop-off.\\n\\nThe driver was a day late picking up the car (thus far, I was still talking to the original trucking company dispatcher). I chalked it up to weather (49 states had snow that winter), but things started to unravel quickly from this point. I made contact with who I thought was the driver. His accent easily gave him away as a Russian ex-pat from Brooklyn, New York. I couldn\\u2019t hear any trucks or traffic in the background. As it turns out, he wasn\\u2019t the driver at all. Instead, he was supposedly the \\u201cdispatcher\\u201d for another trucking company. For the sake of this article, let\\u2019s call it \\u201cNightmare Transport.\\u201d Somehow my stipulation about who hauled the car was ignored. The car-hauling outfit I had contracted with (through the dealer) had subcontracted the job. Things were going from bad to worse.\\n\\nNow, I live on an island. To speed up the process, I had called the Nightmare Transport \\u201cdispatcher\\u201d and made arrangements to meet the transport on the mainland in Washington state on a specific date. I rented a trailer from U-haul, hooked it to my pickup truck and jumped on the ferry. When I reached the meeting point, I called the dispatcher again. The response was dismal \\u2013 they were late. I tried to determine how late, late really was. The dispatcher couldn\\u2019t (or wouldn\\u2019t) say). To make a long story short, the truck eventually ended up being 72 hours late. I had to stay in a hotel room for three nights waiting for the car.\\n\\nThe car ended up being delivered at 5:30 AM on a Sunday (dark o\\u2019clock). The Nova was top loaded all right \\u2013 loaded at the very back of the open trailer, where it was blasted by salt and sand for the better part of a week. It was absolutely filthy. Inside, it wasn\\u2019t much better, and it looked like the trunk was used to haul stuff (there was a considerable amount of broken brown Bakelite in the trunk \\u0026#8211; where that came from is anyone\\u0026#8217;s guess). And to throw salt on my wound, one tire was flat and the gas tank was bone dry. \\n\\nBut before the car could be unloaded, the driver and co-driver (both of whom barely spoke English, making things even harder) demanded a $500 \\u201cunloading fee.\\u201d I pulled out my cell phone and asked both of them if \\u201cNine-One-One\\u201d was the right number for the police. As I started to punch in the numbers, they both proclaimed they\\u2019d made a mistake. The two eventually saw the errors of their ways and helped push the Nova to my truck and trailer (likely more concerned about the potential for police intervention than actually making amends for their \\u201cmistake?\\u201d). Given how much hidden damage was actually in the car, it was a portent of things to come.\\n \\nIn the end, because of staying in a hotel room for three nights, meals, trailer rental for an extra three days and missing a day of work, I was out well in excess of $800 (over and above the original quote to move the car). That doesn\\u2019t take into account the fact that I had at least a dozen different delivery times scheduled over a three-day period. Stress was eating me alive (at one point late Saturday, I was sure the car was stolen, and my contact at the trucking company I originally contracted with concurred). I could have used a big name reliable hauler to move the car. And it would have been enclosed. To date, the original trucking company has offered a small portion of the cost ($300) as a refund. But I\\u2019m not holding my breath.\\n\\nBottom line here: Learn from my mistake.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Sidebar-_2_-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63731&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;\\u201cNightmare Transport\\u201d 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;The photo above shows the Nova I was talking about. As you saw in the previous photo, it was loaded exactly opposite from how I requested. The road conditions didn\\u2019t help. Neither did the delivery time.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Sidebar-_3_-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63732&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;\\u201cNightmare Transport\\u201d 2&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Loaded on a rental U-haul trailer, the car looked even worse for wear than it did the night before. Fortunately, it did clean up (although the entire purchase was a big mistake), but that didn\\u2019t help the pain of the multiple nights in a hotel that I didn\\u2019t plan for. Bottom line? I could have saved money by using a reliable company.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/SIdebar-_4_.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63734&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;\\u201cNightmare Transport\\u201d 3&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Since my lesson with Nightmare Transport, I started to use Passport Transport. Pros cost a bit more but they can save you big bucks in the end.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Judge-16-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63722&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Even on a dreary, wet day like this you can find out a lot about a car with a short test drive. For example, this Nova came complete with a jammed shift linkage. To drive it, you had the choice of either first and reverse or second and third.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Judge-17-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63723&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3 2&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Right about now, it\\u2019s a good time to check the electricals. Anything that runs off battery power should be tested for operation.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Judge-18-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63724&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3 3&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;This Nova was superb when it came to cosmetics and it was also near perfect for mechanicals. The only issue (and it wasn\\u2019t a big one) was that the park brake paddle switch clip was broken. That meant the brake light was constantly \\u201con.\\u201d&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Judge-19-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63725&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3 4&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;These old cars are simple and easy to test, and they are also easy to work on. This is a good time to shine a light up under the dash and have a look at the wiring (harness, etc.) and other under dash components.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Judge-20-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63726&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3 5&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;I put this car through a full test, and aside from the brake light switch and the lack of excitement from the straight six and three-on-the-tree, it was perfect. The mileage (13,602 showing) is original.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Judge-21-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63727&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3 6&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Before road testing a car, it\\u2019s a good idea to check fluid levels (even if the owner claims they\\u2019re golden). I\\u2019ve seen them where oil levels aren\\u2019t right, where automatic transmission fluid is burned, where coolant is low, where the brake fluid hasn\\u2019t been touched for decades and so on.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Judge-22-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63728&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3 7&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Another thing to check before the road test is the trunk. A flat spare does you no good. Neither do missing jack parts. Again, this is a very, very nice original car with a minute amount of flash rust on the trunk floor (caused by a vinyl cover).&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/07\\\/Judge-23-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;63729&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3 8&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Evaluating Your Project Car Part 3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;One more thing: Prior to moving an inch on the car, check the tires! These are pretty much new radials, but that blue Nova in an earlier photo was wearing original fifty-year-old bias plies. The car drove like it was on fifty-year-old tires too. Don\\u2019t put too much trust in them.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}]\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>If you\u2019ve found a long distance love affair, hire a good appraiser. It\u2019ll be worth every nickel.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":63721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3697,11,3470,4879],"tags":[6908,4892,4800,41,1201,4888,321],"class_list":["post-63719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-galleries","category-how-tos","category-news","category-slideshow","tag-appraisal","tag-galleries","tag-how-tos","tag-news","tag-project-cars","tag-slideshow","tag-wayne-scraba"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Judge-1-min-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-gzJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63719"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63735,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63719\/revisions\/63735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}