"What Goes Around Comes Around"

The 12 Laws of Karma

by Mike Thies - Certified Vehicle Appraiser - https://i-van-mikethies.com/

Karma is a simple idea. What you put out comes back to you. Spend enough years crawling under cars with a flashlight and you learn the appraisal business runs on the same rule. The car remembers everything that was done to it, and sooner or later, so does the market.

There are 12 laws of karma, and every one of them shows up somewhere in a vehicle appraisal. So grab a coffee and a creeper, and let's roll through them one at a time.

1. The Great Law: You Get What You Give

This is the big one, cause and effect. In appraisal terms, a car's condition is the sum of every choice its owners ever made. Skip three oil changes and the engine will tell on you. Park it under a tree for five winters and the paint will tell on you too.

Keep every receipt in a fat three-ring binder, though, and that binder speaks up for you on appraisal day. An appraiser doesn't create value or take it away. We just read the bill that karma already wrote.

2. The Law of Creation: Value Doesn't Show Up on Its Own

This law says life asks you to participate. Things don't just happen to you, you help make them happen. The same goes for a car's value.

The owner who photographs a restoration from bare metal forward, saves the build sheet, and tracks down the original window sticker is creating value with every folder. A restoration with no photos is a great story with no proof. When the appraiser shows up, the paperwork you built is the backup singer that makes the whole song sound better.

3. The Law of Humility: Accept What Is

You can't change something until you accept it for what it is. Every appraiser has heard it: "My brother-in-law says it's worth fifty grand." That may be true in his garage. The market didn't ask the brother-in-law.

Humility cuts both ways, though. The owner has to accept the car's real condition, and the appraiser has to accept what the comparable sales say, even when the car is a personal favorite. The comps decide the number, not the ego, and not the sentimental value of the first car you ever kissed someone in.

4. The Law of Growth: Start With Yourself

Growth begins on the inside. You can't control the world, but you can control how much you learn. For an appraiser, that means never assuming you already know it all.

The market keeps moving. Restomods, Japanese imports, mini bikes, and trucks from the 1980s and 1990s now show up on the same auction pages as Packards and Duesenbergs. An appraiser who stopped learning in 1995 is valuing cars for a market that doesn't exist anymore. Keep studying, keep going to shows, keep asking questions. The day you stop growing is the day your reports start aging like a rubber dashboard in the Georgia sun.

5. The Law of Responsibility: Own Your Number

This law says you own what happens in your life. In this business, you own what goes on the signature line.

When an appraiser signs a report, that number belongs to them. It may end up in front of an insurance adjuster, an attorney, a judge, or the IRS. If a mistake slips through, you fix it and say so. The owner carries responsibility too. That little fender bender from 2014 is going to show up on the history report anyway, so it's better coming from you than from Carfax. Honesty on both sides makes for a report that holds up when someone pushes back on it.

6. The Law of Connection: Everything Is Tied Together

Past, present, and future are all linked. So is everything on a car. The VIN connects to the door tag, the door tag connects to the engine stamp, and the engine stamp connects to whether the car is numbers matching or just numbers close.

Condition, mileage, originality, history, and the market all pull on each other. Change one and the value moves. A low-mileage car with a fresh frame repair doesn't land in the same place as a low-mileage car that never saw a body shop. Good appraisers follow those threads, the way a mechanic follows a wire from the switch to the bulb.

7. The Law of Focus: One Section at a Time

You can't give your full attention to two things at once. That's why a proper inspection follows an order: exterior, interior, engine and drivetrain, chassis, suspension and wheels, then the road test. Finish one before you move to the next.

Focus also protects you from the shiny stuff. A fresh, deep paint job has fooled more buyers than any used car salesman ever did. Stay on task, get down low, and look at the rocker panels and floor pans before you fall in love with the reflection in the hood.

8. The Law of Giving and Hospitality: Walk the Talk

This law is about letting your actions match what you say you believe. If an appraiser says every client matters, then the owner of a vintage mini bike gets the same care as the owner of a six-figure classic.

It also means giving your time. Sometimes the person across the driveway is selling a late father's car and has no idea where to start. Walking them through the report, answering the same question twice, and pointing them in the right direction costs nothing. That kindness tends to come back around, usually as a referral from someone you never met.

9. The Law of Here and Now: Value Lives on the Effective Date

Living in the past keeps you from seeing what's in front of you. Every appraisal carries an effective date for exactly that reason. The value is what the car is worth today, in today's market, in today's condition.

It isn't what you paid at the height of the last auction frenzy, and it isn't what you hope it brings in five years. "But I've got forty thousand in it" is a sentence the market has never once cared about. Here and now is where the number lives.

10. The Law of Change: Break the Cycle

History repeats itself until you learn the lesson. Car people know this one well. It's the buyer who brings home a "solid, just needs paint" project for the third time and finds the third set of rotted floors under the carpet.

The cure is a pre-purchase inspection. Paying an appraiser to look before you buy is how you finally change the pattern. It's a lot cheaper than learning the same lesson again with a welder and a credit card.

11. The Law of Patience and Reward: Good Comps Take Time

Real rewards come from steady, patient work. A proper restoration takes years, not weekends. The owners who take their time, do it right, and keep the records are the ones who smile when the report comes back.

The appraiser has to be patient too. Good comparable sales rarely sit on the first page of a search. It takes digging through auction results, dealer sales, and club classifieds to find cars that truly match in year, model, condition, and mileage. Rush that step and the value is a guess. Take your time and it's a conclusion you can defend.

12. The Law of Significance and Inspiration: The Little Things Count

Every contribution matters, no matter how small it seems. On a collector car, the little things carry real weight. The original jack in the trunk, the dealer plate frame, the owner's manual in the glovebox, and the correct hose clamps all add to the story.

The appraisal itself matters more than people think. It settles an insurance claim, supports a charitable donation, divides an estate fairly, or gives a family peace of mind about grandpa's old Buick. A small report can make a big difference in somebody's life, and that's what keeps this job fun after all these years.

The Bottom Line

The car keeps score. Every oil change, every shortcut, every receipt, and every honest answer ends up in the final number one way or another. Treat your car right, keep good records, and be straight with the person holding the clipboard.

Do that, and when appraisal day comes, karma will be riding shotgun.