How a deal gets scored

One method across all five hunting grounds, so a grade means the same thing on a Cruze as on a crock.

Full cost in

The score starts with everything it actually costs to own the thing: hammer price, buyer premium, taxes and title or transfer fees, transport or hauling, and a repair, cleanup or restoration allowance sized from the listing evidence. A cheap hammer with a long tow is not a cheap deal.

Honest value

Value is set from realized prices — completed sales of the same or nearest comparable item — never from asking prices or a seller's estimate. Where no realized comp exists, the value is stated as a range and the grade uses the low end.

The margin floor

A find is Bid-ready only when its full cost in clears the honest value with room for the unknowns every auction lot carries. Finds that miss the floor but deserve watching are graded Look. Everything else is a Pass, logged with its reason: too many miles, unverifiable condition, transport that eats the margin, a rarity claim that did not check out.

The standing rule

The lab hunts, scores and reports. It does not bid, buy, register or spend — every purchase decision belongs to the Chairman, made with the log in front of him.