Before you write the deposit check
Don't hand a shop five figures and your car on a feeling.
Kevin Bickley didn't go on a feeling. He checked references. He signed a contract. He still wrote a $24,000 deposit and got his '69 Mach 1 back five years later — stripped. The obvious checks aren't enough. I spent two years learning the ones that are, and built them into The Shop Vetting System: a verdict on your shop, commit or walk, in one weekend.
145-page system · 47 scored questions · 24-point attorney workbook · 200+ cost benchmarks · shop-scoring spreadsheet
30-day decision-or-refund guarantee. No subscription.
Founder launch · $79 $19 · first 100 founders
This isn't a horror story. It's the median outcome with the brakes off.
Every one of these shops had good reviews and a long history. Longevity isn't honesty. A system is.
One system. One weekend. The decision you can sleep with.
The kit I built for my own '67 Mustang restoration after I learned the hard way what happens without one — the questions, the scoring, the contract checkpoints, and the cost data you use across one weekend to commit with confidence or walk away knowing why.
What's inside
- The 47 Questions Playbook
- The Comparison Spreadsheet
- The Attorney Workbook (24 contract checkpoints)
Plus two bonuses
- Cost Benchmark Database — 200+ sourced jobs
- The Project Roadmap — a one-page brief
This is my dad's '67 Mustang, family-owned since new. In 2016 I dropped it at a paint shop on a handshake and a one-page work order — it came back two years later. I got lucky. I built The Shop Vetting Systemso the next owner doesn't have to be.
Reasonable questions.
Isn't this just questions I could Google?+
You could. You'd get 200 conflicting answers across 50 threads from people whose car, shop, and timeline aren't yours. This is one system: the exact questions, what good answers sound like, the scoring, and the contract checkpoints to hand your attorney — in the order you actually use them.
Hagerty already wrote about this.+
Their article is titled “How to (try to) protect against a car restoration rip-off.” Their word: try to. They can't name shops or get specific — their advertisers are the shops. I name names, cite court records, and show you exactly what to put in front of your own attorney, because I'm the owner who lived it.
Is this a subscription?+
No. One payment — $19 during the founder launch (it returns to $79 after). Founders' Edition also adds every future edition and database release, free, for the life of the product.
More questions, the full contents, and pricing on the System page
One weekend now, or one wrong “yes” you spend a year undoing.
Built by an owner-restorer who lived it — and structured so a $300 attorney review does the work of a $1,500 one. Run the 47 questions on one shop and get a decision you can defend on paper.
Founder price for the first 100 buyers
Clear commit-or-walk decision in 30 days, or a full refund the day you email me. One payment, no subscription. Founders keep every future edition free.