About
A shop in Northeast Ohio that gets cars ready for the hammer.
Go to Hammer is an enthusiast-run auction preparation and certification shop founded by Chris Gurko. We exist because the gap between what a good car should hammer for and what it actually does is usually a few days of the right work and an honest description, and most sellers have neither the time nor a shop they trust to do it.
Why a prep shop, not a dealer
The online auction venues changed the market. A private seller with a good car and a good listing can reach the same bidders a dealer can, keep the hammer price, and skip the middleman. What they cannot easily do is see their own car the way a bidder will, fix the three things that cost them five thousand dollars, and prove to strangers on the internet that the car is what the photos say. That is our job.
So we deliberately stay in one lane. We do not run auctions, we do not buy or consign cars, and we never take title. The seller lists the car under their own account on whichever venue fits it. We prep it and we certify it. That keeps us honest: our only incentive is for the car to be right and for the statement to be trusted.
How we think about the work
Not every car needs paint correction, and not every car should be sold as-is either. The valuation is there to make that call with numbers: what the venues are paying for this car in this condition, and what each piece of prep is likely to return. If the model says sell it as it sits, we tell you. If it says a weekend of detailing and a proper photo set is worth four figures, we tell you that too. Then you decide, line by line.
We are enthusiasts. We know why a Z06 with the original exhaust in the trunk is worth more than one without, why a 964 with a Certificate of Authenticity and a binder of receipts sells itself, and why a curbed wheel in the first photo costs you the first ten minutes of every bidder's confidence. We do the work that moves the hammer price and we do not pretend to be a restoration shop.
Four rules
- Honest about what is wrong. The certification lists what we did not fix as prominently as what we did. A statement that flatters the car is worth nothing to a bidder, and therefore to you.
- Nothing without approval. Every line on the estimate is your decision. Anything we find mid-job stops and asks.
- Your car, your sale. Title stays with you. You list it, set the reserve, answer the bidders, and keep the hammer.
- A person signs everything. The AI drafts the valuation and helps write the estimate and the statement. A human prices, checks and signs, and every certification passes a reviewer before it is released.
Where we are
Northeast Ohio, within a day's drive of Cleveland, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Detroit. Cars come to us from further afield by insured carrier, which we arrange as your agent and bill through at cost. The car lives indoors, under garage-keepers coverage, for the whole time it is with us.
We prep for
- Bring a Trailer
- Cars & Bids
- Mecum
Independent of all of them. The badge is ours; the sale is yours.
Talk to us
Have a car in mind?
Start with a valuation, or write to us first if you want to talk it through. We reply by email, usually the same business day.