BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts: First of all, apologies, as I have no idea how this works in India. In many European countries, but also in the USA, classic cars are appraised for a variety of reasons. As some of you might recall, reading through some of my threads, my best friend and spanner mate, Peter, is a professional Classic Car Appraiser. I spent a day accompanying him, and I thought I would share the experience. First of all, a bit more context on this idea of attaching a value to classic cars. Everything is based on the way these things work here in the Netherlands. From experience, I know that it is very similar in the European countries around us, and to a large extent in the USA as well There are different reasons the value of a car might need to be established. It could be for fiscal reasons, or perhaps a classic car is part of an inheritance, or for insurance purposes. The latter is the vast majority of valuations that Peter does. Different values can be attached to a car, depending on the purpose/reason. When it comes to insurance, a regular fully comprehensive insurance will, in case of theft or total loss, pay you what we call “day-value”. Which is, a bit simplified, the original purchase price new, minus depreciation. Rule of thumb, just about all new cars after 10-15 years their day value will be around 10-15% of the original new price. The basic premise, thought, behind this rule is that one should never get better (financially) from a mishap. If you owned the car for ten years and traded it in, you would not get the original new price back. So you won’t get the new price either in case of an accident, theft, or so on. This principle is actually embedded in law in many countries. So you can imagine if you have a classic car of say 30-60 years old, according to the above rule, it is worth next to nothing, at least from an insurance point of view! As a rule of thumb, it doesn’t make much sense to have an allrisk/fully comprehensive insurance for any car older than 10 years. Because it will never ever pay out the new price. Only if you have a very high no-claim bonus might it still be justified. But for classic cars, these normal types of insurance are simply insufficient. So the legislators came up with a special arrangement for classic cars. They recognised that the “day-value” is simply insufficient for classic car insurance. So they came up with a concept that is known as “insurance based on valuation. I have put the original legal text through Google Translate: So insurance companies can provide what they call Classic Car policies based on valuation. The above text and articles need to be stated in both the insurance and appraisal reports, or it won’t be valid. The value of a classic car is determined by what a near-identical car, technically, aged and visually sold by reputable parties, in the market, within a reasonable time frame, would cost. That is where Peter, as a classic car valuer, comes in. He will determine the value of a classic car based on the market, the condition of the car, and so on. His findings are detailed in an appraisal report Classic car insurance, based on valuation, is a somewhat specialised area. We have a society here in the Netherlands called FEHAC. They are basically a sort of umbrella organisation for all classic car clubs. They lobby for better rules and regulations for classic cars and provide several services. One of the things is that they stipulated what a good classic car insurance policy should offer and what a good appraisal report should look like. I will talk a bit more on both these topics further down in this thread Some 5-7 insurance companies are providing classic car insurance that meets FEHAC requirements. It is not just about the value being pinned down at the “appraised level”. Although in theory anybody can call themselves an “appraiser”, in practice that won’t work. Insurance companies will only accept reports from certified appraisers. There are three independent organisations providing courses and examinations leading to certification as an appraiser. Peter is certified by all three. The requirements of each organisation are somewhat different, but all require you to maintain your currency. Which means you need to perform a certain minimum number of appraisals every year, attend several relevant courses, workshops, attend classic car shows, and so on. Peter has no lack of customers. On average, he is fully booked about a month ahead of time. Customers will call him because their insurance company notified them of the appraisal expiring. (typically three years valid), Some insurance companies provide the appraisal as a service to their customers and will call Peter. (Usually the top segment of classic cars). Or the owner just knows their classic car has gone up a lot in value in a short period. E.g., certain Porsches might require adjusting the value every 6 months! I will talk some more about all of this later in this thread, but first, let’s look at some cars. Our first address was an old customer of Peter’s. He has several classic army vehicles. Amongst others, some original Willy Jeeps, and he recently acquired two Willy MA Jeeps. The MA version is sort of the prototype of the Willy. Only about 1500 were ever built. About a dozen or so are left, and this gentleman owns 4 of those! These MA Willy’s are worth serious money! I kid you not! One of the telltales of the MA version: column shifter! Under the bonnet, look at that little oiler! It’s those sorts of details that can contribute to originality and value! The original, manual wiper. Early Willy’s had one in front of the driver. Later models saw a wiper for the passenger two, still manually operated, but with a common lever that connected both wipers! Peter had to update a previous appraisal on one of the Willy MBs. This gentleman had some other interesting vehicles, too! The bicycle is a BSA and is completely original. These came along with the British paratroopers parachuting into the Netherlands at the time. A very different kind of car. But equally interesting, very original and in very good condition, Jaguar MK2. Gorgeous engine bay. Peter spends three days a week on the road. All his appointments are made by telephone. Planning-wise, because of the amount of time it takes, there is a substantial difference between a first appraisal and a repeat appraisal. A first appraisal takes a lot more time. Peter will need to verify all the paperwork that comes with the car. That goes from formal registration papers to maintenance invoices and so on. Any other paperwork that could provide insight into the car’s history/provenance. He will also verify the VIN on the car versus on the car papers. Occasionally, they don’t match. The few times it happened it was all due to a mistake made by the Dutch RDW. (The Dutch authority in charge of all vehicle registration and number plates.) The car will be inspected visually inside and out. Originality of parts, trim, and so on is important and will be noted in the appraisal report. Peter will also check the paint thickness across the whole car. Just to verify to what extent, if at all, the car, or parts, have had a re-spray. An appraisal is not a technical inspection, so Peter won’t drive the car. It’s all visual,l and by following the paper trail! Onto the next client. A very nice Landover Series 2. This one belonged to an Austrian Fire Department! If you look very closely, you can still see where the various FD stickers were placed on the doors. This client had beside the Landie, also a couple of Porsches. Did you know that on all Porsches, if done properly, the point of their logo on the wheel hub centre cap will point to the air valve in the rim! I did not, so we checked all the Porsches of this gentleman. Very different Porsches, all with the correct orientation of the logo!! Onto the next client, a gentleman who owned two Jaguars (and a Mini One as a daily driver, just like me!). An XJS coupe and a recently purchased Jaguar X350. Actually, Peter has owned and still owns a Jaguar X350. His are always diesels as he does 60-80K kilometres a year. You need a proper, comfortable car. And as a Classic Car Appraisal, you simply can’t show up in a boring modern BMW or Mercedes. So the X350 does well on comfort and appeal. This is, however, the petrol version and one of the very first, and a special version, Portofino. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
