Here’s a list of types of appraiser’s and their background producing Diminished Value and Total Loss Valuations on the internet. Which would you choose to produce your appraisal?
- Auto Appraisers with an Auto Damage Appraiser License – Licensed? Sounds good until you get to court and they’re asked about their prior Retail Sales Experience. Their experience is in producing estimates for insurance companies and/or auto body shops to determine the cost of repairs of a damaged vehicle, not the total fair market value of a vehicle. Many have never sold any vehicles in the retail market, so how can they even begin to understand consumer perception of loss?
- Online Certified Auto Appraiser – Many of these “certified” auto appraisers are actually certified by some group or person that put their own program together. Most are not sanctioned by any government agency. It’s all about credibility in arbitration or court. Is this who you want as your “expert witness“?
- Auto Appraisers who mainly work for the insurance companies. Yep, they’re out there in force. Many of these “auto appraisers” have motive to produce a methodology to support a very conservative valuation or opinion. If you were an Insurance company wouldn’t you look for the most conservative appraisers also. They would save you millions, if not billions. Also, be very wary if an Auto Body Shop (especially an insurance preferred or Direct Repair Program Shop) refers them.
- Diminished Value Calculators. Go ahead, bring your calculated value to court or arbitration. Then try to explain their methodology. If you ask for it, they’re going to say it’s proprietary and you’re going home empty handed. There are times where the insurance company pays on these appraisals, but the only ones I’ve personally seen are at pennies on the dollar.
Government Licensed and Certified Independent Auto Appraiser. Let’s look at what that really means. Licensed and certified to appraise vehicles within their scope by a government entity. This means that a state or government agency has qualified and authorized that appraiser to appraise vehicles. We’d probably be very safe to say, that less than 2% of the “diminished value” or “total loss” experts online fall into this category. Why? Because only a few states actually have a certification or licensing program for “Auto Appraisers“, who are authorized to appraise vehicles for market value, and not just to determine the cost to repair the vehicle. This is the certification and licensing that Ken Nix has at LossValues. Ken is state licensed and is an expert witness for Fair Market Valuations and Diminished Value.
Your auto appraiser should be credible, independent and qualified. Recently in Texas there was an auto appraiser who was disqualified because of rule 702 in the Texas rules of evidence. Rule 702 cites if scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise. A simple way to show the auto appraiser is qualified, is for the appraiser to have an actual auto appraisers license or certification issued by a government entity. Next, the expert witness testimony must be technical, scientific, or of a specialized knowledge. Having worked in the automotive industry for over 25 years and having over 20 years direct retail sales experience, Ken easily qualifies as having specialized knowledge as to Retail Motor Vehicle Sales. This is one reason so few of our clients have to turn to an attorney to realize an award from the insurance company, once an appraisal has been submitted.
If you were a Judge or Arbitrator, which type of Appraiser would you see as being the most credible?
