fair market value
Equipment Appraisals for Insurance Claims
Equipment appraisals for insurance claims come in two categories: the equipment owner may need an equipment appraisal to engage with the insurance company, or an insurance company may request an equipment appraisal for fulfilling a filed claim. In both of these cases, standard operating procedure is to call the equipment appraiser after the damage has been done.
Appraising Commercial Trailers in a Demanding Market
Recently I prepared an ag equipment appraisal for a transportation company in the Sacramento Valley. The bulk of the equipment was rolling stock–trucks and agricultural trailers. During my research, I realized that the commercial trailers had increased tremendously in value as the years rolled by. Hopper trailers, in particular, are trading at premium prices right now, and not just in California. Part of the reason trailers don’t lose value as quickly as other agricultural and commercial vehicles is obvious: no engines to break down, no odometers, no hour meters and very few moving parts mean that maintenance is less complicated.
Super Truck Appraisals: Equipment Appraisal on the Road
I got my first Super Truck limited edition CAT scale collector card October 2010. These Super Truck Limited Edition cards–for those of you, like me, who didn’t already know–are slick full-color trading cards that feature working trucks. Really amazingly customized big rigs that stand out from the transportation most of us see cruising down the highway, hauling chickens or lumber, produce, automobiles, or production goods. These trucks really are, well, super.
Proposed Update of Valuation Terms
In April, the American Society of Appraisers released a proposal to update the current Definitions of Value approved by the Machinery & Equipment Committee and the American Society of Appraisers Board of Governors.
Over the next few blogs, I’ll share the entire definition list, but today I’d like to concentrate on 2 areas that caught my attention right away:
The first thing I noticed was the insertion of the term “opinion” in most of the definitions.This makes a lot of sense as valuation is not an absolute measurement of value but one arrived at through research and, in the words of former PCAOB Chief Auditor Thomas Rays, “the appropriate application of seasoned professional judgment.”
Premises of Value AKA Levels of Trade
The below definitions are from Valuing Machinery and Equipment, the American Society of Appraisers (2000).
Because the machinery and equipment appraiser deals with a variety of assets, most of which can be moved, it is necessary to recognize different premises of value. These can be broadly broken down into categories, distinguished mainly by an asset’s anticipated use.
