OFFERING FIGURES ON 'WHAT'S IT WORTH?' SITUATIONS

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

A series of recent court cases (including one in Australia) show a rather interesting pattern in matters concerning condition, correctness and value of old cars.  These days, numbers have to be consistent, it seems, be the car a Corvette or a Ford Falcon.  Those giving a value for a vehicle--especially if they have never actually touched the car--are getting themselves into bad situations due to the up/down impact the economy has on sales of old cars.  For a number of years, I have referred people to things like the OLD CARS PRICE GUIDE with published prices based on actual sales, etc, to get an idea of prices indexed to vehicle condition. 

More and more buyers of old cars are using the courts as a remedy if they feel they have been cheated in a sale.  More and more sellers are finding things like "somebody told me it was worth that much", "the guy I got it from said it was all original", and the old concept of "let the buyer beware (Caveat Emptor)" is not the sturdy defense it used to be.

Professional appraisers (the good ones) have to go to school for the basics of pricing old vehicles and be able to access resource materials with specific details on makes/years, etc. 

Any thoughts on all this??

[pnw_oldmags]

What a car is worth is always an interesting question?
Worth to who?  A person may think a car is worth $10000 and pay it.
Worth is the agreed upon value between buyer and seller at the time of the sale.
Worth is what the market will bear at the time of the sale.
Worth should consider rarity, condition, accuracy to originality details, previous like sales and to me dependability as I want to drive my cars.
Really worth is what a current buyer is willing to pay - right - wrong - or otherwise.
If the seller does not agree with that worth, a sale does not happen and a different buyer prospect must be found.
My Thoughts.

[Fid]

I must concede that is the most dreaded question I get from people "What is it worth?" I never answer with concrete figures. The best thing to judge it on is the recent market and that has few examples and even fewer that would be close matches when it comes to overall condition and authenticity. I see cars in the bulletin for certain prices but seldom ever hear if they actually sold for that price. I watch ebay and Craigslist but it seems there's never two that are the same on there.  Sometimes I reply with "I wouldn't take $x,xxxx.... for mine" but that's not a gauge, that's my personal feelings. Sometimes that will carry some weight. Sometimes people get very angry at me when I point out the things on them that are not original or authentic. They take it out on me, or paint me as the one that's "untrustworthy". Sometime they get into heated arguments, and despite me trying to remain civil, I've seen them get even more angry when I produce the evidence. Most often I just try to refer them to someone else and then change the subject! It's a tough thing to do, putting a price on an old car.

[Roadmaster49]

Price Guides are skewed.  Where do they get their statistics and are they uniformly applied?  I doubt it.  Most of us believe price guides to be "high".  We raise an eyebrow when we see what a #2 version of our car indicates. We then say "gee wish someone would give me that for mine!" 

There are so many marketplaces for automobiles that I don't see how they Old Cars Price Guides can be accurate.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

As far as I know, OLD CARS PRICE GUIDE bases listings in part on the following:

1.  Results from actual sales whenever they can get it, either auction or private party
2.  Claims paid by insurance companies for "totaled" vehicles
3.  Rate of inflation (applied across the board all makes)

These are some of the things the publication used in "the old days" when Chet Krause owned the operation

[52AeroWillys]

i recently heard that if your car is insured with Haggerty (classic car insurance), every 2 yrs they "appraise" your vehicle to determine it's insurable value. Fellows I've talked to feel this is a pretty reliable determination of "what it's worth".

[Terry T]

From my personal experience with Hagerty, what you heard is incorrect.

[darrin145]

We have 34 cars insured with Hagerty and I have never seen a  rep. from the company! It's always been handled over the phone and emailed pictures.

Gary.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

While I do not have anything insured with Hagerty, experience indicates that from time to time (randomly or otherwise) insurance companies will periodically review special interest vehicles (especially muscle cars and sports cars) to determine if the coverage levels are adequate.  Likewise, if you periodically up your replacement value amount, you can often expect someone to show up and review your car in person. 

Remember, just because your car is valued by an insurance carrier for a given amount, THAT IN NO WAY MEANS ANOTHER CAR MAY BE WORTH AS MUCH.  Other vehicles could be worth more or less, depending on their conditions relative to your cars, provinance (who owned it when, etc). 

[52AeroWillys]

Of course "what it's worth" should only apply to a particular vehicle...and not any other car!  Hope owners are not naive enough to think that if someone's car appraises at a certain value, that their car is the same value!

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Yes, people do believe that and have for decades.  Back when Mr. Henry Austin Clark was writing old car books in the 1960's he noted this as one of the problems he ran into when he came across a "barn find" that was complete but needed total restoration.  When he tried to buy it he was told that because Mr. so-and-so's car sold for a substantial amount of money this car had to be worth just as much (even though the car Mr. so and so had was fully restored)!