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DEFENSIBLE, USPAP-COMPLIANT CAR APPRAISAL REPORTS — QUALIFIED FOR THE IRS, PROBATE COURTS, AND ESTATE ATTORNEYS.
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Owner & CEO
Joe founded AppraiseItNow to make a certified, USPAP-compliant appraisal as simple to order as anything else online. A former Bain & Company strategy consultant, Joe leads the entire team and specializes in strategy, growth, and the firm's tech capabilities.
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
Third-generation auctioneer and CAGA Certified Appraiser with more than 20 years valuing machinery, equipment, vehicles, business assets, and estates for banks, attorneys, and trustees across the Carolinas.
Vehicle Appraiser
CAGA Certified Appraiser since 2014, covering vehicles, boats, equipment, fine art, and collectibles. A classic-car restoration background informs her vehicle work, with reports prepared for insurance, divorce, and charitable contributions.
Client Success Manager
Manages each engagement from the first enquiry to the delivered report, and keeps you posted at every step along the way.
Certified Appraisers Guild of AmericaCertified Appraiser
The Appraisal FoundationAuthorized by Congress as the source of appraisal standardsMost valuation work asks what something is worth now. This one asks what it was worth on a day that has already passed, often months before anybody thought to ask, and vehicles depreciate the whole time.
The comparable set
The evidence has to come from transactions around the date of death. Pulling today's figure for a car that has lost value since is the most common error in probate vehicle reporting, and it understates the estate and the heir's basis together.
What a current printout cannot do
Executors are often told to print a guide page. That is useful when it is done early. Done late, it describes a market the decedent never traded in, and it carries no record of the vehicle's condition on the relevant day either.
Establishing condition after the fact
By the time an appraisal is ordered the car may have been moved, cleaned, repaired, or driven. The report works from what the documentation shows the vehicle to have been on the valuation date, and says plainly what it was able to establish.
One figure, three destinations, and they have to agree. A car valued once and reported inconsistently is how an accounting gets objected to.
The inventory
The vehicle goes on the estate inventory at its date-of-death value, and everything downstream is read against it. Requirements and deadlines vary by state, so the report is built to carry its own identification and support wherever it is filed.
The distribution
An in-kind distribution credits the heir taking the vehicle with its documented value, so the rest of the estate can be divided to reach the shares the will sets. An understated car quietly overpays that heir at the expense of the others.
The estate tax return
Above the federal basic exclusion the estate files, and the vehicle is identified and valued on the return like any other asset. The same date-of-death figure serves the inventory and the return, which is why it is worth getting once and getting right.
What clients say we are known for
Across 80+ published AppraiseItNow reviews the picture is consistent: every one is from a client who paid us for an appraisal, and the three things they raise most often are that they would hire us again, how quickly we answer, and how much research is visible in the report.
I needed to have a car appraised, AppraiseItNow got it done quickly and was super responsive about my questions. Whole thing was done online, very easy!
Car Appraisal for Probate
I recently used AppraiseItNow for a valuation of a 2001 Corvette needed for 2024 Gift Tax purposes. It was straightforward and relatively simple even for someone not too tech savvy like me!
Car Appraisal for Gift Tax
My mother passed away in August 2023 and unfortunately, in the state of Ohio, motorhomes are not transferable on death and was going to have to go through probate court. After speaking with an attorney, I was informed I needed an appraisal. Due to my hectic work schedule and family schedule, I was looking for someone who could do this online, without needing an appointment. After a quick Google search I came across Joe at AppraiseItNow Inc., and instantly felt relief. A quick inquiry led to a few emails back and forth, a very reasonable cost to have the motorhome appraised and all the information needed to submit to get this taken care of. Joe was patient, worked with me as it was going to take a few weeks before I was able to supply the needed images/documents and payment, and less than a week later of submitting it I received the appraisal. His communication is next to none! He responds very quickly, is kind and extremely helpful. If I need anything in the future, I will not hesitate to reach out again! Thank you again! I will forever be in your debt!
Recreational Vehicle Appraisal for Probate
Friendly, speedy service with fair value.
Auto Appraisal for Probate
I was in dire need of an appraisal for my father's mobile home, which he needed for Medicaid approval. I couldn’t find anyone to do it for a long time, but then I found this company online and decided to give them a try. I’m so glad I did. They were wonderful to work with. I sent the pictures, and within just a few days I received the appraisal. They are absolutely worth the money.
Mobile Home Appraisal
From the start they were very responsive, price competitive, and had a quick turn around time. Thank you so much to Joe who was very sweet in responding to my emails; I am looking forward to utilizing AppraiseItNow for many years to come.
The date of death. The vehicle is inventoried at its fair market value as of that day, which means looking back at pricing guides and comparable sales from that period rather than from today. Because cars depreciate steadily, an executor who saves guide printouts and photographs close to the date of death preserves evidence that gets harder to reconstruct with every month that passes.
No, and this is highly state-specific. California rarely puts a car alone through probate unless the whole estate passes the small-estate threshold, and Florida generally lets up to two regularly used vehicles pass to immediate family outside formal probate, exempt from creditor claims. Assuming a single national rule applies to every vehicle is a common executor mistake in both directions.
As an in-kind distribution: the heir is credited with the documented fair market value so the remaining assets can be divided to reach the shares the will sets out. An understated car value quietly overpays that heir at the others' expense, and where better information emerges later, the estate can correct the figure through a supplemental inventory.
Yes, and it usually should. A collection of vehicles held by one decedent takes a single effective date, a single set of market conditions, and a single method, so valuing them together keeps the schedule internally consistent and gives the accountant one document to work from. Each vehicle still carries its own VIN, description, condition, comparables, and value conclusion inside it.
