Knowledge Center
How to Prepare Your Car for an Appraisal
You cannot change what the car is before the appraiser arrives. You can make sure every point in its favour is visible, documented, and easy to verify — and that nothing is hidden that will undermine the report later.
Editorial draft
This guide is a working draft prepared for the Knowledge Center and is awaiting Mike Thies' review. The text may be revised before final publication. It is general information, not an appraisal of any specific vehicle — for a valuation you can rely on, request an appraisal.
The short answer
Prepare for an appraisal by gathering every document that supports the vehicle's identity, history, and condition — title, service records, restoration receipts and photographs, build documentation, prior appraisals; cleaning the car thoroughly without concealing anything; making sure it starts, runs, and can be inspected underneath; and being ready to explain honestly what has been done to it and what has not. The appraiser values the car as it is. Preparation makes sure the report captures all of it.
Start with the paper
Documentation is the part of an appraisal that owners most often under-prepare, and it is the part that most often moves the number. Gather the following into one folder before the appointment:
Identity and ownership
- Current title and registration
- Bill of sale from your purchase, and any earlier ones you have
- Ownership history — names, dates, and locations of previous owners where known
Factory and build documentation
- Window sticker, build sheet, dealer invoice, or factory order documentation
- Marque-specific documentation where it exists (for example a certificate of authenticity, factory production record, or heritage certificate)
- Owner's manual, warranty booklet, and original dealer paperwork
Service and restoration history
- Service records in date order
- Restoration receipts, itemised where possible, and the name of the shop
- Photographs taken during the restoration, especially of the bare shell, the engine rebuild, and the bodywork before paint
- Parts invoices for significant components
Prior valuations and awards
- Previous appraisals
- Insurance declarations showing the current agreed value
- Show awards, judging sheets, and concours results
Known problems
- Any accident history, with repair records
- Anything you know is wrong with the car
If the documentation is thin, say so. An appraiser can work with gaps; what causes problems is paperwork produced after the inspection that contradicts what was said during it.
Present the car clean — and honest
Wash and detail the car, including the engine bay, interior, trunk, and door jambs, and clean the wheels and wheel wells. A clean car is easier to inspect and photographs well in the report.
Three things not to do:
Do not conceal. Fresh undercoating sprayed over an undercarriage the week before an appraisal is a flag, not a finish. Touch-up paint over a rust bubble, a floor mat over a hole, a strategically placed box in the trunk — an experienced appraiser finds these, and once one is found, everything else is examined with more suspicion.
Do not over-dress. Tyre shine and dressing on engine components can hide leaks and weeping seals for a day. The appraiser is looking for the car's real state, and a bay that has been degreased and dressed will be looked at harder, not softer.
Do not start a project. The week before an appraisal is not the time to pull the interior to fix a rattle. A car in pieces cannot be fully inspected, and the report will say so.
Make sure it can be inspected
- It should start and run. Charge or replace the battery. Make sure there is fuel in the tank. If the car has not run in a while, get it running before the appointment rather than during it.
- It should be accessible underneath. If you have a lift, use it. If not, a clean, flat, well-lit space with room to get a creeper under the car is the next best thing. Appraisers frequently inspect at the owner's home or storage, and a cramped, dark garage limits what can be seen.
- It should be safe to drive, if a road test is part of the appraisal. Tyres with tread, brakes that work, lights that function. If it is not currently road-legal, tell the appraiser in advance.
- The keys should be there, along with any security codes, immobiliser fobs, or quirks of the starting procedure.
Know what you are going to say
The appraiser will ask questions. The useful answers are specific and factual.
- What has been done to the car, by whom, and when
- What is original and what is replaced — body panels, drivetrain, interior, paint
- Whether the engine, transmission, and rear axle are the ones the car was built with, and how you know
- Mileage: whether the odometer is accurate, has rolled over, or has been replaced
- Any accident history
- Why you want the appraisal (insurance, sale, estate, dispute) — this affects the type of value being estimated, not the honesty of the figure
Opinions about value are less useful. The appraiser is going to build the figure on comparable sales and the car's documented condition, and a conversation about what a similar car brought on television does not shorten that process.
Understand what the appraiser is doing
An appraisal inspection is not a judgment of you as an owner, and it is not a test the car passes or fails. The appraiser is documenting what the vehicle is — identity, condition, originality, equipment, and history — so that the right comparable sales can be found and the right adjustments made. The inspection guide on this site sets out the sequence in detail.
Expect the appraiser to spend time on things that may seem minor: date codes on glass, casting numbers on the block, the condition of the trunk floor. These are the details that distinguish one example of a model from another, and they are where value is won or lost.
After the inspection
The appraiser will typically take the photographs, documentation, and notes away and complete the market research before issuing the report. Turnaround depends on the vehicle and on how much verification the documentation needs. If something emerges after the inspection — a document you find, a fact you forgot — pass it on promptly.
Keep the finished report with the car's file. It is evidence of the vehicle's condition and value on a specific date, and it will be useful at the next renewal, the next sale, or the next time someone questions what the car is worth.
Questions & Answers
Frequently asked
Fix what is cheap and clearly worth it — a dead battery, a burnt-out bulb, a flat tyre — so the car can be fully inspected. Do not rush cosmetic repairs you would not otherwise make; a poor repair done to impress an appraiser generally costs more value than the defect it covered.
A clean car lets the appraiser see its real condition and presents well in the photographs that go into the report. Cleaning does not change the condition grade on its own, but dirt can hide good paint as easily as bad.
Tell the appraiser. Missing records are a common situation and the report will note what could and could not be verified. Previous owners, marque clubs, dealers, and specialist shops can sometimes supply copies of past work.
Yes, all of them. The appraiser will find most of them anyway, and an undisclosed modification discovered during the inspection raises the question of what else was not mentioned.