A body prices

It depends on the state you live in and the laws. In Washington in order to determan the value of a vehicle you need to have 2 or more comparables (vehicles with in the same year range, close mileage, and options) that are with in 25 miles of the garaged zipcode. If you can't find any with in that 25 miles you up the search by 25 more miles and so on. You try to stay with in the country of the vehicle unless it is a super special and rare car.

Once you have a good size list of comps form several different sources (if you show up in court, if it goes that far, with all your comps from one source like craigslist, racingjunk.com or hemmings it looks like you didn't really do a thorough job and your a lazy POS) look for cars with like options to the one you are appraising (ie. motor/tranny/convert/SS/Z28/TA/RT), then you take those cars and compare the mileage to the one you are doing then once you have come up with a few (I like to have at least 4 or 5 comps just keep in mind that insurance agents don't like to sift through a lot of paperwork so keep it simple) you get your high, average and low prices and come up with a value. Pretty much it is a process of elimination.

Also a few more things.

-Most people don't realize that if you goto a new car lot and buy a brand new car, the second that you drive off the lot you loose 15% of the value.

-Mileage, on "newer" vehicles anything over 68,000 miles is a lot. Maybe not since the economy took a **** but people still trade in or trade up for next years model when it comes out. Older stuff like our little A-bodies, you can bring me the nicest, bone stock, one owner car that is rust free but has over 100,000 miles you will loose roughly 20%. If the running gear has been rebuilt then that doesn't apply.

- You need to know the difference between Actual cash value, agreed value and stated value. http://www.zhome.com/Classic/CCInsur.htm

- Diminished value, We have been doing a lot of these lately and some insurance companies don't recognize D.V. so you may want to ask them to look into it.
"Diminished value is the amount of value your vehicle has been reduced by after an accident occurs or has significant damage history. Usually this is determined after an insurance company performs an auto value appraisal. There are three types commonly accepted: immediate, inherent, and repair-related. Immediate diminished value is the difference from the value of the car immediately before damage has occurred and that immediately after. Inherent diminished value assumes repairs done are optimized, and it is the difference between the value of the vehicle after repair and what it was before the damage. Repair-related diminished value is any additional amount the vehicle may be reduced by less than optimal repairs."

There a lot of what we call "One sheet wonders" out there that will hand you a "report" with no pics (we give 3/4 front, 3/4 rear, engine, and interior shots of the vehicle) and it pretty much says "In my opinion this car is worth $$$ because of this..." I will wipe your *** with that "report" any day in a courtroom!
Those are the guys that you stay away from. If you get an appraisal ask them what is included in the report. I give you 2 copies, one for you and one for your insurance agent, I have a hard copy on file, a copy on my external hard drive and I can email or fax a copy if needed.

Depending on the state a auto appraiser may or may not have to be certified. In Washington there currently is no certification required to do auto appraisals so there are a lot of "one sheet wonders" out there working off used car lots (conflict of interest) and guys quoting NADA, old cars price guide or Kelley Blue Book. Thats is not a legal comp in Washington state, it says "Guide" on the cover and will also not hold up in court.(we advertise in Old cars price guide so it is fun when the DOL pulls it out to determan the value so they can come up with a BS tax figure to charge me. I ask them to turn to page 13 or 14 and I set my card on the counter.:snakeman: )
We have been working with the WA state government to try and get some form of certification for auto appraisers but it isn't very high on their priority list at the moment. So ask your appraiser what qualifications they have and how long they have been in this line of work.
Myself, I have been doing auto appraisals for over 12 years and been working on "old cars" and a hobby since I was a little kid (first car was a 27 T sedan when I was 4 or 5 ) my dad has been doing auto appraisals for over 23 years and we have made a great reputation in the Pacific Northwest working for and against insurance companies and private parties.

I am sure there is more that will come to mind later but you should look up your state laws first if you want to get into auto appraisals.