Classic Auto Appraiser

Legal Services

Expert Witness Service

From time to time we are called upon to give 'Expert Witness' testimony as to the value of an automobile or a collection of automobiles. The most common scenario for this to take place might be a divorce involving the values of several high profile vehicles or even a vehicle collection.

At Classic Auto Appraiser we pride ourselves on our automotive knowledge and our expertise. We know how to act on a witness stand. We do all the necessary research and arrive at court fully prepared to professionally represent our client's best interest.

Indeed, over the years we have been asked to be an expert witness in some high profile cases involving automobile values for various Federal government agencies including the FBI and the IRS. In addition we have served many prominent law firms whose clients were involved with divorces, estate disputes, lemon law cases, purchase disagreements, and fraud.

Expert witness fees are a standard $200.00 per hour with a minimum of four hours billable.

Arbitrations

Disputes over the values of vehicles can sometimes end up in arbitration. This usually takes place when one appraiser represents a vehicle owner, and another appraiser represents an insurance company.

The most common scenario is that an owner of a vehicle that was subject to an insurance total loss thinks that his or her vehicle is worth more than the amount that insurance company is offering to settle the claim. The vehicle owner and the insurance company both hire an appraiser to represent them and negotiate on their behalf to try to resolve the price difference.

These arbitrations are very time consuming events that usually end up with the further hiring of a third automobile appraiser, an independent dispute resolution company, to act as referee at an informal hearing. In this arbitration both of the opposing appraisers state how they arrived at their respective valuations, both show any supporting evidence that they might have to back up that value, and the referee decides independently the value that he or she might put on that vehicle based on the information provided by the opposing appraisers.

The total out-of-pocket cost of this service is usually around $1,000.00. This figure is broken down into two expenses: at Classic Auto Appraiser we charge a minimum of $650.00 to take a dispute to arbitration. In addition, the client must pay half of the referee's fee. The total referee fee can vary anywhere from $500.00 to $1,200.00. We will not take a dispute to arbitration unless we feel that we have an extremely strong case and that the cost of this arbitration will be a profitable experience for our client.

Legal Fees

Arbitration: $750.00 (flat fee)
Deposition: $750.00 (flat fee)
Court Testimony: $250.00 per hour (min. 4 hours)
Research & Consultation Time: $175.00 per hour
Travel time: $150.00 per hour + *expenses
Full days travel : $1,000.00 per day + *expenses

Legal fees must be paid in advance, in the form of a retainer that will be replenished as necessary.

*Typical expenses might include coach air fare, gasoline, taxi or economy car rental, a moderate nightly hotel rate and a $50.00 per day allowance for food.

A ‘Full days travel’ is defined as a day when travel time is so extensive that no other work can be completed during the normal 8 hour work period.