We Appraise The Following:
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Automobiles
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Heavy Equipment
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Motorcycles
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Recreational Vehicles
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Tractor Trailers
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Aircraft / Helicopters
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Home Property Damage (COMING SOON)
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Exotics and much more!
Online Appraisal
Please complete the form to start an appraisal with us.
Diminished Value Appraisals
Our industry recognized appraisal method will provide you with a comprehensive and detailed report on the market-related Diminished Value (Loss of Value) your vehicle has suffered as a result of an accident that was NOT YOUR FAULT. Due to someone else’s negligence, Tort Law is on Your Side! Your report will break down each category in detail with a full explanation of the reason your vehicle has lost market-related value. This report will provide you with the tool (proof) you need to collect what is owed to you! To qualify, the accident must not be your fault, the other parties’ insurance carrier must accept responsibility or you may file the accident under your Uninsured Motorist policy.
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Attention Personal Injury & Property Damage Lawyers! If you have a non-insurance related Diminished Value Claim (i.e. breach of contract): Heavy Equipment Engine Failure, Manufacturers Defect Claims, Consumer Protection, etc., please contact us so that we can review your case.
Total Loss Appraisals
If your vehicle was deemed a total loss by the Insurance company and you are not satisfied with their offer, you have the right to invoke the appraisal clause and hire Houston Auto Appraisers in order to determine the actual cash value (ACV) of your vehicle. An IACP certified auto appraiser will go to the location of the vehicle and determine the vehicles pre/post-loss condition and put together our detailed total loss appraisal that will be a certified document with critical evidence needed to support your claim. Should the two appraisal companies not come to a mutual agreement on the fair market value of your vehicle, an umpire will have to be selected and his or her final decision is binding. In most cases, we rarely need the assistance of an umpire. The Bureau of Certified Auto Appraisers maintains a list of qualified Umpires.
Loss of Vehicle Use / Loss of Business Use / Loss of Equipment Use
– Rental Value Reports & Appraisals
Loss of Use refers to an element of compensation demanded by a claimant as part of their damages stated in a lawsuit or insurance claim. Loss of use may refer to the inability to use a vehicle, motorhome travel trailer, commercial truck, heavy equipment, manufacturers defect, living quarters, or business facility due to damage caused by the negligence or other wrongdoing of another party. In the case of a vehicle damaged in a collision, loss of use would be the amount claimed for the RENTAL VALUE of another automobile times the number of days required for repairs or returned. The period of loss must be "reasonable," meaning the damages will be limited to a period in which a person would normally and promptly proceed to have the vehicle repaired. A claimant does not have to actually rent another vehicle, RV, commercial equipment, or business facility in order to recover loss of use. A claimant may opt to just receive a settlement check for the entire loss of use calculated. Our industry-recognized IACP Certified Loss of Use reports are accepted by a Court of Law and are used in Federal, Civil and Criminal court trials where a true and reasonable Loss of Use monetary value must be established.
Credit Union & Bank Loan Auto Appraisals
Banks & Credit Unions are now requiring an IACP Certified Auto Appraisal prior to financing certain classic vehicles, customized vehicles & trucks, commercial vehicles, motorhomes, travel trailers, 5th wheels, and motorcycles when they do not show up on the National Appraisal Guides, J.D. Power, N.A.D.A., Kelly Blue Book, or Black Book. Our IACP Certified Auto Appraisal will document the vehicle's current condition, including photos, and the appraisers. Some of the credit unions we assist include but are not limited to Navy Federal Credit Union, Andrews Federal Credit Union, Alaska USA Federal Credit Union, Firefighters First Credit Union, Washington State Federal Credit Union, and many more.
Umpire Services – Total Loss
Appraisal Clause ACV Dispute
Vegas Appraisal & Investigations is retained by mutual agreement between both appraisers or by court-order when an Actual Cash Value (ACV) cannot be reached between the two appraisers involved in a total loss valuation dispute. The insurance company will hire their own independent certified auto appraiser to determine the value of the vehicle at the time of loss and you have the right to obtain your own IACP Certified® Auto Appraiser to determine the value of the loss on your behalf. Our umpires are fair, unbiased, and disinterested, and have settled over 200,000+ total loss automobile claims involving all major insurance carriers when either party invokes their rights to the appraisal clause. If you are an attorney and the court has requested that you find an Umpire to settle the total loss claim per the provisions of the automobile policy, give us a call 702-741-7500
Court Expert Witness / Consultant
Vegas Appraisal & Investigations prides itself as a knowledgeable and experienced expert in everything associated with the automotive world. We thoroughly research and prepare our cases when called upon to give Expert Witness testimony. We have served many law firms whose clients were involved with dissolution, probate, bankruptcy and diminution of value. Our expert witness fees may vary but our standard rate is $750.00 per hour with a two-hour minimum plus travel expenses.
Toxic Chemical & Contaminant Release on Nearby Vehicles
Days later, when a nearby plant accidently releases toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, you may notice some new little brown spots of corrosion or high adhesion surface defects that have permanently attached itself to substrate of your vehicles paint, fiberglass, windshield, or sheet metal. Scaping it off painted areas with your fingernail may damage the paint. Nearby Die cast plants, Chemical plants, Plastic plants, Tire Plants, Concrete plants, Refineries and General Contractors use or process toxic chemicals that must be properly contained within the appropriate tanks, pipes, and pressure vessels during normal operation. The Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) explains both the risks that are associated with these products, as well as the measures that should be taken to avoid the risks. Once an explosion occurs and toxics are combined with other toxics, the chemical reaction results are unknown. These unknown toxins will diminish the value of your vehicle if repairs are not done fast enough to remove these contaminants from your vehicle. If the contaminants are serious enough such as a biohazard, your vehicle may be deemed a total loss. Should your vehicle be involved in an Industrial, Chemical, or Toxic release and you are not sure if you have a valid claim, give us a call to discuss the details.
Insurance Policy Appraisals
For Classic Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles, and Motorhomes. If you wish to have a Stated Value Policy, the Insurance Company will require that you hire Houston Auto Appraisers in order to inspect the condition of your vehicle and put together an IACP certified auto appraisal for the Stated Value of your vehicle. We will send out an IACP certified auto appraiser to the location of your vehicle so that you don’t have to come to us.
Denied, Delayed, or Underpaid Insurance Claims
The truth is the insurance company has the right to deny your claim based on the information you provided, inconsistencies with your recorded statements, or on the grounds that you are being mistrustful. When your claim is delayed or underpaid, it may take up to several months before you get a solid response. In the event your vehicle is still drivable after your car accident, it’s possible that an insurance adjuster may show up to your office and take pictures of your vehicles damages, go back to their vehicle to print you a damage repair estimate and print you a check for the damages reflected on their repair bill right there on the spot. Although this may seem fair at first, you may discover that the insurance adjuster missed a few parts that needed to be on the repair bill, which always leads to an underpaid claim. In the event you have become educated as to what has just happened, your insurance claim may be delayed due to the influx of new claims being handled by the insurance adjuster. Our team of IACP Certified Auto Appraisers & Expert Witnesses knows what it takes to assist you with your denied, delayed or underpaid claim.
Standard Presumptive Value Appraisals
Did you purchase a used auto from an individual, friend, co-worker or private party other than a licensed used car dealer and the local tax office wants you to pay the full price on their highest value?
If you purchased the vehicle for less than the standard presumptive value (SPV) as appraised by the State Comptroller, you must hire Vegas Appraisal & Investigations licensed insurance adjuster in order to save you money on the taxed amount or pay full price - bottom-line.
Odometer Fraud – Title 49 U.S.C., Chapter 327
If you purchased a used motor vehicle and later found out that the vehicles odometer had either been replaced or rolled back and this information was not properly represented to you at the time of sale, then you may have a legitimate cause of action against the individual or licensed motor vehicle dealer who sold you the used vehicle. The Department of Transportation makes it mandatory that a vehicle that has had any possible odometer tampering or title discrepancies to be properly addressed between the buyer and seller at time of sale. Selling a vehicle and not disclosing the title history is a fraud and crime. Title 49 U.S.C., Chapter 327 finds that buyers of motor vehicles rely heavily on the odometer reading as an index of the condition and value of a vehicle, buyers are entitled to rely on the odometer reading as an accurate indication of the mileage of the vehicle. An accurate indication of the mileage assists a buyer in deciding on the safety and reliability of the vehicle and provides safeguards to protect purchasers in the sale of motor vehicles with altered or reset odometers.
Title 49 U.S.C., Chapter 327 clearly states that a person may not - advertise for sale, sell, use, install, or have installed, a device that makes an odometer of a motor vehicle register a mileage different from the mileage the vehicle was driven, as registered by the odometer within the designed tolerance of the manufacturer of the odometer; disconnect, reset, alter, or have disconnected, reset, or altered, an odometer of a motor vehicle intending to change the mileage registered by the odometer; with intent to defraud, operate a motor vehicle on a street, road, or highway if the person knows that the odometer of the vehicle is disconnected or not operating; or conspire to violate this section or section 32704 or 32705 of this title.
Odometer fraud cases are on the rise and can still be relatively hard to prove and you may very well lose your case or settle for less even with factual evidence such as a Motor Vehicle Title History VTR-298 if the Defendants Attorney has ties with the presiding Judge or the Car Dealership you are after for rolling back the odometer.
Typical ways to roll back an odometer vary, but the following have been documented which include: Counterfeit titles submitted to obtain a Texas title, Mechanics Liens used to wash out a lienholder, Fraudulent or multiple applications for Certified Copy of Title, Fraudulent lien releases, removal of branded titles such as “Salvage” or “Not Actual Mileage”, out of State Titles, and removing the odometer and replacing it with a used odometer from a different vehicle.
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Body Shop Repair Negligence / Repair Facility Fraud / Overlooked Damages
Did you take your vehicle to a body shop for repairs and upon completion you find that the repairs made to your vehicle are substandard and not back to manufactures specification?
Is the body shop manager giving you a hard time in regards to correcting their substandard repairs? Did the shop miss something that was supposed to be repaired and the body shop and insurance adjuster still refuses to repair it?
WE CAN HELP! Let us put together our documenting of the repair facilities negligence and see how fast the problem or potential problems get solved or escalates. Body shops and insurance adjusters overlook things all the time that need to be repaired; or will even be quick to tell you that issue of concern was pre-existing or not part of the accident. Our expert witnesses will testify in court on your behalf if a claim of BAD FAITH or the DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICE ACT has been breached and is actionable. Give Vegas Appraisal a call today and let us review your concerns in full detail.
CAUTION: If you think you are friends with your repair shop, think again! It only takes one time for them to seriously disappoint you. Never try to save money by keeping your deductible. Just pay it! By you keeping your deductible, it will give the repair facility an upper hand advantage of reminding you that you did not pay your deductible, leaving you standing there alone and in an awkward position should you demand that your vehicle be properly repaired.
Be smart! Always get a receipt or suffer the consequences that come what may.
Social Security Income Auto Appraisals
Are you or an elderly loved one applying for Social Security Benefits including Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, Retirement, Disability, or Survivors Benefits, and as part of the application process, you must obtain and provide them with a certified auto appraisal of the actual cash value of your vehicle? Call Houston Auto Appraisers at 1-877-845-2368 and let us send out one of our IACP Certified Auto Appraisers to the location of your vehicle and provide you with an IACP Certified Actual Cash Value of your vehicle as required by the United States Social Security Administration. The auto appraisal process normally takes approximately 3-5 days for completion. Same-day service available.
Mechanics Liens
Many large dealerships and independent shops have faced a customer that dropped off their vehicle for repairs and then never showed back up due to financial troubles leaving the shop's available funds tied up. Hire Vegas Appraisal & Investigations to begin your mechanic’s lien process. The mechanic’s lien process normally takes 45 days dependent upon each situation. We know what it takes to assist you in rapidly recovering from your losses.
Automobile GPS Navigation, Infotainment & Telematics Forensic Investigations
We can identify, access, acquire, and analyze most MY 2012 and newer crashed vehicles GPS Navigation, Infotainment & Telematics Systems to determine recent and historical data, recent routes traveled, vehicle location data, vehicle crash events, Android Auto, Google Maps, phone call logs, SMS Texting, Emails, Bluetooth Devices, Timestamps, Pictures, Media, last connected devices and more. GPS Navigation, Infotainment Systems and Crash Data Retrieval of a crashed vehicles Event Data Recorder (EDR) are invaluable technologies and resources that are available for use in many situations and must be considered as part of a thorough investigation. Our automotive forensics expert witnesses can assist with depositions, automobile arbitration hearings, and trial court testimony when needed.
Crash Data Retrieval - CDR Services / Insurance Fraud Investigations:
The CDR LII Technicians and Analysts can provide you with our IACP Certified® Crash Data Retrieval imaging services on most foreign and domestic passenger vehicles, light duty trucks, and SUV’s. We can travel to your location anywhere in the United States, Hawaii, Bahamas, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
We are exclusively retained by Insurance Companies, Personal Injury Attorneys, Criminal Defense Lawyers, Judges of the Courts, Insurance Fraud Investigators, Police Departments, FBI, Law Enforcement Agencies, Detectives, Crime Scene Investigators, Fleet Managers, Automakers, and clients with PRE-CRASH, CRASH, and POST-CRASH data retrieved from a subject vehicle leading up to a collision with detailed information measured in milliseconds: -5sec…, -4sec…, -3sec, -2sec…, -1sec.., BANG!
Not long, but enough to injure and kill – or turn worlds upside down.
The facts are to determine if there was an airbag deployment event and If the airbag did not deploy, a non-deployment event – (“wakeup call”), number of passengers, vehicle pre-crash speed, acceleration, braking, speeding, stopped, parked, engine turned on/off, seatbelts buckled, attempted avoidance maneuver, driver behavior, order of impact, and impact severity – delta V, to prove up claims of sideswipes, roadside departures, forward impacts, frontal collisions, rear-end impacts, vehicle underride, rollover accidents, turn into path, turn across path, running a red light, running a stop sign, head-on collision, T-bone crashes, side impacts, low-speed and high-speed collisions, multiple-vehicle collisions, hit & runs, staged auto accidents, and phantom ghosts claims.
Classic Car Appraisals
Our bumper to bumper 90 point inspection process will evaluate the body, structure, frame, interior, electrical, and mechanical components of your Classic Car. We will then provide a complete valuation of your vehicle based on the Fair Market Value and NADA.
Pre-Purchase Inspections
Did you see a car you want to buy on an e-bay auction, dealer website, or new or used car lot? Before you buy your next automobile, have an independent inspection completed by one of our IACP certified auto appraisers. Most car dealers are reputable, but for the most part, they will take advantage of you with the “as is sale” clause over the value of the customer which leads to your vulnerability of not making an informed buying decision. It could even put you in debt as being your only source of transportation. Our buyer’s services division will perform a full inspection of your prospective vehicle and inform you of the vehicles condition and mechanical integrity. Smiling faces tell lies! So be informed before you buy. Buy Smart!
Estate Appraisals
For Bankruptcy, Divorces or Estate Sales, many legal professionals especially Family Law Attorneys, Probate Lawyers, Estate Attorneys, Bankruptcy Attorneys, and Tax Attorneys depend on our IACP certified appraisals to help them establish the true market value of their client’s assets in a court ordered legal case. Our appraisals are recognized nationwide in Federal, State, Probate, Surrogate, Civil, and Small claims courts. Our client’s successful outcomes are credited to our fast, accurate and pertinent legal documentation skills. Let Houston Auto Appraisers assist your legal department with our certified IACP appraisals today!
Construction and Heavy Equipment Appraisals
Recreational Vehicle Appraisals
Real Estate Appraisals and Insurance Claims Assistance
Desktop Appraisal Report
A desktop appraisal report is typically used to determine value without the expense of an on-site inspection and detailed analysis of the condition of the machinery or equipment. You send us pictures and a brief description of the auto, machinery or equipment and we provide a value based on this information.
Lease Turn-in Inspections
Did you lease a new car and your lease is either up, you’re turning the car in early or the dealer is overcharging you based on their so-called inspection? Contact us to assist you with our certified lease turn-in inspection services. Many leasing companies have depended on our inspections to assist them or their clients in resolving many disputes fairly.
Floor Plan Appraisals & Inspection Services
Business lenders occasionally need to perform physical inspections of the assets on the businesses to which they lend, and this may need to occur on a yearly basis. Houston Auto Appraisers offers inventory inspection services to all their clients, especially large lending institutions to meet the ever changing regulations in their industry and federal government requirements. Services span from a one-time data collection service to an ongoing yearly service contract. Services can incorporate barcoding, software implementation and spreadsheets with detailed information for an easy to use and adjustable platform.
Arbitration / Mediation Services
Binding arbitration is the practice of settling vehicle value disputes with a Neutral Judge, Arbitrator, Referee or Umpire. Most vehicle insurance policies call for arbitration as the final step in the appraisal clause to eliminate having to go to civil court. If the two opposing parties cannot agree on a Fair Market Value of the subject vehicle through negotiations, arbitration is normally advised. Arbitrations can be very time consuming and usually can take anywhere from 1-6 weeks depending on schedules. Houston Auto Appraisers arbitration fees may vary, but the standard expenses range from $500-$2,500 based on the complexity of the case and Judge, Arbitrator, Referee or Umpire used.
Pre-Warranty Inspections
Our pre-warranty inspections are designed to give the warranty company pertinent information of the vehicles current condition including mechanical, powertrain, electrical, cooling, and other related systems that may have any pre-existing conditions that would disqualify the vehicle from being written a Vehicle Service Contract.
We're experienced in the automobile appraisal, bidding, fleet management services, crawled all over the body shop repair floor, and have expert knowledge of frame and structural damage repairs, mechanical and electrical repairs, OEM vs. aftermarket parts, paint and auto valuations.
All independent appraisers are certified in accordance with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisers Practice (USPAP) and have successfully passed the accrediting Bureau of Certified Auto Appraisers - Independent Appraiser Certification Program (IACP).
Our associates include National Automobile Dealer Association Members, ICAR Gold Class Body Repair Shops, ASE Certified Mechanics, AWS / CWI Certified Welding Inspectors, Licensed Insurance Adjusters, Estimators and Independent Certified Auto Appraisers as recognized by the Bureau of Certified Auto Appraisers. www.bocaa.org
Our appraisals follow strict Bureau of Certified Auto Appraisers guidelines, Service Integrity, First Class Workmanship, codes of ethics, and standards & methodology.
VEHICLE APPRAISALS
We provide accurate and detailed appraisals for all types of vehicles, including autos, heavy equipment, motorcycles, and watercraft. Our team of experts use the latest technology to ensure precision and safety.
PROPERTY INSPECTIONS
Our property inspections offer a thorough analysis of the property’s condition, identifying any potential issues or concerns. We use cutting-edge technology to provide accurate and reliable inspections.
EFFICIENT SERVICE
We understand the importance of timely and efficient service. That’s why we pride ourselves on our quick turnaround times and attention to detail.
INVESTIGATIONS
Our investigations team is highly skilled in uncovering the truth and providing accurate and reliable information. We specialize in a wide range of investigation services, including insurance fraud, background checks, and more.
CONFIDENTIALITY
We understand the sensitive nature of investigations and the importance of confidentiality. Our team is committed to maintaining the highest level of privacy and discretion.
SUPPORT
We are available to provide support and assistance whenever you need it. Our team is dedicated to providing the highest level of customer service and satisfaction.