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Vehicle Appraisals

What is a restored vehicle worth? How is that valued? Your spouse spent years...
May 12, 2020

Purchasing or selling a car is both exciting and scary at the same time. Doing either because of a separation or divorce is tragic and takes all the excitement out of the sale or purchase. It becomes duty, obligation, and necessity. So let’s chat about the options here: sell, buy, or simply value.

So many men (and a few women I have known) are amazing and skilled at restoring a vehicle. Bondo and filler are part of their vocabulary. Searching for original parts online or in junk yards is fun and never a chore. Picking a color and the right paint shop takes months not days. What is a restored vehicle worth? How is that valued? Your spouse spent years and twenty thousand ($20,000.00) of your hard-earned marital funds and you sure hope that vehicle is worth a mint. Who do you call when he says it is only worth $5,000? Better yet, who do you call when your wife claims the vehicle is worth $60,000? To keep your dream car you wonder if you are going to have to part with additional funds from your retirement account to make up the difference.

However, you don’t always need to sell a vehicle due to separation or divorce, sometimes you simply need to value it.

Maybe your separation or divorce has left you in a financially strapped position or with bad credit … and a crappy vehicle that barely runs. What do you do then? You are being forced to purchase a vehicle at an overly inflated interest rate or buy a vehicle from a private seller and maybe get funds from family or friends. How do you know how much the car you are purchasing is worth? It’s time again for a vehicle appraisal.

Hopefully you are in the final category we are discussing where you are not forced into the sale of a vehicle but instead you can work with an appraiser now to value your vehicle. From muscle cars to classic cars, golf carts to go karts, and everything in between (yes, even your used Tesla), getting a vehicle appraisal may be just what the Judge ordered to get you on your way and driving your convertible into the sunset and beyond.

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Janet Gemmell
Practicing law for over 20 years may have caused Janet some gray hairs, but she remains young at heart, probably because she loves what she does. Janet's focus is to work with clients building new lives after relationship turmoil and although it is hard work, she finds it utterly rewarding. Such work and experiences gives Janet a ton of insight and along with her legal knowledge (afterall she is a Board Certified Family Law Specialist) she is able to get to the heart of any legal matter quickly in order to start helping clients find resolutions and to get their lives back on track.

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