Appraiser

[rcn11thacr]

This may not be the right spot for this, forgive me. I understand there are companys that specialize in going to a site and getting an appraisal on a piece of heavy equipment (dozer in this case) for a prospective buyer. My understanding is that thay will do a complete T&A on an item to include oil analysis for a charge. Can anyone help offer the name of any of these companys? Any help would be appreciated, long distance purchese and dont want to get a big surprize that I was not expecting. Thanks.

 

[Dozer575]

I would suggest contacting the dealer for what ever brand dozer that it is.
I'm sure they could do what you are asking for. And yes better to spend a bit for that appraisal than to have to spend for repairs later. If there is no dealer for that brand of machine in the area, then contact another brand dealer, I'm sure a Cat dealer could check other brands out as well. Since they all do take other make machines in trade in. Most all equipment dealers do. And if they won't or can't then maybe they can send you the right direction.
Also a good independant could do the check out. I'm not sure what you can do if the out fit or person doing the check out is wrong. It's a good idea to get more than one opinion.

 

[digger242j]

This may not be the right spot for this, forgive me.

I moved this thread here, from "dozers", since it would apply just as much to any other type of equipment. You're forgiven.

I'm not sure "appraiser" is the correct term you're looking for. To me, an appraiser looks at a piece of equipment and assigns a value to it, but doesn't necessarily go over it with a fine toothed comb. You're probably looking more for an "equipment inspector". I don't know if that's a catagory you'd find in the yellow pages or not.

IronPlanet does evaluations of the sort you're asking about, on the equipment they sell in their online auctions. Whether they'd do the same sort of thing for an already arranged private sale, I don't know, but it probably wouldn't hurt to ask.

 

[DVermast]

Iron Planet, typically will do an inspection for you, but its just a pretty general inspection. Cat will do inspections pretty extensively, including measurements of the U/C. I've had quite a few done on equipment I'm buying recently, and saved myself on misrepresented equipment. A TA/1 is a general walkaround and a TA/2 is a much more advanced inspection, which I think is what your looking for.

 

[rcn11thacr]

The T/A-2 is certainly the inspection I am interested in and I appreciate the info. I spoke with my local Cat dealer and they only do in house inspections and are unable to recommend anyone for this job. I'm sure I found at one time a company that specialized in heavy equipment inspections for a fee. The dozer I am looking at is a Case 450b. I will continue to search the options out there unless anyone else happens to reply with the name of a specific company. Thanks again to all.

 

[Countryboy]

Welcome to HEF DVermast! :drinkup

 

[John C.]

Most dealers will not do an inspection for others because of liability and possible conflict of interest issues.
Check out:
International Society of Appraisers, http://www.isa-appraisers.org/
American Society of Appraisers, http://www.appraisers.org/
Equipment Appraisers of America http://www.eaana.org/
Association of Machinery and Equipment Appraisers http://www.amea.org/
One of these organizations should have someone who can help.

Make sure you discuss at length what you want from any appraiser. Most do just try to get away with giving an opinion of value that means nothing. Only a few will do a comprehensive inspection.

You are a little out of my territory so I can't help you other than give a little advice. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

Good Luck!

 

[rcn11thacr]

Thanks! John c
That is just the type of help I was looking for. Just bought a new equip-trader mag at the store to see if there were any listed in there with no luck. Thanks again.