Equipment appraisal is needed on all types of necessary items, including hospital and medical, office, mining, communications, transportation, utilities, agricultural, construction and heavy equipment. Equipment appraisals are frequently used for mergers and acquisitions, equipment purchase, price allocation, business valuations, business dissolutions and partnership buyouts.

Appraisals are used to determine the present day value of your equipment. Your inventory may no longer be brand new but it is still worth something and appraisers are certified in many areas to be able to provide you with information about the price.

Appraisals are frequently used by insurance companies to determine the actual worth of the property you may be interested in insuring. This is most important for business and home insurance, as you need to know the worth of your equipment in case something happens and it needs to be replaced. The insurance will have all of your inventory information and will be able to determine the present day worth of each piece of item.

Certified appraisers will be able to determine the fair market value that is needed for loans and leases. It can be very difficult to determine the price of your tools as depreciation and guess estimates are just not feasible and too variable for binding legal documents. Certified appraisers follow a standard set of guidelines so you can compare your equipment to others that have been appraised from a certified appraiser. Most certified appraisers will follow guidelines set forth from The Uniform Standard of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).

Particularly healthcare and medical facilities have to keep up to date records about their equipment in case an event should occur and the machine may be at fault. A history of that tools is needed, especially if a serious problem should occur either with the machine or patient. Laws went into place in 2002 that have made equipment appraisal in healthcare much more strict.

There are three sections to equipment appraisal, market data analysis, cost less depreciation and income approach. The appraiser will then collect data, in the form of documents and pictures as well as interviewing those that are experts or have vast knowledge of the items. Many times an appraisal will also be accompanied by a restricted use. If only the user needs the report then a restricted use, such as only one specific person can use the machine, will be added to the appraisal. Insurance companies also will use this if a claim is filed in relation to the items.

When looking for an equipment appraisal you need to find an accredited appraiser. You should not have to disclose any confidential of sensitive information when just receiving basic information. References are also very important and should be provided when asked. You will then need to determine the appraisal question and all other relevant information to include in the appraisal; premise of value, property to be appraised, possible implications to third parties, and how the appraisal will be used, to name but a few.