Mooney’s work appraise-worthy

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This article was published 22/09/2023 (990 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In his circles, it’s a dream job. Pat Mooney spends his days looking over every inch of muscle and collector cars, getting to know the owners and coming up with the vehicle’s value as a professional appraiser.

“It’s a great job for a guy who loves cars, and I am a car lover. So, what better job can you have than looking at muscle and classic cars every day? And, you know, it doesn’t get better than that. It’s an enjoyable way of doing things,” Mooney said.

In the last 35 years, Mooney said he has seen thousands of cars as an appraiser, but his career with automobiles started years before that as a car dealer, with two used car lots in Winnipeg.

Nowadays, he said, in between doing appraisals, he is an independent contractor for Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation (MPI).

“MPI’s system is basically for average cars, so if there’s an out-of-the-ordinary vehicle, or one that’s a little obscure, they’ll call me to do those. For example, if a car’s heavily damaged, and they’re not sure if they’re going to fix it, they’ll sometimes ask me to put a price on it because they’re not sure of the value and they use a percentage to write cars off,” Mooney said.

A love of cars — particularly muscle and collector cars and wanting to know more about their value — is what spurred Mooney to pursue formal training. He joined the International Automotive Appraisers Association (IAAA), which offers new sessions several times a year.

Mooney’s expertise allows him to make submissions in insurance disputes with MPI, estate settlements and divorce proceedings, and he’s constantly doing research.

“I’m on the internet every day looking at car prices, so odds are I’m looking at cars for one of those muscle or collector clients. I read everything I can read and look at everything I can look at. There’s no such thing as too much knowledge,” Mooney said.

The appraisal process starts even before he has seen someone’s car. Mooney will send an information sheet to his client so that all the pertinent details are laid out in advance.

And once he’s in front of the car, he does a walk around opening doors, the trunk and hood, dividing the vehicle in sections.

“I do a section on the interior, the engine bay, the chassis, the body and the paint. I investigate the frame, control arms and steering components. And if it’s got a special suspension, or a different engine, all those things are included.

Using his client’s information sheet, Mooney will make notes and take about 30 photos. That process usually takes about half an hour.

What gives a muscle or collector car the wow factor, Mooney said, includes the paint job — because it’s the first thing people notice — and the suspension and engine work.

But impressing Mooney is not how the appraisal works. Neither is, he added, how much work or money someone has put into his or her car.

“A lot of people will say to me, I brought all my bills,” Mooney said. “Well, unfortunately, the bills don’t mean anything. The only value they have is to see if a guy’s built the performance-enhanced engine. Knowing what’s in there is of value, but what it cost him doesn’t matter.

“And the reason for that is the market sets the price. So when I come and look at your car, I take the pictures, make notes and away I go.”

Once back at his office, Mooney will research the car he just appraised as well as a few ones that are similar, as he puts together the package that will ultimately be sent back to the client.

“I include three or four comparables in the package so that any insurance company that’s looking at it will know how I came up with the price, that it’s not just because I thought it was worth whatever. Often, you’ll see a car listed that says ‘Asking $69,900 with over $100,000 invested,’ but what’s invested doesn’t really matter. It’s what the market will bear,” Mooney said.

The client’s final report is about 16 to 18 pages long, including the photos and Mooney’s explanation as to how he came up with the appraisal.

In a lot of cases, he said, most of his research is done in the United States market because there are more cars there. He uses the three or four cars for comparison, takes an average, and uses 30 per cent to convert to a Canadian price to come up with the final number.

“It’s difficult to say, absolutely, here’s what it’s worth — down to the dollar. If the car’s worth $50,000, it’ll be $50,000 to $53,000. There’s about a five per cent wiggle room there,” Mooney said.

From the time Mooney lays eyes on a car to the finished report, is between a week to 10 days.

And this weekend, he will be adding almost a dozen more clients from Brandon.

A proud member of the local Road Rebels Car Club, Mooney will be appraising vehicles today and Saturday, which was organized by club president Dave Burba.

“We’ve been fortunate to have Mooney come several times in the past. So we encourage everybody in our club — everybody in general, really, to get an appraisal done and keep it in a safe place just in case — heaven forbid that something does happen,” Burba said.

The appraisals will be conducted today from 1 to 6 p.m. and on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. at Tory’s Repair, 1411 Richmond Ave. East.

For more information about Mooney, visit appraisalpro.ca/

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