A couple of things that I forgot to point out in my post above, the documentation of a car is done to determine its authenticity or originality. It doesn't establish a value for the car, since sometimes a person has the knowledge to determine authenticity, but isn't licenced to determine value. A good example would be the car auctions on tv, they never talk about authenticity, nor do they ever say that it has an appraised value, but only a "pre auction estimate of value". This is done specifically to keep from having a buyer come back against them in the future. An appraiser doesn't authenticate authenticity or originality, only his opinion of value. There are many factors that come into play when a person authenticates a vehicle, such as does it have all its original part, engine, transmission, and other mechanical items that might be dated, either by casting numbers, or known running changes in the assembly line. To an appraiser, these items might not effect the value that he would put on the car, and usually an appraisal if for insurance purposes only. More often then not, the appraised value far exceeds the selling value of the vehicle. Insurance value is important to know, because it will determine how the vehicle is seen after an accident. I know that Hagerty uses the agreed upon value times 70% to determine when a car is considered totalled. Should you insure your car for $5000, and be involved in some form of claim, then they will total the car at $3500, and take the car for salvage, where it might bring a lot more money, because what it is. Hagerty does offer at additional cost, "cherished" insurance, where if the car is totalled, you can get the full amount of the insurance, and keep the vehicle. To me, this insurance has a great value, since I know that I get to keep the car, and I would want to fix it, unless it was so far gone that fixing it would be next to impossible. Something to think about, especially if you have a lot of $$$$ invested into the engine To the insurance company, an engine is an engine, no matter how many $$$$ you have put into it!