No Cost · No Obligation
Free Equipment Appraisal: What Your Machinery Is Actually Worth Today
Most of what gets advertised as a free appraisal is a lead form followed by a callback from someone reading a depreciation table. This is a valuation conversation with people who sell this equipment for a living. Send us makes, models, serials, hours, and photos, and we come back with a value range grounded in what comparable machines are transacting for right now, plus the honest version of which of your assets are strong and which are not. It costs nothing, there is no obligation to sell, and it is usually back to you within one business day. It is also not a certified appraisal report, and we draw that line exactly rather than leave it fuzzy.
What the Free Valuation Actually Includes
This is not a number in isolation. A number without context does not help you decide anything, so the free read includes the reasoning around it:
- ✓A value range for each significant asset, and a range for the group as a whole
- ✓The market read behind it: who buys this equipment, how deep the pool is, and what has actually been moving
- ✓A recommended path with the calendar it implies: managed auction, outright cash purchase, private treaty, or consignment into an upcoming sale
- ✓Which assets will carry the sale, and which ones will not, stated plainly rather than averaged into a flattering total
- ✓A straight answer on whether selling now or waiting serves you better, including when the answer is wait
- ✓What documentation would raise the number, and by roughly how much
Delivered by phone or in writing, whichever you prefer, and usually within one business day of receiving your list. One honest caveat: it is an opinion of value based on the information you provide, and we have not inspected the equipment. Photos hide things. The range reflects that, and it narrows as the information improves.
Free Market Read Versus Certified Appraisal: The Real Difference
These are two different products and conflating them causes genuine problems for sellers. Here is the distinction in full.
Free consultation-level valuation
- ✓No cost, no engagement letter, no obligation
- ✓Based on the photos, data, and history you provide, without an onsite inspection
- ✓Delivered as a range, with the reasoning, by phone or in writing
- ✓Usually back within one business day
- ✓Purpose: to help you decide what to do next
- ✓Not USPAP-compliant. Not certified. Not signed. Not an appraisal report.
Formal certified appraisal
- ✓A paid engagement, quoted upfront based on scope, asset count, location, and turnaround
- ✓AMEA-certified and USPAP-compliant, prepared for a stated client, purpose, and effective date
- ✓Stated value definitions: Orderly Liquidation Value, Forced Liquidation Value, Fair Market Value, Replacement Cost New
- ✓Full methodology documentation and appraiser signature with AMEA credentials
- ✓Accepted by lenders, courts, and the IRS
- ✓Desktop typically 3 to 5 business days. Onsite certified typically 2 to 4 weeks, with expedited turnaround available for credit and hearing deadlines.
The rule of thumb is simple. If the number is for you, to make a decision with, the free read does the job. If the number is going into a loan file, a court filing, an insurance placement, a divorce, a buy-sell agreement, an estate, or a tax position, it will not, and we will tell you that on the call rather than after you have relied on it. Sending a client into a credit committee with an uncertified number helps nobody.
Get Started
Send Us Your Equipment List
Makes, models, serials, hours, and photos. We'll follow up with a value range, usually within one business day.
Who Asks for This
Owners thinking about the exit. A shop owner weighing retirement who wants a real number before saying anything to family, employees, or a buyer. This is the most common call we take, and confidentiality is the first thing we address.
CFOs and controllers. Deciding whether idle assets are worth carrying another year against tax, insurance, floor space, and maintenance. A value range turns that from an argument into a calculation.
Plants with surplus after a change. A line moved, a contract ended, a capacity upgrade left the old machines standing. The question is whether the surplus is worth a sale of its own or belongs consigned into someone else's.
Executors, families, and partners. After a death, a dissolution, or a partnership split, somebody has to put a defensible number on the equipment. The free read tells you the magnitude. If the number is going into a filing, you will need the formal appraisal, and we will say so.
Lenders doing a sanity check. A quick read before deciding whether to order a full appraisal, or a gut check against a number that came in looking optimistic.
Buyers of a business. Working out what the machinery inside a deal is actually worth, separate from what the seller's spreadsheet says it is worth.
What to Have Ready
The quality of the number tracks the quality of the input almost exactly. You do not need all of this to start, but each item narrows the range:
- ✓Make, model, and serial number. The serial is what separates a real valuation from a guess, because it fixes the build year and configuration.
- ✓Year, and hours, cycles, or spindle hours if the machine tracks them
- ✓Control make, model, and software version on anything CNC. Control generation moves price more than most owners expect.
- ✓Tooling, fixtures, change parts, and accessories included, and whether they stay with the machine
- ✓Condition, last service, and whether the machine is currently under power and running
- ✓Location, and access: floor level, dock or grade, door width, ceiling height, and whether there is a crane
- ✓Photos: the full machine, the data plate, the control, the spindle or work area, and any damage. Data plate photos are worth more than glamour shots.
- ✓Maintenance records, original invoices, and manuals where they exist
- ✓Your timeline, and any fixed date driving it
If all you have is a phone photo and a model number, send that. A partial list gets a wider range, which is still more useful than no number, and we narrow it as the detail arrives. Nothing you send is marketed, listed, or disclosed anywhere. We sign NDAs on request and a valuation inquiry never becomes a listing.
Why Our Number Comes From Transaction Data
Auction comps tell you what one machine brought on one day in one sale, in front of whoever happened to be bidding. Useful, and incomplete. The other half of the market is negotiated: what a buyer paid a dealer last month, what has been sitting on the floor unsold for two quarters, and what has three buyers waiting for the next one to surface.
We see both halves. Our retail arm KD Machinery sells more than 750 machine tools a year and has been in the used machinery business for 30+ years, which means when we bracket your horizontal boring mill or your 400 ton press, the number is coming out of live transaction data rather than a depreciation schedule.
The demand side of that is our 500,000+ industry contacts, which is also the reason we can tell you how deep the pool is for a specific machine rather than just what one sold for. Depth is what determines whether a range is tight or wide, and it is the part a comp lookup cannot give you.
What Happens After the Number
The number works and you want to sell. A managed online auction runs 6 to 10 weeks from engagement through settlement, with marketing to our 500,000+ industry contacts and per-lot settlement accounting. Our fee is tailored to the engagement and quoted upfront, and most sellers pay nothing out of pocket.
You need certainty and a date. An outright cash purchase produces an offer in 24 to 72 hours, funds typically 3 to 7 days after acceptance, and removal in 1 to 2 weeks. You trade some upside for a number and a date you can plan around.
You need the certified report. We quote the formal AMEA-certified, USPAP-compliant appraisal as its own engagement, desktop or onsite, with expedited turnaround where a deadline requires it. It is accepted by lenders, courts, and the IRS.
The answer is wait, or do nothing. Sometimes the market for a specific machine is thin this quarter and better next, or the equipment is worth more running in your building than sold out of it. We say so. Then nothing happens: no weekly call, no drip campaign, no pressure. Founded by Michael and Arlene Treger in 1996, KD Auctions has run hundreds of auctions since and is licensed and bonded in every state that requires it, which is a business built on people calling back years later rather than on chasing anyone.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the free equipment appraisal actually free?
Yes. No cost, no engagement letter, and no obligation to sell anything. We give away the valuation because a well-informed seller is a better client, and because a meaningful share of the people we help decide not to sell this year and call us back when they do. There is no invoice attached to a market read.
Can I give the free valuation to my bank, my attorney, or the IRS?
No, and we would rather tell you now than after you have submitted it. The free read is a consultation-level market opinion, not a USPAP-compliant report, and it carries no appraiser certification or signature. For a loan file, a court filing, an insurance placement, an estate, or a tax position you need the formal AMEA-certified appraisal, which is a separate paid engagement and is accepted by lenders, courts, and the IRS.
How fast will I get a number?
The free valuation is usually back within one business day of receiving your equipment list and photos, and often the same day on a short list. If you need the formal certified report instead, a desktop appraisal typically takes 3 to 5 business days and an onsite certified appraisal typically takes 2 to 4 weeks, with expedited turnaround available when a credit or court deadline requires it.
Do I have to sell through KD if I use the free valuation?
No. There is no exclusivity, no listing agreement, and nothing to sign. Plenty of people use the number to make a completely different decision: keep the machine, finance against it, hold it another year, or sell it themselves. If you do decide to engage us, the fee is tailored to the engagement, quoted upfront, and most sellers pay nothing out of pocket.
How accurate can a valuation be from photos alone?
Accurate enough to make a decision with, and we express it as a range rather than a single figure precisely because we have not put hands on the machine. With a serial number, hours, control detail, and clear data plate photos, the range is usually tight enough to be actionable. Without them it widens, and things a photo cannot show, way wear, spindle condition, crash history, will move the final number. An onsite inspection is what closes that gap.
What does the formal certified appraisal cost?
It is quoted upfront, based on scope, asset count, location, format, and how fast you need it. A desktop valuation on a short list of machines is a different engagement from an onsite certified appraisal of a full plant, and they are priced accordingly. You will have the number before any work begins, and the free consultation is where we tell you which one you actually need.
Will this stay confidential?
Yes. Nothing you send is marketed, listed, published, or shared, and a valuation inquiry never becomes a public listing. We sign NDAs on request, and on sensitive situations we can keep the seller unnamed through the entire process if you later decide to sell. Owners contact us years before they act, and that only works if the first call stays private.
Disclaimer: Appraisal reports are prepared for the specific client, purpose, and date of value stated in the engagement. USPAP compliance and AMEA accreditation do not guarantee acceptance by any particular lender, court, or regulatory body. This website does not constitute an appraisal or valuation opinion.
Every Deal Is Different.
Let's Talk About Yours.
Tell us what you have and where you are. We'll tell you honestly what it's worth and the best way to move it.
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