ACAN for Collector Vehicles, Yachts & Aircraft

Collector cars, yachts and private aircraft are certified through ACAN for Prestigious Assets, the module for unique, high-value physical objects. This guide covers what changes for assets that are titled, registered and, often, still in use. ACAN gathers the reports of independent specialists on each asset's title, history, condition and value, verifies that they have been presented and reviewed, and records them with each expert's credentials. It does not decide whether a car is original, whether a yacht is seaworthy or whether an aircraft is airworthy, or what any of them is worth: those are the experts' opinions and the regulators' decisions, and the record shows who gave each one.

What is different about these assets

Unlike art, these assets have public registries. A car has a vehicle title, a yacht has a flag registry, and an aircraft has a civil aviation registry, so title and liens can be checked much as they are for property. But value still turns on history: whether a car's chassis and engine are original to each other, what a yacht's surveys and class records show, and whether an aircraft's maintenance logs are complete. A gap in the paperwork can cost more than a dent in the bodywork.

They also move, and many are used. A painting sits in a vault; a yacht may be chartered for the season and an aircraft may fly every week. So in place of a single vault, ACAN records either secure storage or an agreed operating arrangement, and keeps the record current as the asset is used.

How an asset is certified

1. Intake and compliance. The owner submits the asset with its title, registration and history files. The owner and any beneficial owners pass identity (KYC) and anti-money-laundering checks, including on the source of funds.
2. Title and registration. The vehicle identification or chassis number, the hull identification number, or the aircraft serial number and registration mark are matched to the title or registry entry. Searches for liens, mortgages and registered interests are run in the relevant registries, and every one found is recorded.
3. Inspection and history. Independent specialists report on the asset: marque experts and manufacturer heritage certification for cars, a marine surveyor's condition survey and class certificates for yachts, and an inspection plus the complete airframe, engine and propeller logbooks for aircraft. Gaps in the history are recorded as gaps.
4. Valuation. An independent appraiser values the asset against comparable sales, taking its documented history and condition into account.
5. Storage or operation. A car goes into secure, insured storage, where its identifying numbers and condition are re-checked on arrival. A yacht or aircraft is placed with a licensed manager or charter operator, whose management agreement and insurance go on the record.
6. Legal wrapper. Title is conveyed into a special-purpose vehicle and, where the registry requires it, the registration is updated to the vehicle's name.
7. Certification and anchoring. ACAN certifies that the required reports are complete and recorded, issues a tamper-evident digital record of them, and anchors that record on-chain. The certificate covers the record, not the expert opinions in it.

From certification to issuance

ACAN certifies; it does not issue securities. A licensed issuer structures and fractionalizes the interests under the applicable regime. Some structures pair ownership with a right to use the asset; others are purely financial. Where a yacht or aircraft earns charter income, the operator reports it, ACAN attests to the receipts, and those attestations become the trigger for distributions to holders.

Ongoing assurance

These assets change with use, so the record does too. Mileage and flight hours, maintenance events, surveys and inspections, insurance renewals and any damage are recorded as they happen. A lapse in insurance, an overdue inspection, a new lien or an unreported movement suspends the certificate, and any distribution trigger with it, until the issue is cured. On a sale, the interests are redeemed and a final event is recorded, leaving the history intact.

Before you submit

The asset readiness checklist lists the documents to gather first. Related: the Collector Vehicles, Yachts and Aircraft solution, the collector vehicles deep dive, and the Ashdown estate case study, where a car collection is shared among three heirs.