|
It’s been a long time coming, (or maybe it hasn’t) but you have finally decided to buy your own airplane or helicopter. Congratulations. That is awesome. More people need to come to this decision, since finding an affordable aircraft is much easier than people think. The myth that owning and flying your own plane is only for the wealthy, needs to be busted. If you want a plane or helicopter of your own, there are many options to choose from to get you going. This guide is to help you “get lined up on center” to help make it happen. The first stop for many buyers is to look for new and used aircraft for sale in classified sections of magazines, in industry publications, and on websites such as ClassG.com. The most frustrating thing that you will find with classified aircraft listings is that many of these ads are poorly written, causing us as buyers to scratch our heads and wonder, “what is this seller thinking??!” My first squawk is the owner who doesn’t know what equipment he has in his plane. More often than not, the seller (usually private sellers, not brokers), can’t even tell you the make and model of the various avionics it has. This is helpful when it comes to things like GPS and autopilots. Knowing how to use them and any servicing issues can make or break your decision to buy. Another issue I have is when the price is not included in the ad. The seller says something like “Inquire” or “call”. I know they are doing that so we as buyers will make some kind of contact with them and they can better ‘sell’ their aircraft to us. With big turbine aircraft there are more complicated formulas, I understand why the mystery there, but for most other aircraft, the price should be showing. The lack of a price should tell you that the seller thinks it’s high, is trying to get you to contact them, and/or believes they are such a good salesman that they can convince you that the value is there. SORRY. With me, if the price isn’t listed and the ad doesn’t provide enough information to make me want to ‘inquire’ about the price, that seller lost my business. Sellers – state your asking price. You may not get as many calls, but the ones you get will be from prospects that already know the score and are still interested. If you are trying to increase your prospects, then do so when the person calls. Even then, they are further along in the buying process and are in the state of mind that they won’t resist your efforts to act as a broker for them in finding an aircraft for sale. Another thing related to price. I love it when sellers say “make offer”. This often translates into, “well, I’d love to get this price, but I realize that it’s too high to begin with for the market conditions. So instead of scaring you off, I’m telling you straight up that I’m willing to negotiate.” However, sometimes, as rare as they are, someone needs to get the aircraft off their hands and is willing to let it go at a considerable discount. It’s almost like an auction, without the auction timeline. Often times, if they seller is in a bind and needs to let it go, they will say so with the “make offer” suggestion. Some will even provide an explanation as to why they are letting it go (but don’t get suckered by cunning sellers who just put that in the ad to pull you in – don’t you just love this game). Don’t try to negotiate right up front. Simply ask (if you don’t know already) if the price is negotiable. Most sellers will negotiate, even if they haven’t said so in the ad. Then, if you like the specs and logs of the aircraft for sale and have done the proper due diligence, you can hit them with an offer, (some dealers prefer that you provide a Letter Of Intent to show you’re not just wasting their time). This shows that you are more informed, have done your homework and the seller will take you more seriously. Time Squawks and TBO Many ads, where the engine received an overhaul of some kind when the engine was well over 75% of its TBO (Time Between Overhauls as suggested by the manufacturer), screams of, “I’ve been maintaining this on a shoestring budget and didn’t have enough money to finish the job.” Please remember that Top Overhauls are repairs only and add nothing when doing a price valuation. If the engine is 2000 hours TBO and there are only a few hundred hours left, you’ll soon be doing a complete engine overhaul. Then there are those ads where the seller doesn’t include the total airframe time (TTAF). The only translation for this is that “the total time is so freaking high that if you read it, you would be scared away and I really want to sell this airplane.” Now, this is something that we need to discuss quickly. What if the aircraft is old in number of years, but has a low Total Time? What a steal, right? Not so fast. There are numerous mechanical and structural issues that can be found in a low time, old in year aircraft. This says that the aircraft hasn’t been used much and has been sitting around collecting dust and possibly rust in places you can’t see so be careful. Let us look at a bad classified ad that you would find in Controller or Trade a Plane (the publications are good, just the ad is bad). 1979 Cessna 172. 1780 SMOH, 200 STOH, IFR, runs smooth, nice paint, int. Call for details. What did this ad tell me? No total time, so it’s probably high, top overhaul near TBO, IFR equipped but didn’t mention what kind of radios so they are probably old, runs smooth – they all do until they quit, nice paint and interior, which probably are the original or over a decade old, no price. Many of the online ads do a better job at giving a good aircraft description and more detail about the avionics and equipment, but even those need some help in making a good ‘sales pitch’ about the aircraft. To help decipher the codes and learn the difference between a good ad and a bad one, take some and read through a bunch. Even ads about aircraft you may not be interested in. What you learn by doing this will save you a lot of time sorting out the lame ducks from the eagles. If you really want to find the good listings and the good aircraft, I would use the classifieds as a starting point, but the online listing websites will be the best place to look. Also, ask around at your local airport and get advice from others who have gone before. Their experience could save you a lot of time, and money.
Related Articles -
aircraft, for, sale,
| 
