Aircraft Purchase Agreements

kontiki

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Kontiki
I'm finally serious about buying an airplane.
One piece of advice I received on the subject was to take sample purchase agreements from the AOPA website and cobble together an agreement of some kind.
I do not want to get crazy with this. I am not a lawyer. The purchase price is going to be under $50k.
Anybody have previous experience doing this? Any specific recommendations?
I am still on the fence on aircraft type, but decided to go for the next nice looking Citabria (with metal spars) or a Grumman (AA5A), whichever one is the best value within my reach.
Thanks
 
One piece of advice I received on the subject was to take sample purchase agreements from the AOPA website and cobble together an agreement of some kind.
Shaky advice. Yes, you can get a lot of good ideas of what to put in the contract from such sources, but it's a legal quicksand pit if you don't get a real attorney licensed in the state where the transaction will take place to go over the contract and make sure it's effective and enforcable. If you are an AOPA member with the Legal Services plan, such consultation is included in the plan.

BTW, another good reference for things like this is J. Scott Hamilton's book "Practical Aviation Law." The fourth edition is widely available on the internet for under $40 delivered, and the chapter on Buying and Selling Aircraft will help you immensely in this endeavor. The rest of the book is pretty good reading, too, especially the chapters on FAA enforcement, aviation medical cases, liability, insurance, and accidents.
 
I used AOPA's Purchase and Sales agreement when I have bought and sold a few planes. However, each time I did have an attorney review it in the state I was either selling or buying.

It is a good starting point, but I agree with Ron, an attorney will keep you out of the weeds.
 
I'd just like to add here, "fricken lawyers".
 
I'd just like to add here, "fricken lawyers".
...until you need one. I've got my gripes with the legal fraternity, but remember the context of "First, kill all the lawyers"*? That was the first step towards a tyranny. In this particular case, a good lawyer is your friend, because nothing keeps deals from going sour like a well-written contract.

*Actually, it's "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." William Shakespeare, Henry VI (Part 2), Act IV, Scene 2. The preceding line, which sets the context, is, "I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like brothers and worship me their lord."
 
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If your very concerned about it you should probably hire a company to do the transaction for you. They don't charge very much and it would probably be worth it for you. I Have never been to concerned buying airplanes myself. I just use the FAA Bill of Sale which you have to do and send in to them anyway. You can download from www.faa.gov/forms/index.cfm/go/document.information/documentID/186163. It is AC 8050-2. you have to have one of those to send along with your license for aircraft anyway. Its pretty easy to do a lien search also.
 
The purchase agreement will typically have three items covered, acceptance inspection, inspection flight, AS Where is. The first two cover you, the last covers them. Basically you agree on a price for the plane as represented. You then inspect and fly the plane and note the list of discrepancies between 'as represented' and 'as is'. You now negotiate the value of the discrepancies unless on the test flight you didn't like the plane. If nothing can be done to close the deal, you walk. If you close the deal and leave, deal is done, engine blows up on the way home, it's your problem.
 
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