Has Anyone Bought or Sold a 182 In The Last Year?

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Bigmikeh24

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Bigmikeh24
I'm currently shopping for a C-182. I'm having a hard time determining a realistic price of what I should be paying.

If I compare the prices between the ads in TaP and Controller vs. what AOPA VREF and Aircraft Bluebook say for retail pricing, it's wildly off by a good 30%.

Has anyone recently bought or sold a Q or R model or any model lately? How was the final price compared to the blue book and listed price?
 
Bigmikeh24 said:
I'm currently shopping for a C-182. I'm having a hard time determining a realistic price of what I should be paying.

If I compare the prices between the ads in TaP and Controller vs. what AOPA VREF and Aircraft Bluebook say for retail pricing, it's wildly off by a good 30%.

Has anyone recently bought or sold a Q or R model or any model lately? How was the final price compared to the blue book and listed price?
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Don't have an answer to your question, but I wouldn't touch a C182 in this environment. Prices have gone insane and when the market cools off, those that "bought high" will likely take a bath on resale. Just my .02.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Don't have an answer to your question, but I wouldn't touch a C182 in this environment. Prices have gone insane and when the market cools off, those that "bought high" will likely take a bath on resale. Just my .02.
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Is your comment specific to the 182s or just the GA market in general?
 
Rick182 said:
Is your comment specific to the 182s or just the GA market in general?
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Little bit of both. GA market prices have gone up considerably, but C182 models have seemed to outpace most other models. Models that would have sold for $80K a few years ago are now getting six-figures. I can't imagine that's sustainable, but who knows.
 
I've been keeping an eye on prices as well. I would look at what is actually in the market, vs Vref or Bluebook, which lags the market place. Our club got a nice 70's era 182 back in Feb; basic but nice. One member commented we over paid. From what I see in TAP, Controller, etc. it would easily sell today for $50k more.
 
I could sell my Bonanza for twice what I paid 5 years ago, but I'd take a bath replacing it. It has a low time engine and a new interior. I could put in a new panel and still sell it for more than I have in it. Now. But who knows how long this market will last.
 
WDD said:
I've been keeping an eye on prices as well. I would look at what is actually in the market, vs Vref or Bluebook, which lags the market place. Our club got a nice 70's era 182 back in Feb; basic but nice. One member commented we over paid. From what I see in TAP, Controller, etc. it would easily sell today for $50k more.
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WDD, do you know what your club paid for the 182? That's the problem I'm having. Everyone says the ads are over priced. Everyone says the bluebooks lag the market.....

This is worse than buying a house or a boat. At least with the house I can see comps easily on Zillow. Boats are common enough that pricing isn't all that hard because people seem to talk more openly.

I'm currently renting 172's out of my club. The club took on so many student members since Covid started that the planes are constantly down for 50hr, 100hr maintenance plus whatever else just broke from the last flight. Each plane flies about 8-10hrs a day plus more on weekends. I book planes for twice a week. My reservations are usually cancelled a day or 2 before because the plane suddenly went down for maintenance. When I do finally get a plane, it turns into a "what just broke now adventure". The last plane I rented I flew to a nearby airport, topped off the tanks, taxied to a parking spot, got out and literally got rained on by 100LL pouring out of the training edge of the wing. Fortunately the leak was at the top of the tank and finally quit leaking after a couple gallons drained out. Now that one has been down for the last 2 weeks. I'm lucky to fly once a month.
I would join another club but I have the idiosyncrasies of 5 planes to sort out now when I fly. If I join another club, that would be 5 more planes with different issues... I just want one plane with it's own issues and I know what happened the last time it flew because I was the one that flew it.

Can anyone tell me what they paid for their 182 and maybe mention hrs, condition, damage and a smidge of equipment?..... A PM would be great. I'm just trying to get a clue...Thanks in advance.
 
You can lowball offers with the only punishment being a no.
The bigger question for me is do prices really ever go down??!!
 
I belong to a club and another rental place. Between the two of them I can find a plane.
 
I thought we were in a small one in 2020?
 
benyflyguy said:
The bigger question for me is do prices really ever go down??!!
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The market had a notable shift in prices in 2008. People have since become accustomed to the low prices and now that they're trending up (as are cars, houses, etc.) the belief is that they are getting too expensive. I believe the market is softening a bit but I think we have a while to go before they take a sharp dive again.
 
WDD said:
I thought we were in a small one in 2020?
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The S&P is higher now than it was a year ago, pre-pandemic. Same with the Dow Jones. The "recession" was easily understood (Covid reactions) and very short-term, which is why it didn't have much impact on market prices in a 12-month time span.
 
You might want to look at Cessna Cardinals. They aren’t nearly as pricey as a Skylane, with most of the performance.
 
I sold my 182L earlier this year for $56,500. That was with a solid panel and relatively clean but 35 year-old paint/interior. The engine was also 35 years SMOH and starting to show it. First thing done after the sale was the installation of a new engine. So I imagine there is now $90-100k put into it. That should give you one reference point.
 
PlaneFlyer said:
I sold my 182L earlier this year for $56,500. That was with a solid panel and relatively clean but 35 year-old paint/interior. The engine was also 35 years SMOH and starting to show it. First thing done after the sale was the installation of a new engine. So I imagine there is now $90-100k put into it. That should give you one reference point.
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Plane Flyer, That's a good starting point! Thank You So Much! This really helps!
 
I sold a very nice (7.5/10 easy) 182q in Feb of 2019 for 110. it had a 430W, STEC 30 with Alt hold & GPSS, VGs, ADSB, a great interior and a mid time O-470. Took about 30 days to get her under contract, about 7-8 people looked at her. Plane needed nothing but fresh paint, a G5 AI and a JPI 830 to be completely cherry. The gentleman I sold her to did just that after the purchase. He still has her and she is in fact cherry. I would imagine he could probably get 140+ easy and cover the improvements including labor. kudos to him! - timing is everything as they say...
 
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I sold an 07 C182T in 2012 for 305k with 800 hours. You can't by the same plane with 1400+ hours for that now...

Van Bortel has the market artificially inflated and they do a GREAT job keeping it like that...
 
Cessna 182s will not go down in price. There are fewer of them every day and the stock market keeps going up.
What I recommend is (I did this a year ago when I bought mine):
- check the ads daily and assume the asking price will be the sale price
- when you find a plane you like, call and claim the first spot in line
- take a mechanic with you (or find one there) to do a pre-buy
- after you are happy with the pre-buy, ask if they are willing to go lower
- if they dont (likely not, because there will be several other people who are ready to pounce), buy the plane
- enjoy the smile on your face for years to come (money cannot do that)
 
I think the top is in at least for the short-term...I’ve seen a trend in the last weeks of some of the more popular 4-place aluminum planes being relisted or adjusted with “new lower prices”
 
It's a very in-demand airplane. I've heard it said that "nobody sells a 182", which is an obvious exaggeration but you get the idea.

For a point of reference, two years ago my partner and I purchased a 1980 Q model, 6000h TTAF, new paint and interior (old plastics though), new 430W+GTX345 in the panel, and a mid time 750 hour engine from 2013 (2000 hour tbo). We paid 120k for it.

Regards,
G
 
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I've been looking at 182s for awhile. I'm almost ready to buy one, but mostly looking for now.

It's hard to look at airplanes and not be overwhelmed. One I looked at had around 350 hours SMOH, completed int 2010. My mind says 2010... that's not that long ago. Then I remember, recommended TBO is every 12 years. Not a deal breaker for me, but still something to think about. Then you have to see how many of those hours were flown in the last few years. Pretty good odds it didn't average 35 hours a year.

Also, 182s have been built since 1956! This means a price range from $54K to $347K listed right now on TAP and BS.
 
Lowflynjack said:
... Then I remember, recommended TBO is every 12 years. Not a deal breaker for me, but still something to think about. ...
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Most people will pretty much ignore the 12 year limit on TBO and focus on hours. And yes, hours flown per year is important. The more a plane sits the more it degrades due to corrosion inside the engine.
 
Pilawt said:
Whatever happened in 2020, it made travel by general aviation much more attractive than the alternatives. That's driven values up.
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I bought a plane for exactly this reason in July.

The world is going to change over the next 6 months. Logical to assume that since COVID caused GA supply to go down and price to go up, the vaccine will cause the reverse. I would not buy right now. Wait and see.
 
Johnbo said:
I think the top is in at least for the short-term...I’ve seen a trend in the last weeks of some of the more popular 4-place aluminum planes being relisted or adjusted with “new lower prices”
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Ive noticed the same in airplane and higher end automotive stuff. The market is definitely softening a bit, or at least leveling off. The 1st quarter of 2021 will be interesting to see which way things trend.
 
Ed Haywood said:
I bought a plane for exactly this reason in July.

The world is going to change over the next 6 months. Logical to assume that since COVID caused GA supply to go down and price to go up, the vaccine will cause the reverse. I would not buy right now. Wait and see.
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People wouldn’t be purchasing due to covid if there wasn’t plenty of money floating around. I don’t think Covid is the root cause for all the buying, but it may be for some of it. Prices have been trending upward for a lot longer than Covid has been around.

The time to buy will be in the next recession. But the people looking to buy right now may not be able to buy then either. It’s coming, it’s just a matter of when.
 
I’ve been waiting for the market to drop out of the airplane and housing market for over 5 years now.

Still waiting. That’s 5 years without an airplane and at least a half million dollars in property value I’ve missed out on because I’m such a friggin’ coward with my money.
 
I joined my flying club in July of 2019 as a student to obtain my PPL. The club has 4 172's. Back then I could easily schedule a plane 3 days out. If one was down, I could usually get another one the same day.
By June of 2020 membership swelled with student pilots. It seems like a lot of people working at home suddenly found time to take up flying. Now I have to schedule 2 weeks out. 70% of the time my plane get's cancelled for maintenance.

I think a lot of people are in the same boat as me. I can keep renting an over used 40 year old plane that's ridden hard every day. Being annoyed by the new flat spotted tires, wondering how hard it bounced on the last few landings and what happened that no one noticed or squawked. I Fly just enough to try to remember how to do it.

That leaves me and a bunch of other people saying to themselves, "I need my own plane!"

The other thing I noticed with Covid is there's no networking anymore. No one can socialize. I really would like to join a partnership. I fly out of KOAK but it's impossible to find anyone looking to partner.

I agree with the consensus that we're at the peak of the market. Then again, I don't think prices will come down till after everything goes back to normal and half the people that bought planes in the last year will realize how little they use it. Especially after they have to go back to work and their kids start playing soccer again.

Spring 2022 is going to be a great time to buy but I don't want to wait that long....
 
When I was airplane shopping 2 years ago the 182 market was nuts. The nice airplanes were over valued and the ones priced more reasonably were junk. Either way they didn't sit on the market very long.
 
If you have the funds to buy now and maintain one just do it, you won't regret it! Those that say I'm waiting till next quarter, the next recession, the next whatever are nothing more than tire kickers and will always have an excuse not to buy.
 
I agree with the above. Airplanes (particularly these 60's - 90's vintage machines) will cost you a tremendous amount of money to own, operate, maintain and upgrade, regardless of purchase price. Focusing on "getting your money back out" is really bad economics. Buy what you can EASILY afford and hoard a bunch of cash each year to keep it up.
 
I bought my 182p last February. I can’t tell you how many planes I called about that were either sold or pending. I found that controller and Trade-A-Plane keep listings up for sometimes months after the plane was sold. I talked with several sellers that were getting really frustrated because they kept getting calls long after the plane was sold, because TAP/ controller wouldn’t take the listing down. It’s kinda like click bait. Oh look, there’s 120 182s on TAP! Yeah but 98 of them were sold a month ago! I got very lucky finding my plane. I had been looking for over 6 months when I got a tip and found my bird. I’m absolutely in love with it! My advice, post wanted adds. Join some Facebook groups and ask around. Some people are on the fence about selling and you might get lucky!
 
Facebook is the new venue. I browsed old school sites like TAP and Barnstormer for months. Almost everything on TAP now is from brokers and overpriced. Someone finally pointed me to the various FB aircraft sale groups, and I found what I wanted within a week.
 
What Facebook sale sites / groups do you reco - did you use ?
 
There are multiple "Aircraft for Sale" groups. I don't know how to differentiate them, so just do a search and join the 3 or 4 largest. Also do a search for your target aircraft and you'll probably find an owner's group or two to join. Then let the FB algorithm work for you. Once Mark Zuckerberg figures out you like airplanes, you won't be able to escape them.
 
182 market has effectively doubled in price from 4 years ago. It's been trending up 20% a year, worse for the 172s.
 
I was looking at 182s the other day and was surprised to see so many RG models at the cheap end of the range, even those with modest hours (3500).
 
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