How many pre-buys did you have to do?

Taft

Taft

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Dec 26, 2020
Messages
21
Location
Austin, TX
Display Name
Display name:
Taft
I’m getting back into aviation (after 10 years away) and starting to think about what I want to buy. I often hear people say that they spent years trying to buy their airplane. I’m curious to hear how long it took you to find the right plane - how many inspections and how long did it take?

For context, I’m thinking something along the lines of an Arrow to re-train and do cross country flying eventually.
 
Last edited:
Rgbeard said:
Zero. Found it, flew it, bought it, flew it home the same day.
Click to expand...

I didn’t get to fly home the same day for me. I did participate in the annuals. Thinking back I did have a prebuy on my Sundowner, our first plane.
 
Last edited:
1 Actual pre-buy, but I had a Total of 3 different planes scheduled..... The 2 that didn't happen was because I fished around and found out my own history on the plane or the owner and decided not to move forward.

1. Mooney: The pilot / mechanic lost his Certs because he "Jerry Rigged" (actually his name was Jerry too coincidentally) a multi for a repo flight that his son was flying. Well when you use the wrong prop and improper fuel pump ect.... the flight didn't get too far. Couple that with your son not being Multi rated flying a multi a/c, the FAA wasn't too kind to Jerry, so I figured why would i want to buy a plane from this guy if he was willing to put his own family at risk like that.

2. 2nd Mooney: Seller said it had 1 gear up in the 80's not under his ownership. Turns out that was 1 of 3, the last one being 4 years ago under the current owner.

I just didn't want to take a risk with the above 2 and find out the hard way, even after a thorough pre-buy, that I was a test pilot for someone who lied to me.
 
Zero here as well. i bought from very trusted people in the aircraft business ,such as van bortal and pat at indy aero . in 12 purchases i never had a problem.and if i did they would have made good . the only 2 i got ...k.. on were impulse buys and i was at fault and should have known better.but i liked working on aircraft and that can be half the fun. there is probably some real junk out there now as the ga fleet is getting old . so i think there is great value in using a quality broker.there are alot of good ones out there.you just have to do your homework as to who you can trust.
 
I think multiple pre-buys (as someone who is often hired to perform them) would be a rare case. Most buyers take the squawk list I give them, and re-negotiate with the seller to have them addressed or the sale price reduced.

I don't think many people drop the grand on the prebuy without intending to follow-through. In fact, I think my invoice is their final "come to jesus" moment that decides whether they proceed or not. :D
 
Two pre-buys for me. First was on a really nice looking Cessna 185. The prebuy revealed significant internal corrosion, broken ribs in the horizontal stabilizer, and a lot of bad rivets covered up by the fresh new coat of paint among other issues. The seller would not budge on the price after the prebuy, so I walked. The plane sold about a month later, and I highly doubt the seller shared the results of my prebuy with the eventual buyer.

The second pre-buy was more successful. I paid to have the West Coast Bellanca expert fly to Texas to do the prebuy on a 1989 Bellanca Super Viking. Even though the plane had been maintained in Texas by one of the four recognized expert shops in the country, I wanted to have the oppinion of someone who had not maintained the plane. He found nothing of significance, and we closed the deal that day.

I highly recommend a good prebuy. I saved a lot of pain and headache on the 185 by finding out those issues before closing the deal. And, the relationship with my Viking mechanic is still going strong 8 years later.
 
Did not do a pre buy but mine was just out of annual so I spoke with the A&P who told me it was fine. Next years annual I told my mechanics to go through it. They found quite a few discrepancies, cost a bunch to make it all right. Nothing horrible, just lot's of little things that added up. In hindsight, I probably could have negotiated a few grand off of the price. Guess you have to expect to spend a few grand on a 40 year old plane to get things the way you like.
 
Partner and I looked at three Ercoupes before we found one worth a prebuy. We went and looked No 4, decided it was worth further checkout. Our A&P/IA did a day’s worth of inspections, paper review and test flights with each of us and we bought it. Since then we replaced the nose strut, added ADSB Out and all has been good. Not bad for a 75 yr old airframe.

Cheers
 
I've bought/owned quite a few planes over my several decades of flying, but I've only ever walked away from one purchase due to a bad pre-buy. I expect a pre-buy to find things wrong, but that one problem pre-buy indicated a dishonest owner (pencil whipped annuals, attempts to hide defects instead of repairing them, etc). I wasn't about to try to negotiate with someone that has no integrity.
 
Took me about 11 months to find the right Aztec. I went through scans of the logs and based decision not to proceed on other candidate airplanes primarily on that information (although the "quirky" behaviour of a few alleged sellers factored into a few of those move-on decisions). I always have a conditional deal signed with the seller before I'll spend money on a pre-purchase inspection. If the plane is "as represented" I believe it is fair seller should know they have a done deal.
 
GRG55 said:
I always have a conditional deal signed with the seller before I'll spend money on a pre-purchase inspection. If the plane is "as represented" I believe it is fair seller should know they have a done deal.
Click to expand...

We did that with the one we bought. The first three we just thanked the owners and moved on.

Cheers
 
I didn't get a pre-buy inspection per se on the last airplane my brother and I bought. The owner told me about the last guy that was interested in buying it, and gave me his name and phone number. He was an A&P from about 900 miles away and had driven up to look it over, and actually put money down on it. On his way home, he and his wife decided it really wasn't what they needed/wanted. I called the guy and spent probably 30 minutes on the phone with him, and he told me it'd be a great airplane and the price was fine.

I could tell, after talking and meeting with the seller, he was on the up and up. It was a great and fun transaction. Then I got to fly it 13.8 hours home.
 
Three out of town visits, one pre~buy that was successful. Although there were a couple of issues that I insisted on keeping funds in escrow to rectify.
 
GRG55 said:
I always have a conditional deal signed with the seller before I'll spend money on a pre-purchase inspection. If the plane is "as represented" I believe it is fair seller should know they have a done deal.
Click to expand...

Oh absolutely. For both of the planes on which I had a prebuy done, I had an agreed upon price, insurance arranged, and financing setup. The prebuy was the last step in the process. One of the planes failed the prebuy, but the other passed. I signed the final paperwork the same day on that one.
 
One and 1/2. First one got only 1/2 way through when the IA called and said I was wasting my time and money. Second one was completed and I bought that plane. Overall, I made 3 offers on 3 different planes. The third one I got beat out by $500. We had reached an agreement on price and we’re trying to ink the deal when another buyer offered more. However, during the pre-sale flight, a the club President with whom I was dealing, left the tow bar on the nose wheel and managed to take off with it. He called me a few weeks later and apologized for his actions. I saw the plane for sale about 6-7 months later with a new engine and prop, and a substantially higher price. All for $500.
 
Had one on a plane I decided to walk from, one on the first I bought, and a more cursory one on my next plane.
 
One official prebuy. I didn't buy the plane on the guys recommendation. In hindsight I think it may have been a mistake. After talking to another A&P friend most of the stuff was really nitpicking. The price was cheap and the plane was local. It was priced such that the airplane was probably worth the sum of it's parts. This is a common theme with me. :) The second one we had an A&P friend do a quick once over but the price was low enough again that the plane was worth the sum of it's parts and we pulled the trigger on it. I have flown it 96.7 hours since we bought it a year and 4 months ago. 1.9 hours yesterday. So far there haven't been any major surprises for an airplane in that price range and of that age with a partner it has been relatively easy to deal with.

Since I do quite a bit of wrenching on airplanes at the local warplane museum I feel pretty comfortable with most of the basic non-type specific stuff.
 
Taft said:
I’m getting back into aviation (after 10 years away) and starting to think about what I want to buy. I often hear people say that they spent years trying to buy their airplane. I’m curious to hear how long it took you to find the right plane - how many inspections and how long did it take?

For context, I’m thinking something along the lines of an Arrow to re-train and do cross country flying eventually.
Click to expand...

As someone who does a lot of pre-buys, I recommend looking at the logs first. They are easy to photograph and more and more sellers are getting onboard with the need to do that. It is very rare for me to review logs which look fine and then find a dealbreaker on the physical inspection. Usually if something unexpected is found, an adjustment in price or commitment to repair seals the deal.

As for time to find one, it depends on what you are looking for. The Arrow is fairly common, so it shouldn't take more than 6 months. Rarer aircraft can take longer to find a good one.
 
One pre buy but looked at several planes. Each model has its quirks/problems. Familiarize yourself with what to look for and if it all looks good to you then do a pre buy to dig in deeper. Some people don’t care to learn about the planes they fly so they put 100% faith in the mechanics that work on them. I have a really good mechanic for mine but it doesn’t keep me from going through everything with a fine toothed comb. I may be weird but I feel better if I see and know for myself and if I don’t know or understand I ask.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Wanting a prebuy and getting it done is two different things. I found a plane and called a few mechanics. Sent the logs over, no one got back to me. So maybe they didn’t want to do the prebuy or they are too busy. Anyway a well priced plane will sell almost immediately if not within a couple days (even after hours, on weekends or holidays). It’s a crazy market out there. Then other planes just sit, when you do your research you see the ones that just sit and no price adjustments either. Weird.
 
One of six buys. The condition of the other planes was obviously excellent. Actually the one that was inspected was a 182 from a dry region with only 1000 TT so the prebuy was just an extra precaution.
 
I have owned three planes.

The first one was from Van Bortel. The Van Bortel 'pre-buy" is that they fly it to you and your team looks over it...if you like it, pay them, if not, they fly home.

The plane was an '05 172SP and it had 64 hours on it. I managed to talk them into letting me fly with a CFII from Arlington to NC to do the 'pre-buy'.

What a useless pre-buy :D:D:D:D

...the plane was pristine and still under warranty...

I did get a SERIOUS cross country that started when I had about 8 hours in my logbook.

Good times!!!

The second plane was brand new...an -07 182T...with a full warranty...from Air Care in Rocky Mount NC. Stellar company. They were the most hassle free to deal with of anybody I have ever dealt with in aviation.

The third plane got a pre-buy that was well done, fair and every thing got addressed by a very reputable seller (Skytech in Rock Hill SC).

I'd buy from them all again; Skytech, Air Care or Van Bortel in the drop of a hat.
 
I bought 3 planes over the years, never did an official ‘pre-buy’ on any of them. I did talk to the maintainers & evaluated the seller. Can’t say I was really surprised afterwards. YMMV of course.
 
I looked for a year or so, joined the model association, then got a call from someone a few month later saying he wanted to sell. I did a 30 min test flight, looked through logbooks, and bought it. No pre-buy inspection. I could tell it was nice and trusted the seller.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top