Why do you rent instead of own?

I'm in-between - I don't rent or own, I'm in an equity club so I own 1/25 or so of three airplanes.

This is, in many ways, the best of both worlds: I don't have to worry about the big-surprise maintenance items, and if I get low on money my fixed costs are only $180/month. OTOH, there's always an airplane for me to fly (only once in over 6 years have I wanted to fly and not had one of the planes available, and only a handful of times have I not gotten the specific airplane I wanted), I have my own keys, I pay by tach time instead of Hobbs and get credit for buying cheap fuel.

I also have three different airplanes, which allows for a larger combination of missions. I can take the cheap Archer to go poke holes in the sky, I can take the DA40 when I'm going somewhere, or I can take the 182 if I need to haul a lot of weight or want to do some backcountry flying.

Finally, by serving on the board of directors as the treasurer for several years, I learned a LOT about airplane ownership without having to spend my own money. I got to see the maintenance surprises (and pull rabbits with fistfuls of cash out of hats to pay for them), and I was heavily involved in selling one airplane and buying another. I know VERY well how much it costs to own an airplane now.

FWIW, I think your $2400/year on maintenance is VERY optimistic, and I would plan on doubling that as a minimum unless you're planning on spending your money buying a pretty new and low-time airplane instead. Even on the fixed-gear, fixed-prop singles we were spending around $48/hr on the 6000-hour bird and $60/hr on the 8000-hour bird, spread across anywhere from 120-300 hours per year.

Anyway... I will own someday, but for now I'm in a GREAT situation with the club that allows me to have predictable, yet low costs and fly some really nicely equipped, well-maintained airplanes with astonishingly good availability. It also gives me some flexibility - I didn't have to think too hard about going back to school this past fall because I don't have an airplane to support, and I didn't have to worry about whether I could afford a hangar in the new city after I moved... In a way, I think having an airplane must be kinda like having a kid. ;)
 
flyersfan31 said:
Upside to renting? Never worry about mx.

Downside? 3hr minimum rental chg per day makes a weekend getaway prohibitive.

.
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huh? Even that 3hr minimum is less expensive than owning, especially if you get stuck overhauling, repairing whatever (or worse, suffer from the "while you are at it").
 
flyersfan31 said:
Upside to renting? Never worry about surprise payments for mx.
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Fixed that for you. ;) I worried plenty about the quality of the maintenance of various rentals I've flown over the years. I know exactly what's done or not done on the 182 I own via an LLC.

As far as the costs go, an LLC owned by three or four people can make ownership slightly more complex than single ownership, but move the numbers close to or below rental rates in most areas of the country. The magic number of pilots per aircraft with active pilots is probably 4-5. After 5, the percentage change in fixed-costs isn't worth the scheduling hassle if everyone's flying. And if someone's not flying, that's great on cost-sharing but not good that they're not staying current.

Our LLC has three wallets feeding it. Break-even if you remove the fixed "buy-in" cash is 4 hours/month between our aircraft and a local club 182. A cheaper rental 182 recently came on-line at our home airport, so call it 5.

This year it will be a little higher since I pushed for a pile of avionics stuff be caught up that was deferred or we had to discuss for a while to decide what everyone's requirements were, since I plan to finish an Instrument rating soon and then go hunting for some "soft" IMC to build confidence and time in Actual. We just dropped $3700 into basic gyro replacement, repairing the autopilot, removing the ADF and antennas since it got flakey, and installing a new clock and new plastic/royalite panel covers. Split three ways that's not a disaster. One person often would find themselves grounded for a couple of months with a bill like that to pay off, depending on their budget.

All in all, there's a few things I'd like to do to the airplane if I were made of money, but our little group seems to get along well and think similarly about maintenance and optional things.

And there is absolutely nothing like having your airplane and hangar keys in your pocket and the ability to turn the other way getting off the highway and instead of going to your house, driving right up to the airport, through the gate with your owner gate pass, unlocking the hangar, pre-flighting, and launching without any more paperwork than double-checking the numbers in the notebook and writing down the tach time and fuel load stick readings a couple hours later when you put the airplane back in the hangar.

I can talk with the other two guys and almost always do a week trip or longer (if I could afford the time off from work) on short notice, and no minimum hours per day, and no limitations on where I take the aircraft other than our self-imposed "cross country flights must file a flight plan". I can do it in two 5 minute phone calls if no one has any objections. About all I have to check is when the next oil change will be due. (And if you have time-limited AD's, you have to track those also, just like a rental.) Some people do 100-hour inspections and have them signed off as Annuals every time if they're ultra serious about maintenance. Others go in on-time but do routine maintenance as things come up. We had a minor fuel leak last year that knocked us down for two weeks, but cost well under $1000 to repair.

We also enjoy each other's company and do oil changes and other maintenance activities (wash the plane, fix the tug when it's cranky, etc.) at the hangar together often completely unplanned, we just happen to congregate there. Or meet up at the airport restaurant and grab a bite to eat and then someone will say they feel like running around the pattern. Etc.

If I really felt like the aircraft needed something that the other guys didn't, say LED landing lights or a Pulselight system, I could just buy it and pay for it's proper installation if it were a pet peeve of mine. No one would really mind. Same with tools or other things, just toss 'em in the hangar. We have some old Peltor headsets stored in the plane or in the hangar for that one tme you want to take someone up NOW and you don't have a headset for them.

Tools, pre-heater, powered tug, towels, cleaning supplies, a couple chairs, stepladder, bottles of water (in the summer), oil, tire pump, scale for weighing bags, etc... All stored neatly in the hangar, ready for action. No messing with a lock box, and if the trash hasn't been taken out or someone makes a mess, there's only three people who could have done it. No pre-flight out in the wind on a cold day. Got tunes on the boom box for a three hour "remove the belly grime" session, etc. Sometimes you just go to the hangar to "pet the airplane" or drop off some interesting reading material for the other guys to check out, etc.
 
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Risk, capital costs and low usage are the typical reasons that people rent. When a rental plane breaks, it's someone elses problem. When you rent, you only pay for what you use. When you own, you pay regardless. Common wisdom holds break even for same plane will be around 100 hours a year. The main reason to own is you get to fly what you want rather than what is available to rent. You also have control over the quality of maintenance and general condition and equipment.

I am an owner.
 
taters said:
Only buy em run out or pimped out...that way you know what you are buying.
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I'd tend to agree. And I like getting them run out. The bills hurt for a bit, but the nice part is that you know what's in the plane when all is said and done. Plus, I like restoring things.
 
denverpilot said:
Fixed that for you. ;) I worried plenty about the quality of the maintenance of various rentals I've flown over the years.
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I figured that was a foregone conclusion. But, yes, your edit is a fair one. Of course, there's always the surprise that you show up to the field and the Bendix has failed or something so the plane goes OTS. At least that's not your problem!
 
Bob Noel said:
huh? Even that 3hr minimum is less expensive than owning, especially if you get stuck overhauling, repairing whatever (or worse, suffer from the "while you are at it").
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Well, if you assume you are going to use the plane for a lot of getaways less than 3hrs away, that makes the hourly of renting look more like ownership. Go away Fri Sat Sun, get charged 9hrs for, say, 2hrs of flight time? Repeat that several times a year?

Ownership gives travel flexibility. I flew up to ME for 10 days. That would have been 30hrs of rental time. :eek:
 
To date I have owned 25 aircraft (both fixed and rotary wing). I've enjoyed owning not just for the flying part but also the maintenance side. A few of my aircraft were basket case rebuilds and also refurbished a few.

Everyone is different in their needs and wants. I always suggest to people new to this if they want to own go in with eyes wide open and start out with something reasonable.
 
I rent instead of own because I try to do everything debt-free. If one day I have the money, I'll probably own.

Ryan
 
denverpilot said:
All in all, there's a few things I'd like to do to the airplane if I were made of money, but our little group seems to get along well and think similarly about maintenance and optional things.
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I think that's the key to a successful partnership. Just a couple days ago I listened to someone complain that the other owners of his airplane put in a Garmin 430W. He was outvoted. I think it's a group of 5. Some people really wanted it and some others thought it would be OK but he didn't see the need for an IFR GPS, especially one as expensive as that one. This and other stories would make me very careful about picking partners if going this route.
 
Everskyward said:
This and other stories would make me very careful about picking partners if going this route.
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I am all for democracy and everything, but this kind of situation is one where I think it needs to be unanimous.

if I own an aircraft with 100 other people, sure democracy (except I'd go for 2/3 vs 1/3 not half)

if it's like 5 people, absolutely has to be unanimous
 
elmetal said:
I am all for democracy and everything, but this kind of situation is one where I think it needs to be unanimous.

if I own an aircraft with 100 other people, sure democracy (except I'd go for 2/3 vs 1/3 not half)

if it's like 5 people, absolutely has to be unanimous
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A freind of mine had 49% share of a Grumman Tiger.

Yeah, he got hosed...

"I think we should put a 430W in this thing...."
 
elmetal said:
I am all for democracy and everything, but this kind of situation is one where I think it needs to be unanimous.

if I own an aircraft with 100 other people, sure democracy (except I'd go for 2/3 vs 1/3 not half)

if it's like 5 people, absolutely has to be unanimous
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and the 4 partners who want a nice plane need to make sure the 5th guy isn't happy flying a clapped out POS
 
psachseJr said:
Yes, all those costs I estimated were monthly.

I have had boats all my life, so I understand that anything can happen and that there are no guarantees. But that's really true about houses, boats, and to a much lesser extent, cars.

The thing that attracts me to ownership is that under normal circumstances, the act of flying is not a major decision/expense. The other consideration is I am very motivated by the planning and execution of long trips (my 25 foot boat has been on 190nm trips, each way, to the Bahamas. I suspect if i rent. those trips probably wont happen due to cost. Of course, i could be wrong which is why I am asking.
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Sole ownership has many rewards but saving money isn't generally one of them. The chief advantages (many of which have been mentioned in this thread) are knowing the plane intimately, not having to deal with the consequences of other's use, being able to use it when you want for as long as you want, ability to configure the panel per your wishes/budget, and that intangible "pride of ownership".

If one of your primary goals is reduced flying cost, a better alternative is a partnership or the "value sized" version, a nonprofit flying club. The cost savings relative to rentals come from several potential sources: Shared fixed costs, lower insurance costs (commercial rates are higher than club rates), and lower maintenance cost (lack of 100 hr inspections and member/partner participation in some work). Of course there are downsides compared to sole ownership but probably none that are financial.

Also worth considering is that most owners and many partnerships go with fairly old airplanes in the interest of saving money (less depreciation, lower insurance, and less capital investment) but it's easy to overlook the fact that a $60,000 Cessna 182 costs as much to maintain as a brand new one selling for several times as much. That $60,000 airplane will cost a lot less to purchase and insure but it's not unusual for a significant issue to end up costing a few percent of the price for a new airplane even though that can be a large fraction of the older airplane's value.
 
gismo said:
Sole ownership has many rewards but saving money isn't generally one of them. The chief advantages (many of which have been mentioned in this thread) are knowing the plane intimately, not having to deal with the consequences of other's use, being able to use it when you want for as long as you want, ability to configure the panel per your wishes/budget, and that intangible "pride of ownership".
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One of my favorites has always been at the end of a 15 hour day where you've crossed the continent, throw each chart you've flown off of into the back seat along with drink bottles and food wrappers, you hang your headset on the yoke, climb out of the plane and go home and deal with the mess as well as your luggage in the back tomorrow instead of having to take a half hour to get it all cleaned up and luggage hauled away when you're dog tired.

Also, no lugging around a flight bag, all your flying stuff just lives in the plane. Driving by the airport at 2am on a beautiful night and feel like going flying? You just go flying.
 
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Henning said:
One of my favorites has always been at the end of a 15 hour day where you've crossed the continent, throw each chart you've flown off of into the back seat along with drink bottles and food wrappers, you hang your headset on the yoke, climb out of the plane and go home and deal with the mess as well as your luggage in the back tomorrow instead of having to take a half hour to get it all cleaned up and luggage hauled away when you're dog tired.
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That is indeed a perk of ownership but it comes with the downside of having to police the airplane the next time you go flying.:D

Also, no lugging around a flight bag, all your flying stuff just lives in the plane. Driving by the airport at 2am on a beautiful night and feel like going flying? You just go flying.
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After checking for stupid VIP TFRs of course.
 
You've probably got a good picture by now, having read all of the above...
Renting can be a good way to go, if you're thinking 100 hrs/yr or less. More often than not, though, the best rental situation is with a club... look into that before you resign yourself to renting from the school where you earn your ticket.

Aircraft owners, even partners, are willing to pay more in the long run- and never, ever, total up the bills without a stiff drink nearby- for the "intangibles". Peace of mind, convenience, and the joy of pointing and saying "mine." You really can't put a price tag on that, I guess.

But the spectrum of aircraft ownership scenarios is wide- you can get into the game pretty cheaply with, say, an old 2-seater; it doesn't have to be a fast, comfy, load-hauling IFR-capable machine (unless that's what you really need).
Don't dismiss the idea of an old plane- there are 50-plus-yr-old planes out there that can be had for under $20K with a few years' worth of flying left before engine TBO. And they are often surprisingly clean and straight- those old birds are simple, and only need adequate maintenance to last a long, long time. Some of them perform well with very little horsepower (which means lower fuel bills). An old Luscombe 8, for example, can do anything a much younger Cessna 150 can do, only cheaper. Some older types don't perform very well at all, but they are still a lot of fun and cheap to fly, and pretty easy to take care of.

I still haven't made it happen for myself, but it will, eventually. Meanwhile, I save money by getting my ya-yas flying for peanuts with a glider club, and bumming stick time in friends' power planes.
 
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flyersfan31 said:
Well, if you assume you are going to use the plane for a lot of getaways less than 3hrs away, that makes the hourly of renting look more like ownership. Go away Fri Sat Sun, get charged 9hrs for, say, 2hrs of flight time? Repeat that several times a year?

Ownership gives travel flexibility. I flew up to ME for 10 days. That would have been 30hrs of rental time. :eek:
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Well, if you KNOW that you may get charged for 3 hours a day, and you choose to only use it for two - that's your problem, not the FBO's. They still have to pay the bills for the facilities, insurance, etc.
Personally, if I knew I'd be charged that much, I'd certainly make sure I flew it that long - even if it meant I had to fly in circles or something really silly just for fun.

Ryan
 
skidoo said:
And then, you won't have the money any more... :D
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I won't buy anything that doesn't at least have potential for my business as a CFI. :rolleyes2: I don't think I'm delusional... :crazy: Of course, since I'm flying better than 30 hours a month on average, it should be flown enough.

Ryan
 
Henning said:
One of my favorites has always been at the end of a 15 hour day where you've crossed the continent, throw each chart you've flown off of into the back seat along with drink bottles and food wrappers, you hang your headset on the yoke, climb out of the plane and go home and deal with the mess as well as your luggage in the back tomorrow instead of having to take a half hour to get it all cleaned up and luggage hauled away when you're dog tired.
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I'd agree that this is a nice feature. You don't have to clean up now if you don't want to. Doesn't have to be a 15 hour day, sometimes it's just coming home at 2 AM and you want to go to sleep.
 
RyanShort1 said:
Well, if you KNOW that you may get charged for 3 hours a day, and you choose to only use it for two - that's your problem, not the FBO's. They still have to pay the bills for the facilities, insurance, etc.
Personally, if I knew I'd be charged that much, I'd certainly make sure I flew it that long - even if it meant I had to fly in circles or something really silly just for fun.

Ryan
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Sometimes you can negotiate with the FBO. I was talking to the FBO owner and told him I was perfectly willing to pay lost profit, but it wasn't fair to be charging me for fuel I didn't burn... sort of like a dry-rate for the minimum hours.
 
Bob Noel said:
Sometimes you can negotiate with the FBO. I was talking to the FBO owner and told him I was perfectly willing to pay lost profit, but it wasn't fair to be charging me for fuel I didn't burn... sort of like a dry-rate for the minimum hours.
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Yeah, but it could be their way of making that lost profit up. For instance, they may only make a $10/hr profit (or less, depending on where we're talking about). They're only charging you a minimum of 3 hours, but if you keep the plane out the whole day, you've effectively lost them perhaps 12 hours of lost revenue. I know some flight schools that can keep a 172 flying for at least that much time. So the 3 hour minimum is more of a round number that makes sense, and if you fly it for those three hours, they make less profit margin, but that's OK, because you and they agreed to it. Personally, from having seen what a lot of renters do to the aircraft, I would say that a flight school really ought to charge a 6 or 8 hr profit margin fee for a "day" rental, subtracting whatever the actual numbers are on the Hobbs.

Ryan
 
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I'm ok with them charging a minimum specifically on aircraft that fly a LOT.

if the aircraft hasn't been flown in two weeks, it's probably either too expensive compared to your fleet or it's a crappy plane, and in either situation I really don't want to pay for "lost revenue" since we can clearly show that it historically rarely flies.

I think the best thing would be this (a little complicated):
Say you wanna take it from thursday 5pm to friday 3pm

Take the last 12 time periods of thursday 5pm to friday 3pm and average how much the airplane was flown. Make that the minimum


but of course that's too complicated and other things, but if I were an owner that's what I would do, I would even make it easy to download a spreadsheet of the last 3 months so people could do the math themselves if they wanted to

Who knows, maybe that's too much micromanaging, but it sure as hell would make those untouched aircraft fly. I hate seeing a 182 NEVER fly (which means like 2-3 hours a week) but if I want to rent it I have to fly 4 hours a day on the weekend? give me a break, sell that 182 you greedy bastard.

Consequently the 182 is for sale now
 
RyanShort1 said:
Yeah, but it could be their way of making that lost profit up. For instance, they may only make a $10/hr profit (or less, depending on where we're talking about). They're only charging you a minimum of 3 hours, but if you keep the plane out the whole day, you've effectively lost them perhaps 12 hours of lost revenue. ...snip
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Don't get me wrong, I fully support the FBO getting an appropriate profit.
 
Bob Noel said:
Sometimes you can negotiate with the FBO. I was talking to the FBO owner and told him I was perfectly willing to pay lost profit, but it wasn't fair to be charging me for fuel I didn't burn... sort of like a dry-rate for the minimum hours.
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The concept of daily hour minimums has never made sense to me. If an FBO is OK with the profit from 3 hr/day for a 2 day trip then the charges should be based on making the same profit no matter how many hours are actually flown. E.G. if the renter actually flies 4 hours then a fair price would be 4 times the normal hourly rate plus 2 times the expected profit for an hour's rental which should be considerably less than 2 hours at the full rental rate since there's no fuel, no engine wear, no progress towards needed oil changes and/or 100 hr inspections.
 
gismo said:
The concept of daily hour minimums has never made sense to me. If an FBO is OK with the profit from 3 hr/day for a 2 day trip then the charges should be based on making the same profit no matter how many hours are actually flown. E.G. if the renter actually flies 4 hours then a fair price would be 4 times the normal hourly rate plus 2 times the expected profit for an hour's rental which should be considerably less than 2 hours at the full rental rate since there's no fuel, no engine wear, no progress towards needed oil changes and/or 100 hr inspections.
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Lance, you are using far too good logic. :)
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Lance, you are using far too good logic. :)
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I've never run an FBO (although I was a board member of a flying club once) but I've heard from renter pilot's over and over how the weekend rental hourly minimums are what keeps them from renting for many trips they'd like to take. Airplanes are great for turning a 3-6 hour each way trip by car into something that leaves time and energy to actually enjoy oneself for a couple days but the thought of paying for 6 hours rental and only flying for 2.5 makes that a non-starter. Once that reality settles in pilots either get their own plane or quit flying for the most part IME. You'd think a savvy FBO owner would understand that and tailor their rate schedules to accommodate such trips fairly but instead they sit around wondering where all the pilots have gone. I'll bet that if an FBO set out to make even a little bit less profit on weekend XC rentals than they do for training flights they'd find those customers coming back for more of the training stuff as well. Of course it stands to reason that a savvy businessperson would probably never get into the FBO business in the first place so I guess it all makes sense when you think it through.
 
gismo said:
I've never run an FBO (although I was a board member of a flying club once) but I've heard from renter pilot's over and over how the weekend rental hourly minimums are what keeps them from renting for many trips they'd like to take. Airplanes are great for turning a 3-6 hour each way trip by car into something that leaves time and energy to actually enjoy oneself for a couple days but the thought of paying for 6 hours rental and only flying for 2.5 makes that a non-starter. Once that reality settles in pilots either get their own plane or quit flying for the most part IME. You'd think a savvy FBO owner would understand that and tailor their rate schedules to accommodate such trips fairly but instead they sit around wondering where all the pilots have gone. I'll bet that if an FBO set out to make even a little bit less profit on weekend XC rentals than they do for training flights they'd find those customers coming back for more of the training stuff as well.
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I see both sides of the coin. I think that most FBOs hope to get a lot of hours on their aircraft. Since most people who rent will fly during their free time, that will mean weekends. To get the most hours out of a plane like that really means having a fairly active flight training environment in which the aircraft are getting used day in and day out. Since the goal of a business is to make money, that typically is best done with having a few planes that you fly non-stop. I think most FBOs that rent aircraft are trying to cater to the flight training business.

On the other hand, taking 3 hours worth of flying time and turning it into paying for 9 hours means the trip just won't hapen. This is where clubs and ownership makes more sense, as that caters more to the whims and wants of the individual.

In the club that I used to be in, there was no minimum on time, just first come first serve. At times, this was highly aggravating when someone would take the plane all day to fly to the next airport over and sit there. But, if you happened to be the person who had the plane reserved to do whatever it was you wanted, it was nice.

Of course it stands to reason that a savvy businessperson would probably never get into the FBO business in the first place so I guess it all makes sense when you think it through.
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Sad, but true.
 
I can also see both sides although 3 hours per day is pretty steep. Way back in the days when I rented I'm pretty sure it was on 2 hours per day. If someone charters an airplane where I work it is also 2 hours per day. Yes, it's a big plus when the customer does not fly off the minimum charge but it's a minus when the airplane would have chartered for 6 hours that day had it not been out of town.
 
Everskyward said:
I can also see both sides although 3 hours per day is pretty steep. Way back in the days when I rented I'm pretty sure it was on 2 hours per day. If someone charters an airplane where I work it is also 2 hours per day. Yes, it's a big plus when the customer does not fly off the minimum charge but it's a minus when the airplane would have chartered for 6 hours that day had it not been out of town.
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Even 10 years ago when I first got into aviation it was mostly 2 hours/day. Then I started seeing it go up to 3 hours for weekend days, and now some are 3 hours every day.

I even saw one place that requires you to pay for at least three hours if you have the airplane reserved for four! Hell, they pretty much killed the 1-hr-each-way $100 hamburger. FAIL. :frown2: I wouldn't rent from a place with that policy even if it wasn't going to affect me, simply on general principle.
 
I consider myself lucky to rent from a place that does not have a minimum per day charge for rental. Of course, I'm taking the "trip" planes like the 182. You would be hard pressed to get one of the "training" planes for a long period, at least if it included a weekend.

We still rent, though we probably fly enough to justify ownership, because we decided not to go further into debt to purchase something that we don't "need." Of course, that's somewhat hypocritical, since the plane rental is going on a CC.:redface:
 
One more reason I like my club. No minimums. Take a plane, fly across the state, stay a day or two and fly home. Pay for Hobbs time only.
 
One place I wanted to rent a 172 from told me that I had to have the plane back in 2 hours and I could not take it across state lines!
The best reason to own is flexibility. I can take it where I want, when I want, and as long as I want. The downside is the cost of ownership.
The best reason for renting is variety. The downside is you're at the FBO's mercy. Whatever their rules are, you're stuck with them. There's field restrictions, scheduling, availability. The local FBO has 3 planes, all Warriors. Two were down for maintenance for over 6 months.
 
After reading all these posts I consider myself very fortunate. The FBO I rent from has two Warriors. They also have a 3 hour minimum if you rent for the entire day. They waive the minimum if the other Warrior is available during that same time period.

On one occassion I had the plane all day and logged 1.3 hours. The other Warrior was also being used so I was charged the daily minimum. However, they only charged me for the fuel and then used their FBO club dry rate of $45 an hour.

Last summer I took it for twelve days and went from 35D to MYCA in the Bahamas. I logged 30 hours of hobbs time during the trip. They waived six hours that they could have charged me according to their policy. They didn't care that I crossed state lines, took it to a different country or crossed large bodies of water.
 
kevin7500 said:
Last summer I took it for twelve days and went from 35D to MYCA in the Bahamas. I logged 30 hours of hobbs time during the trip. They waived six hours that they could have charged me according to their policy. They didn't care that I crossed state lines, took it to a different country or crossed large bodies of water.
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Didn't care or didn't know? It would have been a ***** if you broke down in the Bahamas, double the $$$$ minimum over US prices. That's why a lot of SoFla rentals won't let you go to the Bahamas anymore, the only one I can think of left is Dean's. Used to be you could fly over a mechanic and parts on the sly, no more. Need Bahamian mechanic and import the parts through customs (50%-100% every time I've needed parts in the Bahamas).
 
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