Aircraft Sales, Buying Or Selling?
Believe it or not, when you buy an aircraft you want to buy one that you can sell later on (as opposed to one that you expect to keep forever). To sell an aircraft with the least hassle you absolutely must have everything in order .
What that means for you is keeping organized all the logbooks, certificates, compliance with A.D.s, maintenance records, warranties, and all the other little gremlins associated with the airplane to be in order. This can be done best by keeping accurate records as the events occur.
Make copies of these records, keeping one copy in your airplane and the other one at home in a secure place such as a safe . Retrieving less-complete records from the FAA takes tremendous amounts of time and effort that can be better used in making the aircraft sale effective.
Needless to say, as a dedicated aviator you should have been keeping the records in order all along . So, your real responsibility when you are going for making the sale is to get that beautiful machine into pristine condition .
There's no better sales technique than having a prospective buyer seeing her possible bird-of-her-dreams looking “sexy”. Wash and polish th at aircraft. Additionally, have all of the numbers about performance, speeds, fuel consumption, etc. right at your fingertips , because your potential buyer will be asking question after question.
Once your airplane is primed and ready for selling , you need to decide whether to sell it yourself or have a broker handle it. A broker can save you a lot of tedium and headaches and apply his market expertise to helping you make a good sale, but needless to say you will have to pay for him out of your sales proceeds; selling it yourself nets you the most money, but at once it's fraught with the aforementioned headaches and tedium .
If you do choose to go with a broker, research brokers carefully and choose based on reputation . Selling used airplanes attracts some of the lowest of characters. Before going forward, you will want to know the going prices and just how much of your money you will give up if a broker is involved.
To be sure you are getting the best price possible, devote some time to studying the current market, for there are many factors which influence the price of an airplane.
When it comes to finding potential buyers ― there is nothing better than good ol' advertising. Utilize word of mouth and tell every pilot and pilot's wife you know that your bird is up for sale.
Put up notes on the bulletin board where you base the airplane. Network with owners' groups and discuss the details about your bird; m ost of these have websites that enable ways to make broad contact . Also consider placing ads in aviation publications.
When it comes to trying to close the sale, always be up front with descriptions and deals. Your airplane had better be precisely as you have presented it in your descriptions.
Only show your airplane when the weather is good, and only during the day . If the aircraft is hangared, get it out in the sunshine where that washing and polishing you did will stand out, and where inspection and test flights will be easier.
Make sure the plane's batteries are fully charged and that all of the machine's instruments are in perfect working order .
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