First aircraft purchase

I have gone through all of this 2.5 years ago …

The advertised prices are pretty realistic if the airplane is in good condition (of course they all are in the ads, but in reality you will see many SR22s advertised, especially from southern Europe, that lived outside for years …

Actually with the prices for a new SR22 beeing so high now the used ones went up too. I could have sold mine for + 50 K Euros more than what I paid in 2013, including the upgrades i made.

I for one did not want a turbo, for the reasons discussed in many threads. I am more a “IFR light” flyer, don’t care about FL250, and I prefer a more robust airplane with a higher load. Up to 10.000 feet there is practically no difference between a T and an NA, and since that is 75 percent of my flying the NA is perfect for me. The three or five long distance flights per year.. well i can make those when FL175 is enough, and that’s many days in the spring and summer.

If you need more information, just ask!

Pre Purchase inspection – how does one do it when the plane is based in Europe, do you fly and engineer over there or try and find an ‘honest’ local one.

What I did: I brought the plane (paid for the gas only) to a good Cirrus Service Center and paid for the pre-purchas inspection. When i got the list with all the discepancies and little damages I agreed with the seller that we share the cost for the repair. In my case I brough the plane to the SC that had maintained the plane before (normally a mistake!) but at the time this was the only option and I had a long conversation with them and made it clear how important it was for me, and that I would keep them as a SC. Worked perfectly and they found and repaired everything

Do you need a solicitor to deal with the transaction, hold monies in an escrow account, check valid title, finance o/s liens etc
Registration, one is ‘LX’ registered and the other is ‘D’ registered. Would I need to change these to the ‘G’ or ‘N’ or maybe the new ‘2’. Keep in mind that I have an EASA IR.

Be very careful. I bought my first Cirrus SR22, it was a G3 from a Czech criminal, and had I not done the deal through a notary i would have lost € 250.000. This way I had the money back one week later. One year later my Flying Club “bought” a C-172R in Estonia and (against my advidce) they sent a down payment of € 20.000 to some bank account in England :-( Guess what happened. The airplane belonged to a guy in Belgium who had no intention selling.

Would I need to change these to the ‘G’ or ‘N’ …

No, you do not HAVE to. As a citizen of the EU you can register your airplane in every country. Mine is based in Germany and is G-reg, because that was easy and quick to do. All in all D-reg would be a bit cheaper, because the LBA would accept an idividual maintenance program while the CAA insists on “recommended items” by Cirrus. So i would say G-reg is a little more expensive than D, but not so much, and I would maintain it by the Cirrus checklist anyway … at least for the most part (6 year prop overhaul intervals are stupid though)

N-reg would be the cheapest way to run a SR22, but with an EASA IR you might not find enough reason to do that … But there’s many N-reg SR22s in Europe and it can be done quite easily.

Another potential issue is VAT. How does one know for sure that VAT has been paid?

Rob,

I don’t know I’m afraid, hence why I asked the question. Hopefully someone with chime in.

If the aircraft was bought from a European Cirrus dealer then its easy to prove because the dealer has sold it + VAT and has the documents. It’s mostyl N-regs based in Europe that are checked for VAT, because it has to be paid if the a/c is in Europe + 6 months.

had I not done the deal through a notary i would have lost € 250.000

Could you post some details, Flyer59? I would be really interested how this works i.e. how going via a lawyer removes the exposure to an item which is stolen or has a lien on it or the seller has gone bankrupt. Here in the UK, you are always exposed to the bankrupcy of a seller (even with a house!) if there is any hint of the transfer having been below the MV, for 7 years, IIRC. You can buy an insurance policy; I did that once.

How does one know for sure that VAT has been paid?

I don’t think there is a 100% sure way unless you get a C88/IM4, or the previous owner obtained a Certificate of Free Circulation back when these were available. I have some notes here which I think are still current. A normal invoice is in theory no good since it doesn’t prove the VAT was paid.

N-reg would be the cheapest way to run a SR22

That’s true for most planes IF the owner is pro-active in the maintenance. If you just take the plane to a company for everything, it’s unlikely to cost you less. You will save a bit on lifed items but you will pay more elsewhere because N-reg owners tend to get charged more (perception of having more money). For me, N-reg is brilliant because it gives me freedom from the often dodgy UK maintenance scene, and has enabled me to install some nice kit which much enhances safety. But for most people I would not recommend it, given today’s CB IR route. Especially if they would be doing the transfer – a can of worms. I have to maintain two medicals, two sets of licenses…

t’s mostyl N-regs based in Europe that are checked for VAT, because it has to be paid if the a/c is in Europe + 6 months.

BTW, you get the problem if you buy a G-reg, F-reg etc from the Channel Islands! I know one UK pilot who did that and had to pay out 5 figures to UK Customs when they got him.

If the aircraft was bought from a European Cirrus dealer then its easy to prove because the dealer has sold it + VAT and has the documents

They should supply you with a C88 or IM4. A straight sales invoice is no good. I could knock one up in Photoshop… Especially if the dealer vanishes… Air Touring, anyone?

Well, Peter – you can make up ANYTHING, a C88 too :-)
An original invoice from a Cirrus dealer will do, I have extensively researched that. I also let the seller sign that the VAT was paid.

Here we go …

In February 2013 I was skiing with my two kids in Switzerland. I had alreday decided that I would buy a Cirrus NOW, so every night in bed (when i finally got the iPad back from the kids :-)) I searched the internet for a G2 Cirrus. A G3 was definitely too expensive. I had even put up a WANT ad back at home (forget where) …

One evening I got a very short eMail “2008 G-3 GTS, € 230.000, 500 h TT”. Now THAT was interesting. Back then the typical market price for such a plane was around € 350.000 … at least. I was sure it was some stupid kind of scam, and first I didn’t even want to reply. Nobody sells such a plane for € 100.000 less than what it’s really worth … Then, the next day, I became greedy … and wrote back.

The guy who answered that evening seemed nice, told me that the plane was based in Pribram, 45 minutes from my company in the Czech Republic, that he wanted to upgrade to a TBM, that he had no time and wanted to sell it quickly. Of course I was suspicious, but when he wrote that I could take the airplane to any Cirrus Center in Germany for inspection, and that he would even pay for the fuel … I agreed to visit him when I was back in CZ the next time.

Ten days later I drove to Pribram with my Czech business partner. My partner is the official CEO of our company, very capable with good judgement, and I thought it’s a good idea to let him have a look at the guy. We met the seller at the Pribram airport and went to see the plane. It was a pristine example of a 2008 G3 NA, silver, black leather … I fell in love immediately. I could not even find one scratch and so we agreed that he would bring it to the Cirrus Service Center in Berlin, and if everything was ok I would buy it for € 230.000. I really had no idea why he would sell that plane for such a price, and when i told some Cirrus specialists i knew they all told e that it “could not be” …

Two weeks later I got the report from the service center. Some very minor things were bad, but the plane, engine, avionics, papers, SBs … all perfect. I bought the plane that day on the phone. It would take us another 2-4 weeks until I could register the plane in my name (i wanted to register it in CZ, which is very simple) and we signed the contract and agreed on all details. “Michael” (his name is all over the Czech press for years, so i can uyse his name) proposed that I could send the money to his account in Liechtenstein. All the papers and maintenance logs were already in Germany and I called the SC and they agreed to hold them for me. But I didn’t really feel like sending € 230.000 to a bank in Liechtenstein – although the plane was already in Germany and (in the meantime) i alreday had the papers at home! So i itold the seller that I would do the deal through our company’s notary in the Czech Republic – and that he would get the money once the airplane was registered in my name. He reluctantly agreed.

I then called the SC and ordered the Avidyne “Panel Makeover” package for me and to install that right away, to lose no time (more greed :-)). The Panel Makeover package costs $ 15.000 + VAT and includes completely overhauled PFD and MFD and the DFC90 digital autopilot. I also told them to do thorough maintenance, of course.

About 4 weeks later I went to Prague to register the plane in my name. Along came my friend John from California who was in Europe for a visit and we met “Michael” at the CAA office at the Prague Ruzyne airport. The following conversation was recorded by John (an Apple employee) on his iPhone:

“Sorry, Mr. von Croy”, the CAA official said, “this airplane cannot be registered in your name”.
“WHAT…?
“The airplane is confiscated by the District Attorney in Prague, because there is a criminal investigation going on about Mr. Michael …. You can not aquire this aircraft”.
The seller (“i am sorry, Alexis, this is a misunderstanding”) and the officials discussed the matter for a while, but without understanding much I could tell that this was it. After five minutes I decided to leave, because it was clear that I would never have that airplane.

Walking back to the car I carried the plane’s documents, and in the parking lot “Michael” wanted to have them back (“it is still my airplane”). I refused, put them in the trunk of my car, and drove away.

Now I had invested $ 20.000 of avionics and maintenance into a stranger’s Cirrus. Not good. But actually I had the better cards in this game. In the afternoon “Michael” called me in my office and requested his documents. I told him that he would get the documents back after he had paid the Service Center in Berlin and all my expenses. He protested, of course, because he didn’t really want a new autopilot :-)

I am still proud about the following exchange ;-) That was my Robert de Niro moment :-)

I told him that he had one week to pay the Service Center AND all my expenses (time, gas, accessories i had already bought) and that I would burn all the plane’s documents and maintenance logs and post the video on youtube. Four days later everything was paid and his lawyer came to pick up the documents.

Later I learned that “Michael”, the spoiled son of some Czech pop singer, was involved in a VAT fraud (damage: € 10 million), that his Ferrari was confiscated and that he might go to jail for soe years. It had all been on Czech TV for weeks and in the newspapers, but I don’t speak the language and don’t watch their TV :-)

The € 230.000 for the plane were back on my account a week later. I came home and told my wife “that’s it, forget the Cirrus, I really have enough. I’ll even stop flying!” She smiled (i hate it when she smiles so “knowingly”)… “Yes, but I think you will change your mind tomorrow”. Haha … two days later I was searching for a Cirrus again.

Why did that idiot do that? I think that he thought that he could quickly sell the plane before it was confiscated, get away with it before he was jailed, and at least hide some money …