How to sell an aircraft

What kind of plane, and how costly?

I would suggest knocking up a website, with loads of hi-res pics and nice text.

Put some effort into it.

Same with selling stuff on Ebay. I must have sold 100-200 items there. Instead of the usual illiterate one-liner descriptions, and copy/pastes of the marketing drivel from mfg websites, write a good description in your own words.

Hi-res pics will cut out most time wasters too.

As with all business, a better quality presentation will attract better quality customers, and precisely vice versa

Then drop the URL into various places. Hangar Talk here will do We allow people who actually participate in the forum to advertise stuff.

I have PMed you a URL of one I did a few years ago for a friend of mine, and it sold quickly, and he paid zero dealer commission (so saved about 20-25k).

Regarding test flights, I would treat it like internet dating Illiterate and one-liner responses = forget them. Stuff which is vague or doesn’t add up = forget them. Of those who cannot string words together, very few will have the sort of money. Also try to picture the person behind the message. Very few conmen or time wasters will put in the time to look good – the good ones will be defrauding somebody’s estate with a fake Power of Attorney / death certificate / the usual stuff.

Also try to look at it from the buyer’s POV. There are loads of frauds where a “seller” wants a lot of money to view a plane. Also most planes for sale are shagged old dogs with a raft of hidden issues, and any buyer with a brain will be careful. So avoid doing any of that. Meet up for a coffee and size them up, then if you are happy, offer them a RHS flight.

Also have a plan for somebody doing a prebuy. It’s going to cost them €1000+ to get one done, so maybe offer a deal whereby if they buy it you refund that cost. Or split the cost of an Annual if one is coming up. Or, if your engine has done more than say 20hrs since last oil change, offer a serious buyer an oil sample and the oil filter (get them to pay for a 50hr service – anyone smart enough to do that will be grateful).

Make sure it has shiny new paint, shiny new glass panel, shiny new leather seats. That’s all they care about.

AdamFrisch wrote:
Make sure it has shiny new paint, shiny new glass panel, shiny new leather seats. That’s all they care about.

Nice healthy degree of cynicism, there Adam. Highly accurate I fear. Every AD, every SB, could have been taken care of, the machine maintained beyond belief, and you still get, ‘wot about that small paint chip on the nose’….same with selling a car, or a boat. I detest selling things, my wife states I am a hoarder, simply because I dislike dealing with potential purchasers.

To the OP, a dealer removes that crap, that is what they get the commission for. Dealing with the public..

Ensure it has CAPS or BRS…

Scan all the logbooks and other pertinent documentation in case the potential buyer wants to see them before coming over. I, for one, was 1200 km away from the aircraft I was buying and would not take that trip without having an engineer look at the logbooks first.

From my recent experience of a brokered sale I would comment as follows:-

Is using a broker worth it or can it be sold privately?

I am pleased to report a hassel free experience. I used an experienced broker who had previously worked for a major manufacturer. I chose to use him because 1) I was short on time 2) I felt he brought a level of expertise and insight to the deal. I would be very careful choosing a broker and avoid somebody who will just charge you to list your plane on the popular sale sites which you can easily do yourself. I also carefully avoided a broker who was very keen but had 75+ planes advertised… In my opinion he couldn’t possiably be up to speed on the spec of all of them and give the deal the time and effort it would need.

A nice plane, with good maintenance at the right price should do 90 percent of the work for you! As suggested earlier if you can have digitial versions of the logs, CAA paperwork, Vat Paperwork, and a really comprenhsive spec and photos etc easily to hand it saves a huge amount of time for prospective purchasers and can help to head off tire kickers and lots of repetition in responding to enquiries.

- How do you do the transaction? Escrow and a bill of sale?

The broker dealt with the contract. It was essentially a conditional contract which provided for a deposit to be paid. The deposit was returnable in the event of the pre-buy inspection being unsatisfactory. The balance was to be paid by bankers draft on the completion date. As it happened I delivered the plane to France after the prebuy and test flight so the buyer was happy to transfer funds before takeoff from the UK.

The broker dealt with all of the CAA paperwork for both parties and carried out a mortgage search for the buyer.

- What is expected when it comes to test flights/pre-purchase inspections?

I may have been lucky…the first guy brought my plane! I took him and his engineer up for a 40min flight to demonstrate the plane, a few turns but mostly to show the radios, transponder, gps, auto pilot etc worked correctly.

- How do you avoid the ‘tyre kickers’ when it comes to test flights etc?

This was totally filtered by the broker and was just what I wanted. I didn’t have the time to be talking to lots of people about the plane, I was fielded the enquiries that he judged serious and able to purchase the aircraft. It’s the brokers day job and He used his experience to weed out any dubious enquiries.

The fee of 4percent that I agreed with him seemed fair for the level of work he put Into the deal. He totally spoon fed both parties and made sure it ran smoothly. There was an added complication My french is far from excellent and the buyers English was likewise! But we seemed to manage!

I currently have a plane for sale on controller.com. As a seller here is my experience so far…

1.Avoiding a broker free transaction saves both buyer/seller money. If a buyer knows what he/she wants and if they are able to assess the aircraft for themselves (ask to talk to the primary A&P or have a way to have the plane checked) then that buyer will do best.

2. Aside from price, the buyers seem to be most concerned about accident history (if any), log books complete and in digital form, what equipment is present, reason to sell, where the plane is located, number of hours on the hobbs, costs to fly, ramped or hangared, and when the annual was done last.

- The FAA in the USA keeps a history on each aircraft that can be purchased for a small processing fee
- If an aircraft is maintained professionally by a licensed shop that is superior to a plane maintained by the owner.
- The AOPA has a set of contracts and forms that can be used in an aircraft sale, registration transfer etc.
- An escrow account is the safest way to exchange funds.
- The age of an aircraft is important – the older the plane, regardless of maint history, the more likely major repairs or engine replacement will be needed. Those expenses should be factored into the price.