I’ve only purchased two aircraft, and the first was from the flight school where I learned so it doesn’t really count.
For the second plane, I did a lot of searching on the usual places - Barnstormers, Trade-A-Plane, etc.
When I found something worth a second look, I asked if there were any Club members close by. In one case, the plane I was interested in was only two tie-downs over from a Club member. He took a bunch of pictures for me, even video of the engine running. In several other cases, the plane was close enough that I drove a couple of hours to look in person.
At the time planes were selling slowly, so I had time to get the FAA CD on some planes. Pouring through the records was enlightening. I rejected one plane because it had been underwater. Another was missing vital STC paperwork for an engine upgrade.
The plane I ended up buying was about 1,000 miles away. But even there a local Club member (Jim Curns) gave me a place to stay and acted as my “buying buddy”. He accompanied me on the inspection and acted as a second pair of eyes as well as a dispassionate observer and ‘voice of reason’ to help keep my emotions in check.
In general, a pre-buy inspection by someone other than the usual mechanic can be helpful. There’s no standard definition of a ‘pre-buy’. One measure is to do the same inspection as an annual, but without any log entries. Some owners are reluctant to let just any mechanic open up their plane, so that may be a point of negotiation.
But, let’s say you find a plane with the right options, right price, a local Club member has laid eyes on it, and you want to buy it. At that point one method is to make an offer, saying “if the plane is as you represent it, I’ll offer $xx,xxx.” Then you can have it inspected, either by a mechanic or yourself, and then renegotiate the price based upon any discrepancies found in the inspection.
Assuming everyone is reasonable and cordial, money changes hands, insurance is activated, and you fly home in your new (to you) plane!
Last edited by Kirk; 10/06/18 12:27 AM.
