Pre-Purchase Evaluations
The pre-purchase inspection is a critical step that helps you make an informed buying decision. An airplane prebuy ensures your success as a buyer by determining an aircraft’s overall history and condition as well as uncovering defects and surprises that affect the value proposition. We perform hundreds of prebuys every year for our clients nationwide.
Before You Buy, Prebuy…
You’ve made the decision to buy an aircraft. Now what? Before you make an offer, enlist the help of a knowledgeable and experienced prebuy expert. Your dream aircraft may have a few skeletons in the closet that you’ll want to know about before signing the dotted line.
According to aviation attorney J. Scott Hamilton, the biggest reason for litigation in an aircraft transaction is neglecting to perform an adequate pre-purchase inspection. Once you sign the dotted line, all the aircraft’s issues and discrepancies become your problem, along with the legal responsibility to maintain airworthiness. Avweb.com reports the average age of the General and Business Aviation fleet is 40 years old, making a comprehensive prebuy more important than ever. While some sellers may deter you from preforming a prebuy, it is your right as a buyer, and should be part of your purchase agreement. Neglecting to get a prebuy is like playing a potentially deadly game Russian Roulette. Are you willing to bet your wallet and your safety on an airplane you know absolutely nothing about?
The purpose of a prebuy is to help you determine the actual condition of a prospective aircraft; verify the aircraft’s airworthiness and maintenance status, and uncover defects that could impact the aircraft’s value, safety of flight, or cost of ownership. Getting a thorough prebuy will help you uncover surprises early, negotiate the final sales terms, and ensure a successful transaction. Simply put, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting into before you commit to buying the airplane. The only opportunity you have to get free maintenance on an airplane is before you buy it!
What Is a Prebuy?
Despite the regulations governing pilots, aircraft operations, and maintenance, there are no regulations whatsoever governing aircraft transactions. This lack of accountability and oversight leaves a number of opportunities for things to go wrong. The number one cause for litigation in aircraft transactions in not performing an independent pre-purchase inspection from a trusted, third-party mechanic.
A pre-purchase inspection, also known as a prebuy, serves to assist a prospective buyer in making an informed buying decision. Similar to a home inspection, a prebuy will help you discover any issues before committing to the purchase. A prebuy inspection quickly determines the condition of the airplane as well as its true value by uncovering defects, paperwork discrepancies, maintenance issues, and airworthiness concerns that could make the airplane unsafe, illegal, or too costly to buy. In other words, a prebuy is cheap insurance that protects you from a bad deal.
The prebuy also serves to represent the buyer and their interest during the purchase process to assist in the final negotiations and closing terms. Performing a prebuy is not only your right as an airplane buyer, but also your responsibility. Remember, once you purchase an airplane, all of its issues, defects, and discrepancies become your problem and the FAA holds you legally accountable.
The prebuy is simply meant to ensure the airplane’s condition is as represented in the listing. Contrary to popular belief, the objective of the prebuy inspection is not to kill an airplane deal, rather to make the deal better. The prebuy can help you negotiate the final sales terms or lower the price as well as have specific maintenance items fixed before taking delivery of your new airplane.
While a prebuy is often referred to as an inspection, a prebuy is really an investigation on an airplane. The term inspection is defined by the FAA and governed under FAR §91.409. Interestingly, a prebuy is not recognized by the FAA as an inspection; they provide absolutely no description, guidance, or oversight of a prebuy. Likewise, aircraft manufacturers make no mention of prebuy evaluations in their maintenance manuals or service documents. Therefore, a prebuy is not regulated in any way and has no set standards. That is, until now. We are raising the bar and setting the standard for what a pre-purchase evaluation is and what it should include.
The lack of regulation and guidelines for a prebuy may leave you wondering what a prebuy should include. Some mechanics simply do a brief “visual examination” of the aircraft looking for obvious signs of damage or defects while others would rather perform a scheduled inspection such as an annual inspection or phase inspection. In fact, many shops and mechanics do not perform prebuys for liability and insurance purposes. We treat our prebuys as an investigation. Every airplane has a different story to tell and it’s our job to uncover the facts—from the aircraft’s ownership and maintenance history to its structural, mechanical, and cosmetic integrity, all the way to its flight performance and systems health—we leave no stone unturned.
Buyer-In-Command
As a pilot you’re probably familiar with the term Pilot-in-Command, but what about Buyer-in-Command? If you want to take control of the purchase process, you must start with a detailed prebuy. When you enlist Airplane Intel, we strictly work on your behalf and act as your your eyes and ears during the purchase process. We will help coordinate the prebuy, flight test, and other logistics with the seller. We will travel to the airplane’s home airport or maintenance base so there is no need to have the airplane relocated or flown to a different airport. If you choose, you, your mechanic, and/or flight instructor can attend the prebuy to get a first-hand look at the aircraft.
We will keep you informed during each phase of the prebuy process. Upon completion, we will present you with a detailed written report, complete with photos and video, summarizing our findings along with a list of squawks, an estimated cost of repairing/correcting known discrepancies, and a list of our recommendations. The results of the prebuy will help you determine whether you want to move forward with the purchase of the airplane. In many cases, the seller will agree to correct major defects at their expense or agree to renegotiate the sales price or closing terms.
Not All Prebuys Are Created Equal
Nationwide, there are only a handful of maintenance shops and mechanics willing to perform prebuy inspections on used aircraft. In fact, many mechanics do not do prebuys for liability and insurance reasons. Thus, they lack the experience and insight to know how defects impact aircraft value, cost of ownership, and whether the airplane is a good buy.
There is absolutely no guidance whatsoever from the FAA or aircraft manufacturers as to what a pre-purchase inspection should encompass. Therefore, there is no set standard for a prebuy and many mechanics have different views on how to perform a prebuy. Some mechanics simply perform a “visual” examination while others perform a scheduled inspection. Both options barely scratch the surface of the aircraft’s actual condition and overall pedigree. Additionally, neither option includes a flight test on the aircraft which assesses engine performance, systems health, and avionics functionality—big ticket, high dollar items.
Ideally, the prebuy is performed by a mechanic or shop that is completely independent of the aircraft’s owner, broker, and maintenance facility. This presents a challenge to the buyer because it typically means the aircraft has to be flown to a different airport at the buyer’s expense. In addition, if something should break during the ferry flight or the airplane is deemed unairworthy by the outside shop, the buyer could be held liable for repair costs and damages, even if you decide to walk away from the airplane. Truth be told, many shops write illegitimate squawks on airplanes just to make extra money—after all, they are in the business of aircraft maintenance.
Some companies claim to be a prebuy service, when in reality they simply “manage” the prebuy. In other words, they subcontract the prebuy to an outside shop and act as the middleman between the buyer and the shop. The company managing the prebuy is not liable for the shop’s work and you don’t have direct communication with the shop. Moreover, you end up paying for the prebuy twice—first to the company managing the prebuy and then again to the shop itself. Why pay twice for a middleman when you can have one company handle everything?
Prebuy Outcomes
Determine whether to buy or walk way
Establish which defects will be corrected or repaired by the seller
Identify how defects will impact aircraft value and cost of ownership
Help negotiate the final sales price and closing terms
Why Enlist Us for Your Prebuy
We specialize in performing prebuys on aircraft nationwide. In fact, it is our core business. We have the experience, tools, and resources to perform a thorough, comprehensive, and unbiased prebuy evaluation with our proven, three-phase process. We know how defects influence aircraft value as well as cost of ownership, and can help with final negotiations. We are licensed and insured to provide adequate protection against lawsuits and litigation. We travel to the airplane so it does not have to be flown to another airport saving you the liability, headache, and expense of relocating the airplane.
We do not outsource the prebuy to a third-party shop. We perform the prebuy ourselves as licensed mechanics, inspectors, and pilots. You will have direct communication with our team and always remain in the loop regarding the status of the airplane. We customize our prebuy evaluations based on the aircraft make and model as well as its maintenance and operational history. We also perform a flight test on the aircraft with an experienced pilot covered under the owner’s insurance to check the fitness of the engine(s), systems, and avionics.
What you get by working with us:
Responsiveness
Personal Service
Quality Work
One-Stop-Solution
Quick Turnaround
Buyer Peace of Mind
In other words, we have the experience and expertise to perform a quality, independent pre-purchase inspection on your selected aircraft making the acquisition process quick, easy, and stress-free. In 2021 alone, we performed $22 Million in aircraft acquisitions and helped our clients save $1,101,993. We have the prebuy process down to a science. We’ve helped our clients save thousands of dollars off the asking price with our proven methods and strategies. We know how the aircraft’s value changes based on its history, current condition, and maintenance status. On average, our clients save 5% or more off the asking price—that’s a savings of tens of thousands of dollars! The money saved by our clients is often up to five times the cost of hiring us!
How it Works and What’s Included
If you need assistance finding a suitable airplane or narrowing down candidate airplanes, our Buyer’s Assistance Program is a good place to start. If you already have an airplane selected and you’re ready for a prebuy, we can begin the prebuy process. We recommend signing a purchase agreement and making a refundable escrow deposit so the airplane does not get sold while you’re performing your due diligence. We also recommend performing a desktop valuation to determine a good asking price. (Yes, we can help with those steps, too!)
We take a step-by-step, pay as you go approach. The objective is to learn as much about the airplane as possible, as quickly as possible, before you invest a lot of time or money to see the airplane in person. Every airplane has a different story to tell and it’s our job to uncover the facts—from the aircraft’s ownership and maintenance history to its structural, mechanical, and cosmetic integrity, all the way to its flight performance and systems health—we leave no stone unturned. We can also help coordinate logistics such as getting copies of the logbooks, ordering FAA records and title search, scheduling the date to see the airplane, and handling travel plans.
We breakdown the Prebuy into three separate, yet equally important steps:
We can perform a prebuy on any FAA-certified airplane. We offer Prebuy Packages as well as ala carte prebuy services. Click the button below to get the process started and receive a customized quote.
Prebuy Evaluation vs. Annual Inspection
While many prospective airplane owners think an annual will suffice for a prebuy, this simply isn't true. This is because annual inspections are not designed to find items that affect the overall value of the aircraft and cost of ownership. Annual inspections and prebuy evaluations have different objectives, utilize different techniques and yield different results.
Annual inspections are limited in scope and meant to find safety of flight issues - not cost of ownership issues. In most cases, annuals are organized by the seller, meaning there is no one there to represent you and your interests. Plus, the aircraft may have to be flown to a mechanic or maintenance facility which may cost you even more time and money. If you have an annual done in place of a prebuy, the annual must be finished to completion and meet all the requirements of FAR 43 Appendix D regardless of whether you decide the buy the aircraft - at your expense! Finally, the results of the annual inspection must be made in the aircraft's logbook(s) with an approval for return to service, and all airworthiness defects must be corrected.
On the other hand, a prebuy evaluation is unlimited in scope and can be much more comprehensive. It is specifically tailored for the make and model aircraft, and customized to the specific airplane’s operational and maintenance history. In contrast with an annual inspection, you may discontinue a prebuy at any time should you decide to walk way from the airplane. Prebuys uncover different things — how has the aircraft been utilized? Where has it been stored? Who possesses the title? How frequently has the aircraft flown? Are there signs of damage or major repairs? Has the airplane ever made a gear up landing? Has the airplane ever been on fire? Is the equipment listed on the specifications actually installed in the airplane? Are all installed modifications/STCs approved and compatible? How does the airplane fly? Does the engine make full-rated power at altitude? The list goes on and on. As you can see, there are many things that an annual does not tell you. Even the most honest and forthcoming sellers may not have answers to these questions.
How Long Does the Prebuy Process Take?
We highly recommend calling us as early in the process as possible so that you are not in a hurry to get a prebuy completed. Most purchase agreements have a specified closing date. The prebuy must be completed and a buying decision made before the closing date. We book our prebuys on a first-come, first-serve basis. Depending on the airplane, most prebuys can be completed within a couple of weeks of scheduling, with an average total turnaround time of about three days.
Do You Travel to the Airplane?
Yes. Our team typically travels to the aircraft’s home airport or maintenance base of your selected aircraft. Traveling to the airplane reduces your liability and saves you the expense of relocating the airplane. We can travel nationwide to virtually every airport in the country from our base near Orlando, Florida.
What Types of Aircraft Do You Perform Prebuy Inspections On?
Our team consists of profession pilots, instructors, and maintenance technicians with broad backgrounds including piston and turbine aircraft. We have the experience and tools to perform prebuys inspections on any FAA-Certified airplane including Cessna 182s, Beechcraft Barons, Twin Cessnas, King Airs, and Cessna Citation Jets.
Do You Perform Prebuys on Experimental Aircraft?
No. We perform prebuy inspections on aircraft certified under FAR Parts 23 and 25. For a prebuy inspection on an experimental aircraft, we recommend Base Leg Aviation located in Falcon Field (KFFC) in Georgia.
Can You Perform a Prebuy on a Turboprop or Jet?
Yes, our technicians and inspectors are factory-trained mechanics from leading business jet and turboprop manufacturers such as Cessna Citation, Beechcraft/King Air, Hawker, Pilatus, and Embraer. We have the knowledge and capability to perform and/or oversee prebuy surveys, flight tests, records audits, maintenance events, and more. We also have access to current manufacturer maintenance manuals, inspection requirements, and maintenance programs to ensure all mandatory inspections, maintenance events, and life-limited component replacement/overhaul intervals are complied with correctly and on-time.
Can You Convert the Prebuy into an Annual?
Many new owners want to “zero time” their airplane’s annual by converting the prebuy examination into a fresh annual inspection. The scope and detail of an annual inspection differs greatly from that of a prebuy. Additionally, performing an annual inspection normally falls outside the limits of a purchase agreement. However, our A&P/IAs can convert the pre-purchase inspection into an annual inspection in most cases when you become the new owner of the airplane following the closing.
Can the Owner’s Mechanic Do the Prebuy?
The prebuy inspection should be performed by an FAA-licensed Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) mechanic, preferably with an inspection authorization. However, not all mechanics and inspectors are created equal. To avoid a conflict of interest, you should always select a mechanic that has absolutely no ties to the owner, the broker, and the airplane. It is in your best interest to hire a mechanic that is an independent third party specializing in aircraft transactions and pre-purchase inspections. Don’t hire someone that works for the seller — you need someone working for you, looking out for your best interest and representing you through the purchase process.
Can I Attend the Prebuy?
We always encourage our clients to visit the airplane and assist with the pre-purchase evaluation. Simply put, the more eyes the better. You can even bring your spouse, CFI or A&P along, too!
How Long Does It Take to Perform a Prebuy?
The time required to complete a prebuy depends on several variables including the make and model of the aircraft, the aircraft’s history and condition, the cooperation of the seller, and available facilities. The average turnaround time to complete a prebuy is 1—3 days.
Who Makes the Final Decision to Purchase the Airplane?
As the buyer, you make the final decision whether to move forward with purchasing the airplane. During the prebuy process, we provide you with the facts and analysis you need to make an informed buying decision such as aircraft condition, inspection status, engine health, systems and avionics functionality, and all other defects/discrepancies that affect airworthiness, aircraft value, and cost of ownership.
What Happens If I Decide to Walk Away from the Airplane?
One of the main benefits of performing a prebuy is you have the choice to walk away from the airplane at any point in the process. As long as you act within the terms of the purchase agreement, your deposit will be refunded and there will be no consequences for walking away. If you hire us to perform the prebuy, unused funds will be refunded back to you or can be applied toward your next airplane.