194 – All About Airplane Prebuys with Adam Sipe

Airplane Owner Maintenance - By Dean Showalter

This episode is a good one!

If you’re thinking about buying an airplane, stop right now and listen to this episode, because Adam Sipe can absolutely save you lots of time, money and needless frustration in the process of buying an airplane.

He shared so much valuable wisdom in this episode, and I can’t wait to listen to the whole thing again myself.

… and don’t be fooled by the fact that Adam is only 33 years old… if you listen to the whole episode, you’ll discover his secret (and it’s a secret that applies to all areas of life,) for how he acquired a lifetime of aviation wisdom in such a short time and at such a young age.

Before we go any further, let me tell you a little bit about Adam.

Adam Sipe is the President of Airplane Intel, Inc., a company that helps people buy, maintain, and manage airplanes. He’s an aircraft mechanic with inspection authorization (A&P-IA), commercial pilot, flight instructor, and Embry Riddle graduate. Adam is also a Marine Corps veteran and host of the Airplane Intel Podcast.

Click the following link to read even more about Adam’s aviation journey:

https://www.airplaneprebuy.com/about-adam

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Here are some examples of the “Prebuy Gold” or “Prebuy Wisdom” Adam shared with us in this podcast episode:

“I call a prebuy more of an investigation than an inspection because you’re trying to uncover things that would be outside the normal thinking of an annual or some other scheduled inspection.”

“Missing records can affect the value of the airplane as much as 30%!”

“Sometimes it’s not what the logbooks say, it’s what they don’t say that’s important.”

“Maintenance affects value.”

“In a prebuy scenario, we don’t need to know all the squawks; we need to know the ones that are most important and the most pressing and the most urgent… and the ones that affect value.”

“You’re not replacing a scheduled inspection with the prebuy, and the prebuy is not going to uncover every defect, because it’s just not possible.”

“This is kind of general to the market… the asking prices are extraordinarily too high… in other words, they’re asking far more for the airplane than what it’s worth, and that’s a huge mistake that people go in and offer full price on these airplanes.”

“There’s two points in a transaction on an airplane where you can negotiate (and I encourage folks to negotiate.) One is when you’re making your initial offer. The second time is after the prebuy.”

“Asking prices are too high, and people are over-paying.”

“If there’s a lien on the airplane, that could stop the transaction from happening, and on that note, I recommend people go through an escrow service… a title company that specializes in aircraft transactions, because the reason why that lien didn’t get caught previously is because they didn’t go through escrow.”

“I’ve seen an airplane that was worth maybe $150,000 have a lien on it for $400,000 because someone used it as collateral for something else.”

“I’ve definitely come across missing AD’s and/or overdue AD’s.”

“I highly recommend taking a test flight in the airplane… now, this is where it’s very critical that you’re clearly not the pilot in command; you’re an observer or passenger in the right seat; you let the owner fly the airplane; or someone that’s on the owner’s insurance.”

“The flight test is in my opinion the most important part of the prebuy because that’s where you’re going to learn the most.”

“Hail damage is repairable, but it’s not worth repairing most of the time because it’s just too expensive.”

Wow! Just this list right here has the potential to save you thousands of dollars in your airplane buying process if you put the principles into action.

I highly recommend hiring Adam and his team at Airplane Intel for your next airplane purchase. I’m confident you’ll be glad you did!

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Thanks Adam, for joining us for this episode! And thank you for your service in the United States Marine Corps. We appreciate you!

Adam shown next to his F/A-18C Hornet in Beaufort, SC

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To learn more about Adam and Airplane Intel, be sure to check out these links:

Website: www.AirplaneIntel.com

Podcast: www.AirplaneIntelPodcast.com

YouTube: www.YouTube.com/AirplaneIntel

Social Medial: @AirplaneIntel

@Airplane_Intel

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If you want to read some fun stuff about Adam personally, he was featured earlier this year in the Ocala Magazine, in the series of articles “40 Under 40.” Well done Adam!

And congratulations to Adam and his wife Sarah with the imminent arrival of their first baby, a daughter! Congratulations Adam and Sarah!

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