DA40 price

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tahoemark
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Re: DA40 price

Post by tahoemark »

You might want to consider using Mike Busch's Savvy Aviation for help with purchase and prebuy. He has some scary articles about purchase and pre-buy's going bad for unsuspecting buyers. Even though I'm and experienced airplane owner, I would use Savvy for the piece of mind. DISCLOSURE: I have no relation with Savvy Aviation beyond taking a course from Mike years ago.
Best of luck to you in your search.
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TimS
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Re: DA40 price

Post by TimS »

Prebuy is good, but going with a Diamond expert is likely a better choice.
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pietromarx
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Re: DA40 price

Post by pietromarx »

One experience buying through a broker, one selling through a broker. Other airplanes were direct (through a sales rep) with the factory, etc.

Buying through a very reputable "Diamond expert" broker resulted in a very poor experience (undisclosed damage, etc.). Selling through a local broker made life easier, but didn't result in any particular bump in sales price. Given the scarcity of airplanes, it is hard to see how a broker would help sell (seller's market). I would absolutely stay away from anyone purporting to have special knowledge of Diamonds, especially since the DA40 is such a straightforward well-designed airplane.

FWIW, I would buy or sell using a broker depending upon how much time and interest you have in the process. There really isn't much value add insofar as I can see and the false sense of security can be a definite value subtract.
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Steve
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Re: DA40 price

Post by Steve »

I would think that any owner who frequents these Fora would have "special knowledge of Diamonds" far exceeding most brokers (CFIDave is an obvious exception). I would think that the major advantage of a broker for folks like us would be in the time/effort arena.

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CFIDave
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Re: DA40 price

Post by CFIDave »

pietromarx wrote: Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:49 pmI would absolutely stay away from anyone purporting to have special knowledge of Diamonds, especially since the DA40 is such a straightforward well-designed airplane.
Really? Let me give you just one instance of where a Diamond-knowledgeable broker adds value to the seller:
After a pre-buy inspection, the seller is usually responsible for paying to fix only inoperative or "airworthiness-related" items on a DA40. Sometimes these items are in dispute. Is a typical DA40 seller (or broker representing the seller who knows little about DA40s) knowledgable enough to successfully push back against the buyer's shop that performed the pre-buy? Do they know which DA40 items -- if not addressed before the pre-buy -- are most likely to hold up or delay the sale? This can lead to thousands of dollars extra cost for the seller.
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Rich
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Re: DA40 price

Post by Rich »

When involving a broker you have to know whether he is representing the interests of the buyer or the seller (in addition to the reality of his own interests). I do agree that it is very helpful to know DA40s. This should include things like the struggles most have been having with G1000 software. There is also the issue of the substantial variations in what mods are available and have or not have been done to the specific airframe that affect things like repetitive inspections/replacements.

I know of one used '03 DA40 that was purchased though a broker/dealer by a friend of mine who was used to flying my plane. He was expecting the one that was delivered to have the extended baggage compartment. It didn't. Not realizing this was an after-delivery option that we had installed but has rarely been retrofitted by others he didn't think to ask about it. I'll be fair and say maybe the dealer didn't know either so didn't bring it up.

Here's an example of something that should raise a red flag and at least merits a disclosure: A Garmin G5 installed in a DA40. I know of one that was done with no paperwork at all. Even in the presence of what looks to be a valid sign-off, the buyer needs to be aware of the AML entry for the DA40 that is unique among all aircraft on the list.
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pietromarx
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Re: DA40 price

Post by pietromarx »

CFIDave wrote: Sat Aug 29, 2020 4:19 pm
pietromarx wrote: Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:49 pmI would absolutely stay away from anyone purporting to have special knowledge of Diamonds, especially since the DA40 is such a straightforward well-designed airplane.
Really? Let me give you just one instance of where a Diamond-knowledgeable broker adds value to the seller:
After a pre-buy inspection, the seller is usually responsible for paying to fix only inoperative or "airworthiness-related" items on a DA40. Sometimes these items are in dispute. Is a typical DA40 seller (or broker representing the seller who knows little about DA40s) knowledgable enough to successfully push back against the buyer's shop that performed the pre-buy? Do they know which DA40 items -- if not addressed before the pre-buy -- are most likely to hold up or delay the sale? This can lead to thousands of dollars extra cost for the seller.
Yes, really. The DA-40 is a pretty straightforward airplane. When it came out it was unusual, but ... that was twenty years ago. Even the exotic G1000 is now commonplace and it came out 16 years ago. The gas engine is pushing 70 years in terms of its design basics, perhaps more. Even the diesels at this point are pretty commonplace. (Note that I have dealt with a lot of airplane types professionally and virtually all of them are a lot more complicated than a single engine composite airplane with a G1000, a Lycoming, and a very nice straightforward airfoil.)

What makes you think it is so unusual?

If you're simply referring to whether one model has this or that, then that's upon the purchaser to think upon their needs and research the options. Other than that, I don't really see what the gotchas are.
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pietromarx
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Re: DA40 price

Post by pietromarx »

Rich wrote: Sat Aug 29, 2020 5:25 pm When involving a broker you have to know whether he is representing the interests of the buyer or the seller (in addition to the reality of his own interests). I do agree that it is very helpful to know DA40s. This should include things like the struggles most have been having with G1000 software. There is also the issue of the substantial variations in what mods are available and have or not have been done to the specific airframe that affect things like repetitive inspections/replacements.

I know of one used '03 DA40 that was purchased though a broker/dealer by a friend of mine who was used to flying my plane. He was expecting the one that was delivered to have the extended baggage compartment. It didn't. Not realizing this was an after-delivery option that we had installed but has rarely been retrofitted by others he didn't think to ask about it. I'll be fair and say maybe the dealer didn't know either so didn't bring it up.

Here's an example of something that should raise a red flag and at least merits a disclosure: A Garmin G5 installed in a DA40. I know of one that was done with no paperwork at all. Even in the presence of what looks to be a valid sign-off, the buyer needs to be aware of the AML entry for the DA40 that is unique among all aircraft on the list.
There are edge cases in all purchases. The examples above could be for any airplane. My experiences with "Diamond experts" didn't lead me to believe that they had any special knowledge or ability to protect against these types of issues. This community ... on the other hand ... is priceless and valuable beyond words (Rich!).
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