Annual Costs

[Scotsman58]

I would be interested in what this crowd is typically paying for DA40 annuals. Assume no major squawks. I'm in the Northeast, and there is definitely a premium associated with that -- but I just got charged more than $11k for an annual and for pitot-static checks. No major issues (other than a muffler replacement, which I'm leaving out of the total, and a replacement of the backup battery for my standby AI). Are others seeing annual pricing at that level?

[gyro3816]

Here in Michigan, I pay $1800 base annual + $300 IFR Cert.
Most my annuals have been around $2500 when figuring in small misc items.

[mhoran]

I'm also based in the Northeast. I've never paid anything close to $11k for an inspection alone. For the first five years of ownership we paid around $2-3k for inspection plus squawks. We tried a new shop in 2019 and ended up paying about $5.6k. 2020 and 2021 were back to $2-3k at the first shop and then a shop at my home field. In 2022 I started going to SouthTec. Their base inspection is around $3k. I've been hit hard with squawks last year and this. Last year total was around $11k (with squawks) followed by an overhaul ($45k). This year is looking like $14k (again, with squawks.) This year I was hit with a nose landing gear inspection failure and need a new magnetometer.

IFR inspection is under $600 at Lancaster Avionics. It should just take a couple hours and is not an expensive inspection.

Based on your profile I have a guess of where you went and I had reached out to them previously. I was astounded by their rate and never went there myself. There are definitely closer options than SouthTec all of which will charge less than $11k for the inspections alone. Though I do find SouthTec expertise worth the trip and in the end it works out to be less than if I were to get the work done locally.

[ZAV]

First annual in the NE when I bought my plane (2018) was 7k for the inspections. Each year since in KY they’ve been around 3k.

[mhoran]

Diamond published an estimated number of hours per inspection. See this thread: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5020&start=20#p73683. The estimated number of hours for an annual (200 hour) is 23. Looking at the flat rate for my annual this year it looks like SouthTec charged for 20. It's hard to imagine how a shop could legitimately charge much more than $3k for an inspection alone. Even at a $200 hourly rate that'd be $4000.

Note that the DA40 does have a few optional extras that require their own inspections. Power Flow adds about an hour or two. There's an AD on the nose gear that adds another hour or so. But still...$7-11k does not seem reasonable to me.

[danno2000]

I paid $20K and $15K for two years in the Northeast before switching to SouthTec this past year. Paid $10K there, but that included addressing some wing-root corrosion.

The $20K and $15K addressed some major issues, but even there, the base inspection price was much higher ($4,500 vs $2,500), and the labor rates were higher. I probably would've kept going just for convenience sake except that the shop had my plane out of action for two months each time. Yes, this was during the worst of the pandemic. But I also felt like I had to badger them to give me updates, and they had enough other business that I didn't feel like a priority.

SouthTec was a pleasant surprise. I had fully expected them to be even more backlogged, but they still found ways to deliver top customer service with good people skills and communication. And when SouthTec called me after one week to tell me they were done, I was completely surprised - I had mentally prepared to have it down for a month.

Perhaps most importantly, my NE shop didn't always get around to dealing with some of my less critical squawks. SouthTec did, and there's been a noticeable improvement in engine operation this year after their work.

I expect to go to SouthTec again this November. It's a good excuse for me to go play around the Southeast anyway, which was a blast.

best,
dan

[michael.g.miller]

I expect to go to SouthTec again this November. It's a good excuse for me to go play around the Southeast anyway, which was a blast.

Definitely lots of good stuff in the Southeast. I've found CLT/Salisbury to be boring (for this city guy anyway..). Totally fine if Glenn is doing a quick fix, but for anything longer, I usually head to:

- Asheville (2h drive) for the yuppie environment (trendy farm to table restaurants, etc.) and Blue Ridge Mountains hiking. Jargon for superb farm to table. 12 Bones for ribs. Taco Billy for breakfast tacos.
- Durham (1.75h drive) for college town. Good botanical gardens. Pizzeria Toro is great. Yoga Off East is awesome if you're into yoga.

Enterprise will happily drop off a rental car with the guys at KRUQ. And if you're a JET-A burner with CAA, the rates are quite reasonable.

[jwx96]

My annual inspection costs in the Midwest were $2,500, $1,600, $1,800 and $2,500 for the last 4 years at 4 different shops. The last shop was very familiar with my plane including the 2003 avionics. I plan to stick with them even though they are located a little farther away.

[Scotsman58]

I want to thank (belatedly) all who replied. Sounds like I'm paying quite a bit, even for the Northeast. SouthTec sounds great but it's hard for me to get the time to get my plane there and back.

[michael.g.miller]

Glenn has guys who can drop you and shuttle back. Of course would cost additional $$ but might be worth it.