VirtualAirplaneBroker.com: Helping Owners Sell Their Airplanes

Selling an airplane isn't fun, and the process hasn't changed much in 100 years. A new company seeks to change that by providing sellers live expert assistance combined with the power of the Internet, for a surprisingly low fee.

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Buying or selling a used general aviation airplane is not fun. A root canal is probably more pleasant. Pilot training does not include education on airplane selection and evaluation, there are no regs on sales standards and no consumer watchdog agency to go after unscrupulous sellers. Sellers often spend hours answering telephone calls from tire kickers who aren’t the least bit interested in buying but will happily waste the seller’s time with inane questions about the cruising speed of “that 172 you want to sell.”

If a seller wants a fast sale, she or he can go through a dealer, but has to be prepared to take a hit of anywhere from 20 to 50 percent on the price because the dealer’s overhead means it has to buy very low in order to make a profit.

A broker usually requires a six-month exclusive contract to sell an airplane, much like a real estate agent. Figure on a minimum fee of $4000 or from seven to 10 percent of the sale price of the airplane. A good broker does handle virtually every part of the sale; however, if the buyer’s circumstances change two months into the contract, it may not be possible to cancel it without paying the broker’s fee.

For the seller, the process hasn’t changed much over the last century.

The Internet Arrives

The Internet has brought more ways to sell airplanes, however, the underlying procedure hasn’t changed much. Plus, some of the Internet sales sites and techniques are a little scary from the perspective of a buyer. The idea of bidding on an airplane on an Internet website, with no opportunity for a pre-purchase examination, when sellers routinely make ridiculously inflated claims about the condition of their airplanes, gives us the heebie-jeebies.

Knowledgeable Assistance

A constant variable in the mix of airplane sales, from the seller’s point of view, is the need to get knowledgeable assistance so that the advertising is targeted effectively at the people who are interested in buying that type of airplane, tire kickers are screened to minimize time wasting and there is guidance through the negotiation, agreement, pre-buy exam, closing the sale and FAA filings-all without costing a fortune.

We learned of website, virtualairplanebroker.com, that says it provides the tools to help sellers sell quickly for $1099, plus advertising costs-using the Internet to do much of what a broker does, but for a much lower cost. We also learned that the $1000 portion of the fee is only paid if the airplane sells. It piqued our interest, so we got in touch with Keith Henson and his son, Garrett, who have many years experience working in the sales side of aircraft dealerships. Along with Keith’s wife, Lisa, they decided to create a business to help aircraft sellers.

The Hensons talked about their experiences with aircraft dealerships, the large discounts sellers had to accept in order for a dealer to buy their airplanes, the massive amount of time wasted taking telephone calls from tire kickers as well as the frustration with a lack of carefully targeted advertising that caused buyers to waste a lot of time trying to find the type of airplane they were seeking.

They set up Virtual Airplane Broker (VAB) to take advantage of the information that can be provided on the Internet, and added expert live human interaction as needed to help a seller sell her or his airplane efficiently, for the amount it is worth.

How It Works

The procedure is laid out on the virtualairplanebroker.com website. The seller activates an account and pays an up front fee of $99. This gives access to seller help information and unlimited calls to an expert at VAB. The seller fills out a detailed survey about his or her airplane. The survey takes the seller step-by-step through a full description of the airplane and requires the seller to provide photos of all areas of the airplane. It’s self-explanatory, however, there’s on-line help as well as a live human to speak with if needed. VAB will help the seller to set a price for the airplane.

Once the survey is complete, personnel at Virtual Airplane Broker use their background in the industry to create an advertisement based on the specific aspects of the airplane that will attract buyers and will precisely define what the airplane is-and isn’t-to help prospective buyers target their searches.

Once the survey is in, VAB also creates a website for the airplane and a distinct email account and address for the seller that will only exist so long as the airplane is for sale. The distinct email address means that the seller has one spot to look for contacts from prospective buyers, and once the airplane has been sold, the seller will no longer be getting email not wanted or needed.

The website provides all of the information about the airplane and photos that were in the detailed survey and a way to ask questions about the airplane as well as buy it. We looked at the website created for one of the VAB clientsthe pictures here are from it. We came away from our survey of the opinion that the website brought out the strong points of the airplane effectively, while admitting the weak areas. The honest level of disclosure was refreshing-we think potential buyers are going to be able to intelligently evaluate the airplane. We liked that the website also contained a note from the seller explaining why he was selling the airplane.

Advertising

Once the advertisement is created, VAB and the seller discuss advertising packages-VAB advertises on what it considers the top five aircraft advertising sites Internet and print. The seller can chose to place the ad on one or more of the sites. VAB passes along the monthly rate for advertising on that site to the seller-according to the Hensons, there is no markup by VAB.

The advertisement includes the airplane’s website and VAB’s telephone number. A prospective buyer who calls VAB is told about the airplane and directed to the airplane website. Initially, the buyer asks specific questions of the seller via the website. The Hensons said that this quickly weeds out the tire kickers and doesn’t tie up VAB personnel or the seller on the phone with people who aren’t potential buyers.

Also, once a potential buyer looks at the airplane’s website, he or she gets access to what VAB calls buyer resources-they explain what’s involved in buying an airplane and how to go about the process. While VAB’s obligation is to the seller, the Hensons explained that a sale is more likely to happen if the buyer has access to straightforward information about what’s involved in buying an airplane-they said that at least one third of used aircraft sales are to first time buyers. Plus, anyone who buys an airplane through VAB is a potential client as a seller in the future.

The prospective buyer and seller can negotiate the price.

Closing the Deal

If the buyer decides to move forward, she or he can click an “agree to buy” button. This triggers the creation of a purchase agreement at the price agreed upon and a Bill of Sale. The buyer pays a $1000 deposit, which holds the airplane.

The seller and buyer resources on the website help the buyer and seller take the needed steps to close the deal, including arranging a pre-buy examination of the airplane. If there are questions, it’s a matter of a phone call to VAB. In some cases there are questions as to what is reasonable and appropriate on a pre-buy exam. (Can I pull a cylinder to check for corrosion? That’s out of line; use a borescope.)

VAB mails several blank FAA registration applications to the seller (they cannot be printed out on a computer) and provides instruction for the buyer and seller as to what paperwork is required to complete the sale and how to file the appropriate documents with the FAA.

Once VAB gets word that the sale has gone through, it keeps the $1000 deposit as its fee. If the sale craters, VAB returns the deposit to the buyer-there’s no fight between buyer and seller over return of deposit if the airplane doesn’t make it through the pre-buy or if someone gets cold feet at the last minute.

Once the sale is complete, VAB also takes down the airplane website and VAB email for the seller.

Should the owner simply decide that he or she is not going to sell the airplane, it’s only a matter of informing VAB. There are no further fees and the airplane website and email are shut down.

The Internet has brought a lot of innovation to aviation, saving time and money. We now download charts rather than replace them in binders and can have a company manage the maintenance of our airplane using email in much less time that if we were to have to make phone calls to our shop. We wonder whether $1,099 for the services provided is a viable financial model for Virtual Airplane Broker. However, from where we’re sitting, it looks like a good deal for a prospective seller.

Rick Durden is an aviation attorney who has bought and sold a number of aircraft and is the author of The Thinking Pilot’s Flight Manual or, How to Survive Flying Little Airplanes and Have a Ball Doing It, Vol I.

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