Yeah I was active - or at least had read it...What gets me is people look at airplanes differently than anything else when it comes down to pricing... Granted planes hold their value, but bolt on mods and avionics don't appreciate a plane much...
Example: I have a Nissan Pickup, 21K... I put a few performance mods on it - 3K est.
I have driven the nissan 55,000 miles in five years. Put new tires on it twice - 600.00, brakes once 165.00 (Nissan pads), oil changed every 2500 miles...
Sorry guys - it's still only worth about 13K... and that is optimistic... Not the $23,765.00 I have in it... Have I enjoyed it and has it been worth it to me, YES!
It's like buying a Vega and repainting it, doing the interior, adding a good stereo, putting a 350 small block in it, and mag wheels..
This is now a nice VEGA WITH SHINY WHEELS A BIG MOTOR AND NEW SEATS, NOT A PORSCHE! $3K not 60K....
Now for planes - Let's take a 20K airplane, buy it, paint is 6K, Interior 1K, Motor mounts, tires, and the other things that sneak up on us like funky fuel selectors 5K, Then we all want the latest Garmin Panel (right Jeff?) 15K installed maybe more....
Is the plane now worth 47K? Probably not, Maybe 30K if you find someone who wants that exact color combination, avionics, and you haven't flown it to tbo....
Now let's say you are at TBO, so you deciede to do the 150 upgrade, 25K right?
A year later you go to sell it.... Sorry - Not a 72K airplane...
My buddies Tiger was on the market for 2 years before we convinced him the IFR GPS that he paid 10K for installed almost 6 years ago wasn't going to increase the value of the plane to what people were getting for the same plane with 530's and CX80's...
So what is the cost of ownership... I'm going to the meeting Tuesday, I'm going to stand up, and PROUDLY SAY, "Hi, my name is Dave, and I spend WAY TOO MUCH MONEY ON MY PLANE.
"
But I LOVE HER...and she takes care of me...and that's why I do it....
Dave
