Pre-buy examinations

If you're looking to purchase an aircraft that you plan to place under SAMM management, we would be delighted to manage your pre-buy examination. In fact, we've been managing an increasing number of pre-buys lately, which we hope is a positive sign for the economy in general and the health of general aviation in particular.

We charge a flat-rate fee for managing a pre-buy that varies with the complexity of the aircraft involved. In most cases, we charge a fee equal to our standard annual management fee for the type of aircraft, and then credit 50% of that fee against your first year management fee if you purchase the aircraft and place it under SAMM management (so that your net cost for our management of the pre-buy is half our annual fee).

We ask you to complete and sign a simple letter agreement that defines what you can expect us to do during the pre-buy. If you are interested in having SAMM manage a pre-buy for you, please contact us with the following information:

• Your mailing (postal) address
• Your telephone numbers (office, home, mobile, fax) and email address
• The year, make, model, serial number and N-number of the aircraft
• The location of the aircraft
• When the aircraft's annual inspection is due (or if it's out of annual)
• Whether the aircraft has been active or inactive in the months leading up to the pre-buy
• Any other background information about the aircraft that you think we'd find useful

and we'll email you an actual letter agreement for you to complete, sign and return, and we'll answer any questions you may have.

Please don't wait until the last minute to contact us. Keep in mind that most good pre-buy shops are often booked up solid for weeks. Try to give us enough advance notice so we can get your pre-buy scheduled.

One of the most important things we do is to help you choose the best shop to perform the pre-buy. Choosing the right shop to perform a pre-buy is even more important that choosing the right shop for an annual inspection, because with pre-buys there are no "do overs" and the job has to be done right the first time. We three important rules concerning choice of a shop to do a pre-buy:

• The shop must have a great deal of experience and expertise with the particular make and model involved.
• The shop must have absolutely no prior relationship with the aircraft or the seller, so it can approach the pre-buy from a completely skeptical viewpoint.
• The shop must be located reasonably close to where the aircraft is located, generally not further than one hour's flying time and preferably closer.

Before we start the pre-buy, you'll need to have a conditional purchase/sale agreement with the seller(s) granting you permission to do the pre-buy and defining who will pay to correct any discrepancies uncovered by the pre-buy. If you don't have such an agreement already, you can find a specimen agreement on the AOPA website at http://www.aopa.org/members/files/topics/purchase_agreement.html

After you review the specimen pre-buy letter. please let us know if you have any questions.