Aircraft Broker: A broker is an entity that sells an aircraft it does not own for a commission.

Aircraft Dealer: A dealer buys aircraft for inventory and is also usually an aircraft broker. Carolina Aircraft, Inc. is both an aircraft dealer and an aircraft broker. Dealers have the financial strength to purchase aircraft and take trade-ins if necessary to make a deal.

Advantages: Selling the aircraft yourself is very attractive because you control the deal and you keep all of the money.

So, why would you do anything else but sell it yourself?

Disadvantages: You would not sell it yourself for the same reason you would not want to trust it to an inexperienced person to sell it. You want results, not expensive lessons to learn how to do something you may only do once or twice in your life. If you are financially stable enough to own an aircraft, your time is valuable.

Here are a few examples we have heard from owners who have tried to sell their own aircraft.

As a favor to one buyer, the seller let him fly the aircraft before completing payment. There was nothing in writing and the prospective buyer had a "Gear Up." Guess what? He walked away from the deal.

A long demonstration trip was flown that resulted in no sale and the seller was left holding the bag for all expenses.

An unscrupulous buyer convinced the seller to bring the airplane for a prebuy to his location. The aircraft was inspected and rejected; however, the seller was faced with the maintenance bill. The owner did not get a deposit and was not reimbursed even for his fuel and pilot expenses.

There are also important factors to consider involving the proper handling of Paperwork, Sales Tax, issues, lien releases, change of title transfer, and contracts that can limit a seller's future legal liability.

Another negative is the time, distraction, and hassle factor of fielding the calls, separating the time wasters from the real prospects, sending out photos, specifications, brochures, showing and professionally demonstrating the airplane, making sure it is clean, and following up with the real prospective buyers in a timely manner. These tasks all have to be done and can rob your time from the business that earned you the kind of money required to own and operate an aircraft. You will probably come out far ahead by concentrating on what you do best and letting a professional who is experienced handle the transaction for you.

Conclusion: You might save money selling the aircraft yourself, and there may also be extra risks, but the real question to answer is, Will the money I might save selling this one aircraft earn more money than I can make doing what I do best, running my own business?

Advantages: Time is the major advantage of this option. Carolina Aircraft, Inc. will evaluate your aircraft and make an immediate offer to purchase it for resale if it is a model that we specialize in buying, selling, and brokering. Our offers are subject to a PrePurchase inspection that we can conduct at your location or at our maintenance facility. We take the risk, pay for the maintenance, insurance, hangar, interest, and all of the other expenses associated with ownership. You get your money almost immediately and do not have to hassle with marketing the airplane, having it detailed, or taking any calls.

Disadvantages: We usually will pay about 10-15% less for the airplane than you could get by selling the airplane yourself or through a broker.

Conclusion: If you want your money now, without the hassle of going through the selling process this could be a good option to consider.

Advantages: This option is a reasonable compromise between selling the aircraft yourself and selling it to a dealer. In most cases a quality broker can sell the airplane much faster than an owner. You and the broker have the same interest. The broker makes a commission when your aircraft is sold. The higher the price the higher the commission. A broker wants to sell your airplane as soon as possible because he doesn't get paid until the aircraft is sold.

A quality broker is a marketing expert you trust to act in your best interest. He will report to you regularly. He is like a staff member that works on straight commission, without a salary, without benefits, and doesn't mind that he will be laid off when the airplane sells. You have the benefit of years of experience working for you, experience you couldn't hire in any other manner for so short a time period.

Disadvantages: You could commit your airplane to a group or an individual only to see nothing get done. The broker ties up your valuable asset and then moves on to other business while waiting for someone to walk in and make an offer on an airplane you want sold.

Things could be worse. Some prospects for an airplane may have already had unsatisfactory dealings with a particular broker. The wrong broker can do some troublesome things like misrepresent the aircraft, improperly handle offers, or waste time and money on unnecessary demonstration flights.

Conclusion: A quality broker can be your best option for getting the most money for your airplane with the least amount of risk and trouble. Brokers, however, need to be examined carefully for competence. A broker who is also a dealer has the financial stability to take trade-ins and can offer some advantages over a company that only brokers aircraft. You should select a broker that has experience buying and selling the kind of aircraft you will be selling. A broker cannot be all things to all people. If a broker has no experience with a particular model he will be learning on your airplane at your expense.

We invite you to measure us by the same standards you would measure any dealer or broker. You may have your own list of standards, but here are a few we would encourage you to examine:

Experience: George Johnson has more than 25 years experience in the aircraft business. George grew up with a father who was also a Beechcraft Salesman.

George worked for a new Beechcraft Dealer from 1977-1991 as an aircraft salesman and knows the Beechcraft product line inside and out. He is known as "The Bonanza Man" and has numerous Sales Awards from the factory for his achievements. These include: Salesman of the Year (most new Beechcraft sold by one salesman) 1984; The Olive Ann Beech Award 1986 and 1987 (Most New Bonanza's Sold - 1986), (Most New King Airs Sold - 1987) plus many other awards - see resume.

Creativity: Creativity is very hard to quantify, however, if you look at this Web page, our advertising, our brochures, and talk to our customers you will get a feel for what we can do for you. We have our own Web page plus pages with Airshow, Inc. and the American Bonanza Society. We also advertise in the following publications:

• Trade-A-Plane
• AC/Flyer
• General Aviation News & Flyer
• The Southern Aviator
• The American Bonanza Society Newsletter
• Plane Fax
• Twin & Turbine Magazine
• The Controller
• Winston Cup Illustrated
• and a few other publications.

A fax mailing is done regularly to a list of our best prospects and to fellow dealers that we trust. We take quality photos, send out Photo Brochures, evaluate your aircraft, and represent it in the best possible manner. We also have detailing services available and relationships with paint and interior shops that can save you money when your airplane needs refurbishing for resale. We will recommend what you should do to make your airplane bring "top dollar."

Integrity: We have a solid reputation in the aircraft industry. The best way to learn about a dealer's or broker's integrity is to ask customers, fellow dealers, competitors, and vendors. Trust is a very important thing. It is hard to get but very easily broken. We encourage you to call our references and read some of the unsolicited letters we have received from satisfied customers. Our customers will sell you on Carolina Aircraft, Inc. much better than we can.

Conclusion: If you want to sell a Beechcraft Airplane or Cessna Citation you should strongly consider Carolina Aircraft, Inc. for the job. We have a solid reputation built on results for satisfied customers.

Fees: Our minimum brokerage fee is $5,000. We charge 10% of the selling price for aircraft under $100,000; 8% of the selling price for aircraft from $100,000-150,000; 6% of the selling price for aircraft from $150,000-700,000; 4.5% of the selling price for aircraft from $700,000-1,500,000; and 3% of the selling price for sales above $1,500,000.