I?m sure a number of the people who do RV pre-buys have developed a checklist to assist their inspection. However, the operative words here is familiarity and experience.
A checklist doesn?t really help you if you don?t know what you?re looking at. From experience I will say you need someone knowledgeable about RVs, the building process, installed Avionics and engines to get a thorough pre-buy inspection. Home builds create their own inspection requirements and with the number of available RVs I would want to make sure the money I?m spending is a sound investment.
The gentleman who did my pre-buy knew engines but was not well versed in RVs nor the avionics installed. While I didn?t get truly burned, I probably did over pay given the number of post buy issues I had to address. Keep in mind, there will always be post buy issues butyou want to know what they?ll likely to be and their future cost. That way you can decide if the price asked is truly what you?ll likely to have invested in the aircraft. A good pre-buy is worth its cost - even if it sends you in a different direction. Often it can be a good negotiation tool.
