What do you buy an airplane if...

[Vande17941]

Would you buy an airplane if the owner refused to take you for a flight in the airplane and expected you to buy it without even seeing it flown because "he didn't want to reinstate the insurance"? That is exactly what I encountered last week and I ran for my life. I'd like to get everyone's opinions.

[Av8r_Sed]

Not necessarily a deal killer. I can think of a number of valid reasons why a potential buyer would not get a ride. If you know the type very well, you may be able to make a thorough evaluation of the aircraft and make an offer without too much risk. If you’re new to the design, caution would be the order of the day.

[Dusty]

Look it over and if it looks ok and the paperwork is good, make a cheeky offer way below its real value.
most people will by nature run a mile if it can't be flown or even run.If it has been on the market for a while the seller may be very "motivated".I got a very nice 4-1200 for less than 2/3 it's real value.the seller was also very happy someone finally made a no b,s offer. Win win.

[KitfoxSS]

Depends on if you consider this a project that you will be doing work to.
Or if you're wanting something you can just take off in and go fly without doing any modifications too.

I've bought many project cars in my life. One of them being sight unseen, because I knew I would be tinkering with it and making it work the way "I" wanted from the start. Some of those project cars were not even test driven.
But if I was buying a car to be my daily. One I had no plans to do any major work to besides something cosmetic like a radio/speaker swap, well, if the owner wouldn't let me do a test drive. You can imagine I'd be heading down the road to look at another car I can evaluate properly.

This persons concern is they don't want to reinstate the insurance?
How long has it been since its flown?

Without knowing details it kinda sounds like the guy doesn't want to put work into the plane and is wanting the next guy to go through the effort.
If your dead set on it, I'd tell the owner to come down on price if it's at market average.
You're buying something you can consider to have unknowns as you can't even evaluate its flying characteristics.
You're just taking his word it flies the same as any other of its model / type.

[GuppyWN]

It would have to be a wholesale deal. I’m not paying retail for an airplane I can’t test fly.

[jonstark]

Would you buy an airplane if the owner refused to take you for a flight in the airplane...

You’re not trying to make a new friend. You’re looking to buy an airplane.
If he doesn’t want to fly it make an offer anyway. (As long as it looks okay)
If he’s serious about sticking to a high price he ought to be willing to fly it. If not... so what if you hurt his feelings? You might get a smokin’ deal.

[896tr]

Without giving any information that would let someone sneak in and grab the plane
are you willing to do what it might need to get it airworthy? Also what is his asking price? The answer to those two questions
will determine if you should persue with the counter offer. Just my opinion.

[Rik]

To me, and everyone’s thread hold to pain is different, if test flight was not a possibility I would want the seller to demonstrate key things.

Engine runs and makes power under load for x time.

Avionics work

Controls work correctly.

Logs are correct

Physical condition is airworthy, i.e. no physical damage and fabric is good.

Hell, it doesn’t have to be flown to make laps around the taxi ways or to do a run up.

Refusal means rock bottom pricing as there’s something to hide, large or small it’s something that someone is not willing to be honest about.