Damaged airplane? Gear-up, hangar rash, prop strike — what it's actually worth.
Damage history is the boogeyman of aircraft sales. Retail buyers will tell you a "damaged" airplane is unsellable. Brokers will tell you it'll discount the airplane 40–60%. Insurance adjusters will tell you the airplane is totaled when it isn't. Most of this is wrong, or at least overstated. Let's get specific.
What "damage history" actually means
In aircraft sales, "damage history" is a broad term that covers everything from a cosmetic ding on a wingtip to a complete teardown and rebuild after a gear collapse. Buyers and insurance companies look at:
- Was it disclosed in the logbooks? A properly documented repair with a 337 form is far better than a quiet patch job.
- Was it repaired by a reputable shop? Cessna SES, Lake Aero Stylin', and the major repair stations have known quality. Bubba's Body Shop & Aviation does not.
- What was the original damage? A prop strike is wildly different from a fire.
- Has the airplane flown reliably since the repair? 500 hours of post-repair operation tells you a lot.
The damage taxonomy, ranked by impact on value
Minor — single-digit % discount
Hangar rash, cosmetic dings, minor wingtip scrapes. Properly repaired and documented, these affect retail price by 1–5%. Many airplanes have them and most buyers don't flinch. Cash buyer impact is similar — we'll factor in the visible cosmetic state, but it's small.
Moderate — 5–15% discount
Hail damage (repaired or not), minor gear collapse with no engine/prop involvement, bird strike with cowling/windshield damage. Retail buyers get cautious. Brokers will pressure you to discount harder than the airplane really deserves.
Significant — 15–30% discount
Prop strike with engine teardown and inspection (sometimes called a "sudden stoppage"). Gear-up landing with belly skin replacement. Engine fire contained to the firewall-forward. Off-airport landing with documented airframe damage repaired to airworthy.
The honest reality: these airplanes can still be excellent flyers if repaired right. The market just discounts them out of caution. This is where cash buyers tend to shine — we look at the actual repair quality and post-repair operating history rather than dismissing the airplane on principle.
Major — 30–50%+ discount
Significant airframe damage (spar repairs, fuselage damage, wing replacement), fire damage extending into the cabin, multiple incidents on the same airframe. Sometimes these airplanes become salvage or parts donors. Sometimes a sharp owner restores them and they fly for another 30 years.
Totaled
Insurance declared the airplane a total loss and you bought it back as salvage, or you have an airframe with no clear airworthy path forward. These airplanes still have cash value — we buy them for parts, restoration projects, or component salvage. It is rarely worth zero. We've paid five figures for "totaled" airplanes that had a $40k engine and $20k of avionics still on them.
What hurts value more than the damage itself
Two things commonly do more damage to your selling price than the damage event:
- Poor documentation. Missing 337s, vague logbook entries, "see attached letter" with no attached letter. Buyers assume the worst when documentation is incomplete.
- Trying to hide it. A buyer who finds out about an undisclosed damage event mid-pre-buy will walk and tell other buyers. We'd much rather know up front.
What helps value even with damage
- Clear repair documentation from a reputable shop
- FAA 337s and DAR signoffs where required
- Post-repair flying hours showing reliable operation
- Photos of the repair in progress (a lot of owners have these on their phone and forget to share them)
- The repair shop's contact info, in case the buyer wants to verify the work
What we want to know when you call
- What happened (one sentence)
- When it happened
- What shop did the repair
- Whether it was insurance-covered
- How much the airplane has flown since
- What documentation you have
That's enough to give you a realistic ballpark. We've bought airplanes with gear-up landings, fire-damaged ones, dunked-in-saltwater ones, and one memorable Cherokee that lost its left wing in a hangar collapse. Each one had a real value — we just had to work for it.