What's my airplane actually worth? A cash buyer's honest math
Short answer: your airplane is worth about what similar airplanes have actually sold for lately — not what they're listed at — adjusted for the handful of things that really move the number: engine time against TBO, annual status, damage history and logbooks, and avionics. Then it depends on how you sell it. A broker can chase the higher retail price, but typically keeps 8–10% and the airplane keeps costing you hangar and insurance while it's listed. A cash sale brings less than a perfect retail sale, with no commission, and closes in days.
Almost every call I get starts with "I looked it up, and I think it's worth about ___." That number usually came from a listing site, a blue-book style value, or what a buddy's airplane sold for a few years back. Here's how we actually price an airframe — and why the gap between "looked up" and "offered" is usually smaller than it feels once you see where it comes from.
1. Start with sold comps, not asking prices
An asking price tells you what a seller hopes to get, not what a buyer paid. Listing sites are full of airplanes that have been "for sale" for eight months at a number nobody's willing to pay. A real valuation starts from actual closed sales of similar airframes — same model, similar year range, similar total time — and adjusts up or down from there. If you're only looking at what's currently listed, you're anchoring on hope, not history.
2. Engine time against TBO — the biggest single lever
Owners often assume value falls in a straight line as the engine burns toward its time between overhaul. It doesn't. An engine with low time since major overhaul commands a real premium because the buyer is purchasing years of runway. An engine close to TBO takes a bigger hit than the remaining-hours math suggests, because the buyer has to plan and budget an overhaul right away — and nobody knows exactly what a teardown will find until it's opened up. The middle of the curve is the flat part; the two ends are where the swings happen. If yours is already run out, here's the overhaul-or-sell math.
3. Annual status
An airplane in a fresh annual is worth more than the same airplane out of annual — but usually not by as much as the annual costs, because any buyer still prices in whatever the next inspection turns up. Out of annual for a year is a known quantity. Out of annual for years means the buyer is pricing corrosion, cylinders, hoses and tires nobody has looked at yet. Either way, paying for an annual just to sell rarely comes back to you. Your options when it's out of annual.
4. Damage history and logbooks change the number more than paint does
Cosmetics matter less than owners expect, and paperwork matters more. A well-documented prior repair — properly logged, signed off, no open squawks — is a manageable line item in an offer. An undocumented gap in the logbooks, damage that was never logged, or missing records around a major component swap is a bigger discount than most owners anticipate, because it stops being about one event and becomes about everything else that might not be on paper either. See how missing logbooks affect value and what damage does to the number.
5. Avionics and interior: real, but secondary
A modern panel or a fresh interior helps, and we account for it, but it's a smaller lever than airframe and engine condition. A tired panel in a clean, well-documented, mid-time airframe is a straightforward fix for a buyer. A beautiful panel in an airframe with real engine or airframe problems doesn't move the number nearly as much, because the panel isn't what decides whether the airplane is safe and economical to own for the next several years.
6. The type itself
Two airplanes in identical condition can land at different values just because of what they are. Some types have a deep pool of buyers — popular trainers, common piston singles, light twins with strong parts and support. Others are thinner markets: less-common types, orphaned models with weak parts support, or airplanes that appeal to a narrow slice of pilots. A thin market doesn't make an airplane worthless, but it means patience matters more on the retail route — and it's part of why a cash offer on a niche type can look different from one on a Skyhawk or a Cherokee.
7. How you sell it: broker vs. cash
This is where the same airplane turns into two different numbers. A broker lists it, fields the calls and can chase full retail — and typically keeps 8–10% when it sells, which can take months while hangar, insurance and upkeep keep running and a pre-buy can still fall apart at the end. A cash offer is priced against closing this week, as-is, with the buyer absorbing whatever comes next: carrying costs, any rework, and the risk that the airplane isn't quite what it looked like on paper. Those are two different products, not two ways of stating the same number — which is why comparing them head-to-head usually leaves an owner feeling shortchanged when the real comparison is closer than it looks. Broker vs. cash buyer, side by side.
The fastest way to get a real number
You don't need to guess, and you don't need to take a blue-book estimate as gospel. Tell us the make, model, total time, engine time since overhaul, annual status and honest condition — including the parts you're not proud of — and we'll walk you through where your airplane lands and why. The "why" matters as much as the number: once you understand the math, you can tell whether any offer, ours or anyone else's, is fair.
Whether it's a clean Cessna or something with a more complicated story, tell us about your airplane or call (386) 209-6722 and we'll give you the honest number, not the hopeful one. New to selling? Start with how to sell a private airplane.