I want to buy a plane by year-end but they're not making it easy.

Early on, I offered the east-coast Tiger rep to pay for fuel. It didn't
persuade him.


"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


"T.Roger" wrote:

All I've asked of Cirrus, Piper and Tiger is if I can demo their damned
planes before I buy.

Have you offered to pay them for the flight? Most dealers will be happy to
demo
a new plane for about $100.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to
have
been looking for it.

In article ,
"T.Roger" wrote:

Early on, I offered the east-coast Tiger rep to pay for fuel. It didn't
persuade him.

Maybe Lancair has it figured out. If you go to their "factory", you can
get a demo - but you have to pay something like $150 which covers
a lot more than fuel.


All I've asked of Cirrus, Piper and Tiger is if I can demo their damned
planes before I buy.

Have you offered to pay them for the flight? Most dealers will be happy to
demo
a new plane for about $100.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to
have
been looking for it.



--
Bob Noel

On Thu, 02 Dec 2004 04:40:25 GMT, "T.Roger"
wrote:

Early on, I offered the east-coast Tiger rep to pay for fuel. It didn't
persuade him.


IF a customer is serious about purchasing and wants a demo ride they
offer to pay for and hour of two of aircraft time, not gas!
Prices have gone up. You are probably looking at more like $150 to
$200 instead of $100, but it depends on what mood they are in and just
how serious (and capable) you present yourself.

Offering to pay for the fuel does sound like a tire kicker to them.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


"T.Roger" wrote:

All I've asked of Cirrus, Piper and Tiger is if I can demo their damned
planes before I buy.

Have you offered to pay them for the flight? Most dealers will be happy to
demo
a new plane for about $100.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to
have
been looking for it.

"Roger" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 02 Dec 2004 04:40:25 GMT, "T.Roger"
wrote:

Early on, I offered the east-coast Tiger rep to pay for fuel. It didn't
persuade him.


IF a customer is serious about purchasing and wants a demo ride they
offer to pay for and hour of two of aircraft time, not gas!
Prices have gone up. You are probably looking at more like $150 to
$200 instead of $100, but it depends on what mood they are in and just
how serious (and capable) you present yourself.

Offering to pay for the fuel does sound like a tire kicker to them.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

On the other hand, paying someone to have them demonstrate their equipment
is not something a customer should have to do.

I build and sell houses that go for $200K and up. Imagine if I used that
tactic.


--
Matt
---------------------
Matthew W. Barrow
Site-Fill Homes, LLC.
Montrose, CO

Matt Barrow wrote:

I build and sell houses that go for $200K and up. Imagine if I used that
tactic.

You allow people to live in one of your houses for a while before they decide to
buy it? That would be a demonstration of a house in exactly the same sense that
flying an aircraft is a demonstration of the plane.

I expect that what you do is allow prospective buyers to go to the house and
tour it before purchase. I would be *very* surprised to find that an aircraft
manufacturer won't allow someone to go to one of their dealers or the factory
and look at one of their planes.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

G.R. Patterson III wrote:

Matt Barrow wrote:

I build and sell houses that go for $200K and up. Imagine if I used that
tactic.


You allow people to live in one of your houses for a while before they decide to
buy it? That would be a demonstration of a house in exactly the same sense that
flying an aircraft is a demonstration of the plane.

I expect that what you do is allow prospective buyers to go to the house and
tour it before purchase. I would be *very* surprised to find that an aircraft
manufacturer won't allow someone to go to one of their dealers or the factory
and look at one of their planes.

Well, not quite. The essential function of a home is mostly static.
The essential function of an airplane or car is mostly dynamic. You can
evaluate a house pretty well by walking through it and looking it over.
You can't do the same with an airplane or a car.


Matt

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


Matt Barrow wrote:

I build and sell houses that go for $200K and up. Imagine if I used that
tactic.

You allow people to live in one of your houses for a while before they
decide to
buy it? That would be a demonstration of a house in exactly the same sense
that
flying an aircraft is a demonstration of the plane.

Bad analogy.

I expect that what you do is allow prospective buyers to go to the house
and
tour it before purchase. I would be *very* surprised to find that an
aircraft
manufacturer won't allow someone to go to one of their dealers or the
factory
and look at one of their planes.

We build a few models and let them walk through them.

A prospective home can be inspected and everything needed can be discerned.
OTOH, a machine such as a car or aircraft can only be compared by TRYING it
out. Someone made the apt analogy of the Mercedes-Benz that when actually
driven, was a significant disappointment.

While the homes are models and not on the market, they cost a lot of money
(taxes, capital, utilities) to maintain...probably more than an hour or two
or ten of operating an aircraft. Those costs, though, are a cost of doing
business, just like an auto dealer has demonstrators on their lot...and they
cost a lot of money in maintenance, depreciation, but think of the car
dealer that tried to sell you a car based only on the sales brochure. An
aircraft dealer does NOT need to let you go on a three hour cross-country.


--
Matt
---------------------
Matthew W. Barrow
Site-Fill Homes, LLC.
Montrose, CO

Matt Barrow wrote:

A prospective home can be inspected and everything needed can be
discerned.

This isn't really true. There are plenty of things about a house that
cannot be discerned just from an inspection.

In my own case, one of the factors we loved about our house when we bought
it was the group of skylights over the master bedroom. And we love them
still. But given the choice of this beauty vs. the noise when it rains,
well...we'd likely still make the same choice...maybe...some days.

But the same is really true of an airplane too. A test flight isn't going
to tell you how you feel after a couple of three-hour legs. And I'd never
have guessed that planes leak...until I noticed my charts getting wet one
rainy day. Do many demo flights happen in rain?

Hmm. I think I have rain on the brain laugh.

- Andrew

If someone is actually serious, then they should not be asked for money for
a demonstration IMO.

I didn't pay anyone. I also did not take any rides I wasn't serious about.
I told one guy at an open house that I did want to come see the plane, but
that I was not a good prospect and he should spend his time working others.
I am sure he appreciated that. He still offered a ride. I suspect that he
considered me a good prospect and thought the ride might sway me.

If I were determined, I would rather go get the prequalification and an
insurance quote. Then, if I got asked for them, I would ask point blank why
the guy thought I wasn't serious. He better have a tactful answer, or my
next conversation would be with his boss.

I suspect that something about T Roger is causing all of these guys to have
the same reaction, and he seems to be oblivious to it. It may be
misleading, or not.



"T.Roger" wrote in message
. com...
Early on, I offered the east-coast Tiger rep to pay for fuel. It didn't
persuade him.


"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


"T.Roger" wrote:

All I've asked of Cirrus, Piper and Tiger is if I can demo their damned
planes before I buy.

Have you offered to pay them for the flight? Most dealers will be happy
to demo
a new plane for about $100.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to
have
been looking for it.