How much does a pre-buy inspection cost? What shops charge for a Cessna 172
October 29, 2026 · Chris van Eijk
A pre-buy (or pre-purchase) inspection is the check a buyer orders before paying for a used aircraft: a mechanic goes through the logbooks and the airframe and engine to find anything that would change the price or kill the deal. There is no fixed scope and no fixed price, but some maintenance shops publish theirs. This guide collects the pre-buy prices that nine US shops and three European inspectors publish on their own pages, read on 28 October 2026, sets out what a basic and a thorough pre-buy include, and what AOPA says about who pays.
Short answer: For an older Cessna 172 or similar four-seat fixed-gear single, US shops whose page gives one price ask $1,000 to $2,604, with a median of $1,500 across five price lists. Four shops state the pre-buy as 75% or 80% of their annual flat rate, and two of them turn it into a full annual for the remaining 20% plus parts if you buy the aircraft within five days. A mobile inspector lists $1,600–$2,200 plus travel, and two shops start their hands-on pre-buy at $600. In Europe two inspectors publish a day rate (€840 a day in the Netherlands, €960 for purchase advice in Germany, before VAT) and a German consultant gives €1,500–€3,000 for a single. AOPA's guidance is that the buyer pays for the pre-buy, and the seller usually pays to fix airworthiness items it finds.
A Cessna 172 pre-buy: what shops publish
| Shop | How priced | C172 |
|---|---|---|
| PFM MaintenanceAtlanta, Georgia | flat (standard tier) | $1,000 |
| Lore Aviation ServicesLake Charles, Louisiana | own column (annual $1,620) | $1,215 |
| Lakeland Aircraft MaintenanceLakeland, Florida | 75% of its $2,000 annual | $1,500 |
| Blue Skies AviationSan Marcos, Texas | own column (annual $2,250) | $1,800 |
| Airworthy MaintenanceTampa, Florida | 80% of its $2,250 annual | $1,800 |
| Rexair Maintenance ServicesNaples, Florida | 80% of its $3,255 annual | $2,604 |
| Barefoot Aviationmobile, United States | range, plus travel | $1,600–$2,200 |
| Skybound AviationAtlanta, Georgia | starting price, hands-on | from $600 |
| Jake’s Air RepairColumbia, California | starting price, hands-on | from $600 |
Europe (we found no UK shop that publishes a price)
- Sky Unlimited (Hoogeveen, Netherlands): €840 a day; about 1 day for a basic single, 2 for retractable gear and a constant-speed prop; VAT, travel and hotel excluded.
- A-Maintenance (Gießen, Germany): €960 day rate for purchase advice, single engine; plus VAT (price list valid from 1 January 2024).
- CDP Aviation Consulting (Germany (consultant)): €1,500–€3,000 for a single; VAT not stated.
What US shops charge for a Cessna 172 pre-buy
The figure lists every US shop we found with a clear pre-buy price on its own page. PFM Maintenance in Atlanta charges a flat $1,000 for its standard pre-buy ("1 Day required $ 1000") and $1,750 for a premium one. Lore Aviation Services in Louisiana lists $1,215 for a Cessna 172 next to an annual of $1,620. Blue Skies Aviation in Texas lists $1,800 — "Cost: 80% of listed Annual Inspection fee" — and Airworthy Maintenance in Tampa uses the same table: "We charge 80% of the listed annual inspection rate for pre-purchase inspections." Lakeland Aircraft Maintenance in Florida states "THE PRICE OF PRE-BUY INSPECTION IS 75% OF THE FLAT RATE FOR ANNUAL INSPECTION.", which is $1,500 on its $2,000 annual for a 172, and Rexair in Naples charges "PRE-BUY Eval 80% of Annual Inspection Rate", $2,604 on its $3,255 annual for a four-seat, four-cylinder fixed-gear single.
At the cheap end, Skybound Aviation says "Pre-Buy Inspections start at $600", and Jake's Air Repair in California offers a $600 "Lunch Time Special" of about four hours in its hangar (and a $250 remote opinion from photos and logbook scans), but bills most evaluations by the hour: "Hourly Inspection. $150/HR Most of our evaluations are done this way." Barefoot Aviation, which travels to the aircraft, lists "Non-Complex Single Engine Piston Examples: $1,600-$2,200 Cessna 150/172, PA-28, etc.", with travel on top, and $2,200–$3,000 for a high-performance single such as a Cessna 182 or Cirrus SR20/22. Parts, repairs and discrepancies are extra wherever a page mentions them.
How a pre-buy relates to the annual
Four shops state the pre-buy as a share of their annual flat rate: 75% at Lakeland, 80% at Blue Skies, Airworthy and Rexair; Lore's pre-buy column works out to 75% of its annual column. Savvy Aviation counts "6 hours of labor for a simple fixed-gear piston single like a Cessna 172" and 8 hours for a Bonanza or Cirrus, and puts that at "about one-third to one-half the cost of an annual". The median annual flat rate for a Cessna 172 at the US shops in how much an annual inspection costs is $1,620 when the table three of them share is counted once, as here, so Savvy's range comes to about $540–$810 and 80% is $1,296. All five single prices above are higher than Savvy's range; three are higher than $1,296.
The difference is scope. AOPA: "A pre-purchase inspection is not an annual inspection, although the buyer and seller could agree to such an arrangement." And: "A pre-purchase inspection can be as simple as a glance or as complex (and expensive) as an annual inspection." Savvy adds: "There is nothing in the FARs or maintenance manual that dictates what a prebuy examination should cover." Some shops build the step to an annual into the price. Blue Skies: "If the aircraft is purchased within 5 days of inspection completion, we will convert the pre-buy into a full Annual Inspection for the remaining 20% + cost of parts and necessary airworthy items"; Airworthy says it can do the same, and PFM says every pre-buy can be turned into an annual at a discount. What a full annual checks is in what an annual or 100-hour inspection includes.
What a pre-buy covers: two published tiers
Standard — $1,000, 1 day
- Total time on the airframe; time since overhaul of engine and prop
- Magneto timing
- Compression test
- Oil filter inspection
- Visual check of engine, prop, airframe and interior
- Spar box on Pipers
- Engine run-up and system check
Premium — $1,750, 1–2 days
- AD research and AD report
- Borescope of every cylinder
- In-depth corrosion inspection
- Gear swing on retractables
- Hydraulic leak check, fluid topped off
- Borescope of spar and wing attachments
- Spark plugs cleaned, gapped, tested
- Oil change, filter and screen
Pre-buy inspections in Europe
No UK shop we found puts a price on its pre-buy page; the ones we found say the cost depends on the scope. On the continent, Sky Unlimited at Hoogeveen in the Netherlands writes "we offer this service at a price of EUR 840 a day.", with about one day for a basic single and two for retractable gear and a constant-speed propeller, VAT, travel and hotel excluded. A-Maintenance in Germany lists a €960 day rate for purchase advice on a single (plus VAT, price list from January 2024), and the German consultant CDP Aviation gives "Einmotorige LFZ : 1500-3000 EUR" for singles.
Who pays for the pre-buy, and for what it finds
AOPA's finance arm puts it simply: "Obviously, the buyer pays for a pre-purchase inspection." On what the inspection turns up: "Typically, the prospective buyer pays to reposition the aircraft for the prebuy, and the seller pays for correcting any maintenance issues relating to airworthiness. Fixing any non-airworthiness items is usually up for negotiation." Write that split into the purchase agreement before the inspection starts.
When several people buy an aircraft together, the pre-buy is the first cost they share, before there is an aircraft to share. How a group divides the purchase, the fixed costs and the hourly rate is in the aircraft partnership agreement, and what the aircraft will cost per year once it is bought in how much it costs to own a plane and our aircraft ownership cost calculator. Once it flies, Pilot-Next bills each owner's fixed share as a recurring fee and each settled flight at the group's rate, from the meter readings (service flights excepted).
These are the shops' own published prices, not a survey, and several pages carry no date. Ask the shop for a written scope and price before the aircraft goes in.