Originally Posted by
NZFlyingKiwi
Couple of additional suggestions that might get you pointed in the right direction, for purchases outside of TradeMe, Dennis Thompson at Ardmore is a good person to talk to, he has been selling aircraft out of Ardmore since the '60s. AvSure are an aviation specific insurance company, also based at Ardmore, used by a lot of people. In Invercargill you'll find Invercargill Aircraft Maintenance on the airfield, otherwise there's Southair at Taieri or Flightline in Dunedin.
If you can find an experienced LAME who is happy to sit down and talk to you for a few hours you'll be able to get a comprehensive idea of what exactly to look for when purchasing aircraft, but some basic things to look for are engine hours remaining as I mentioned above, whether the annual inspection is current, whether there's any corrosion work that needs doing (this is an absolute killer in NZ and Australia and the reason many older GA machines end up selling for peanuts) and also try to avoid obscure/small volume production aircraft types unless there is a very good owner's club/marketplace through which spares and support can be readily obtained. Again a LAME's knowledge will be a huge help with all of that.
Thanks for the reply, I will definitely make sure too get an extensive pre buy inspection preformed, your comment about low volume aircraft is partially why im looking into Cessna.