Get what you pay for !
As the owner of a number of aircraft that I lease to a flying club I an faced with two problems on the maintenance front.
The first is that I can't lease a new aircraft to a club for any more money than I can lease a twenty year old one because the average club member only sees the cost of a flying hour NOT the state of repair that the aircraft is in and so I would be a fool to invest large amounts of money in new aircraft when the same amount of return.
The other problem is that when you buy a twenty year old aircraft you have to start putting right twenty years worth of lack of investment. In three years of leaseing I have yet to make a penny of income......... Yes the value of the aircraft has increased and the servicability has increased but untill all the aircraft have new engines, paint ,radios etc then there is NO INCOME.
I'm in this for the long haul so the income is not a problem to me but most businesses are short term and will not invest in the aircraft in the way that I do and so they cheapskate by doing the very minimum amount of maintenance that they can get away with so the club members just get what they pay for ....crapp aircraft.