Grand Caravan-New or Second Hand??

[Flying Bean]

Bush Operators & Pilots. What do you think?
This will be our first Van. We leased one for a year to try it out and were well pleased with with the results.Now we are going to buy.
New means $1,5 debt for 10 years with the value only climbing after 4 years.But Good Warrenty.
2nd Hand (4/5 yrs old $1 mil) eases our cash flow.
Big question is wether we wil have less maintenance costs with the new to offset the extra cost on purchase.
We are operating in Southern Africa, 1,5 hr legs,
FL 90, 30 % dirt strips.
Three opinions already on file:-
1.New Van is a waste in Africa.Within 2 years it will be "2nd Hand" on not yet holding its value.
2.Maintenace is secondary to Pilot Training.Spend more on specific training to your ops area and the maintenace will be low.
3.New Warrenty is good but you will not tend to have any major problems within the first 3 years anyway. As with a new car the generator fails the day after the warrenty expires.!!
Come on guys (& gals), dump some info on me <img src="confused.gif" border="0"> <img src="confused.gif" border="0"> <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

[Cyclic Hotline]

If you can find a good used Caravan, I would have no hesitation in purchasing it. Unless you have a specific need to buy a new aircraft, a good used machine represents excellent value.

As you have stated, the reliability and maintainability of a Caravan is second to none in this field. It requires a minimal spares and tooling package, and everything is readily available.

As the aircraft is so simple, it is easy to complete a thorough pre-purchase inspection and know to the dollar, what you are getting and will be exposed to in future operations. There is a very sound reason why these aircraft have sold so well, maintain their values and resell easily! A boroscope inspection of the engine should be a pre-requisite for any aircraft you are seriously interested in, if it does not have a fresh HSI, or overhaul.

The aircraft have such a low failure rate on any parts, that the warranty is really not that great an issue in this particular case. The reliability of the aircraft remains invariably high, even as it ages due to simplicity, coupled to good design and manufacture. There is still no substitute for good maintenance and operation though.

The investment in training personnel, perhaps represents the same diligence as buying good equipment. Training people to understand the aircraft and its systems will return every dollar multiple times, in avoided problems and errors, effective troubleshooting and efficient operation.

There are a fair number of machines on the market, and seems to be a reasonable market for the buyer.

[Dockjock]

My company bought new. I second the motion that the warranty is overrated as these a/c are so reliable. Regarding cash flow, I know the lease rate for our machines is very high and lower payments would be welcomed (to state the obvious). Notwithstanding that, with a new machine you may be looking at a substantial lead time for delivery position, transport to africa, importation rigamorole with government etc. Buying used may circumvent some of these issues while saving $$.