DA40 tdi - Used Value?
 

Hi there,

If a DA40 tdi, say 2004 (3 years old) is selling for £120,000. What sort of price should you be aiming to close the sale at?

What is the depreciation schedule on these like? Anyone who could provide some economics of these costly machines might earn a pint...

VT

If you can give a few more details such as total time, engine life, accident history, equipment, prop time then it's easier to give an estimation on price.

Used a/c prices are in the weeds at the moment and condition is more important than type most of the time.

Hi Say again slowly,

Say 500 tt SNEW for a/c, engine, prop. 8/10 inside & out.

Thanks
VT

Sounds expensive!

You are not much off the new price of a pa28 or a 172, plus Vat of course!

How much is a new DA40?

Do the maths......

The problem with machines like the DA40, is that whilst they are "new" technology, they could easily become superceded themselves as a/c diesel engine technology advances

If the a/c has the IFR kit, then this is probably a decent'ish price. VFR, not so good. They haven't had a great start in the market as they have had an awful lot of problems with the engine/gearbox/ECU's.

The airframe is a good one and when they are working well, then they should be relatively cheap to run. If you do enough flying to offset a mortgage against the fuel savings, then you should be able to run one for PA28 money. The 100hr services intervals should help aswell.

There is a big BUT though, if you do have engine problems, then expect huge amounts of down time and expense.

If you only do a few hours, the high purchase cost will count against it.

I would expect it to be a bit better than 8/10 though as it's such a young airframe.

Make sure you get a thorough engineering inspection from someone familiar with the type.

How long has it been up for sale? This often tells you more about how far you can push the negotiating than anything else!

I like them, but they are a bit sluggish on the ground.

If you want any other help, then let me know.

Bear in mind too Diamond fettlers are limited in number and the gearbox has to be replaced every 300 hours. I wouldn't be surprised if the labour and maintenace eat into the cost savings of the engine.

I missed that little detail. Can you point me to where Diamond state that?

I don't believe the gearbox has to be replaced every 300 hours. They may have been problems with the gearbox, but I think these have mostly been sorted out.

A gearbox is a seriously expensive piece of kit, if it only lasted 300 hrs, then nobody would have touched these machines with a barge-pole.

TAE Gearboxes
 

I run a modest fleet of 172 diesels and i think i am right in saying that although the gearbox does get changed every 300 hours TAE pay for that and are looking to gradually extend its "TBO" as they assess the wear on returned units. I like these engines a lot and we have been all over the EU and Faroe isles etc. in ours. No experience of the Diamond though but i would guess to say that unless you do a lot of hours the fuel saving is not worth it. With 500 hours a year on each our diesel conversions have re-paid themselves in 18 months(far better than expected thanks to avgas hikes).
SB

Blimey, that must be costing TAE a fortune! Do they recompense you for the down time everytime they get changed?

I suspect there is a lot more going on with the Thielert engines than we read about publicly. I know a few owners personally (face to face) and their stories are pretty amazing.

It's not in the interest of somebody with problems to go public; if they do they get cut off from support by the dealer/manufacturer. I know this from personal experience. Once out of warranty, this changes and people do speak out, but this has not been the situation here because Diamond/Thielert have been doing various "deals" to keep people hanging in there. Anyway, you don't exactly have any other options, other than to send the whole plane back for a refund (and yes that's been done too).

I would give you 50p for it (inc vat).

SB;)