Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for aircraft dealers.
A checklist built from how aircraft dealers work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Aircraft stock register
- Buyer enquiries and demonstration flights
- Offers and purchase agreements
- Pre-buy inspection tracker
- Deposits and escrow
- Logbooks and closing documents
- Consignment and trade-ins
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For the dealer principal
- For sales brokers
- For the contracts administrator
- For accounts
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Aircraft in stock by type, days listed and asking price
- Buyer enquiries by source and by broker
- Offers open with their outstanding conditions
- Pre-buy findings by aircraft and the items still unresolved
- Deposits held, released and refunded
- Consignment owners and settlements due
- Logbook gaps by aircraft
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- Marketplace listing feeds
- Document signing
- Accounting export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Does it work for both owned stock and consigned aircraft?
- Can a pre-buy findings list be tracked item by item?
- Does it hold the money in escrow?
- Can logbooks be kept against each aircraft?
- Can we run listings in more than one currency?
- How are trade-ins treated?
- Can open offers and stock be loaded at the start?
- What does it cost and can we see it first?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Logbook gaps surface late
- Pre-buy findings are argued by email
- Deposits and escrow live on a sheet
- Consignment terms are quoted from memory
- Trade-ins are valued apart from the sale
Prefer to talk it through? See the aircraft dealers page.