Van's 2008 annual price increases in detail

[RV10Rob]

Comparing yesterday and today's kit prices:
http://kochman.net/N819K-old/VansIncrease0708.htm

A few notes:

• The chart compares the prices before and after the price increase--they're not year over year prices
• The -3s and -4s increased the most, followed by the -9s and -7s. The -8s and -10s increased the least.
• On average, fuselages increased the most, while emps and wings increased the least
• Finishing kits increased, even though the guidance from Van's is that their price increases are on a different schedule
• If you were to buy a complete kit for each model, you'd pay 4.15% more after the increase than before (standard kits, excluding the -6s).
• The consumer price index increased 4.1% between December 2006 and December 2007
• Preview plans did not increase

All in all, I'd say Van's is still doing a great job keeping prices down.

-Rob

[Sid Lambert]

Thanks for laying it out.

That says maybe the WD parts cost them more? The kits that have the most welded pieces went up the most.

I've never stressed over their price increases, they do a fine job at just about everything.

[Ron B.]

Ordered my wings yesterday afternoon, saved $170.

[STINGRAY]

Thanks for doing this. It's very helpful and appreciated. Van does a great job and I'm sure the pricing is more than fair.

[zilik]

My 6A cost me 10K and a little change

[N941WR]

One thing you may not be aware of is that every year Van's improves the kit in some way. This reduces the build time and increases the value. If you take that into account, I would expect the kit increase should be double of what it actually is.

Van's does do a great job with minimizing price increases, IMHO!

A few simple examples of what I'm talking about, the brackets for holding the strobes & ELT and the new baffle kit save the builder a LOT of time.

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by zilik

My 6A cost me 10K and a little change

Like Gary, I remember whe I started building my first 6A the entire kit cost for a 6 (the actual complete 6A kit wasn't available yet) was $7100.

Originally Posted by N941WR

One thing you may not be aware of is that every year Van's improves the kit in some way. This reduces the build time and increases the value. If you take that into account, I would expect the kit increase should be double of what it actually is.

I agree.
Another example is the new fully prepuched RV-8 Fuselage kit. When it was introduced, the kit price didn't change one cent, because the redesign introduced production processes that made little or no change in the total cost to produce it, but the RV-8 builders benefit from a much easier to assemble fuselage.

[13brv3]

Originally Posted by RV10Rob

Comparing yesterday and today's kit prices:
http://kochman.net/N819K/VansIncrease0708.htm

Nice chart Rob. You could also add the QB RV-3 wing option. It went from $3,065 to $3,265. While this is one of the higher increases, it's still one of the best bargains around

Cheers,
Rusty