H

hesty

Member
Hello,
I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a finishing kit order for my RV-7A, but I am wondering if anyone has the inside story on what the 2012 price increase will be. I may also order the FWF kit too if the price increase will be in the 5% area. I won't need it till late Fall "maybe", but saving 5% might be worth having it sit in the garage.

Chad
 
I don't think the increase will be 5%. Completions are down; the market is soft. The last 2 years the increases were 2.9% and 1.6%, for the RV8 standard kit.
 
Potential for 5% (JANUARY 2012)

I was talking with Vans last week about this, and they told me that Aluminum costs have gone up considerably. I was told that it was likely the increase for my wing kit would be in the neighborhood of 4-5%, and that the corresponding price hikes were related to the amount of materials in the kits. Don't know if this is hogwash or not, since I haven't been in this scenario before. Anyone else want to chime in. It would be nice if Vans gave fair warning of the actual price increases coming down the pike, so many of us could make actual cost benefit analyses.:(
 
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(This comment added to original thread January 2014)

Anyone know how soon a price increase may be coming?

-Dan
 
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Slightly off topic, the XIO-360-M1B offered by Lycoming through Vans jumped $500 on 1/6/14 (and is now $29,200). No announcement or notice that I saw.
 
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While ordering a few small parts from Van's last week, I asked if they had made an announcement yet and the person said no.
 
aerovin said:
Slightly off topic, the XIO-360-M1B offered by Lycoming through Vans jumped $500 on 1/6/14 (and is now $29,200). No announcement or notice that I saw.
Click to expand...

A tad more off topic, 23 months ago I took delivery of what was probably one of the last Mattituck versions of this engine (ECI IO-360 horizontal induction) and that was just UNDER $25k.

That was only TWENTY THREE months ago!

We can still hope but the change is evident! (not a fan)

This is a crazy economy!

:confused: CJ
 
With the very aircraft soft market, a stiff price increase would be a Big negative for Van's. Aluminum has not gone up if you're buying the volume they are purchasing. Heck, Ford Just made their new Pick-up 700lbs lighter using aluminum and the price did not change. :)
 
The general market may be soft but I doubt that Van's market is.

Everyone needs to make a living including Van's staff. Ford probably sells 10's of thousands of those models alone and god knows how much alum they go through in a year with their products...

I would say apples to oranges but its probably more like an atom to Hummers (or F-150s)... :D

Bob
 
As someone who will be buying a tail kit around the April-July time frame, I am interested in this.

If the price increase is substantial enough, I may just have to buy earlier than expected and "warehouse" my kit in storage while I get the workshop in order.

It would be nice to know how much the price increase is going to be.
 
price increase

CubedRoot said:
As someone who will be buying a tail kit around the April-July time frame, I am interested in this.

If the price increase is substantial enough, I may just have to buy earlier than expected and "warehouse" my kit in storage while I get the workshop in order.

It would be nice to know how much the price increase is going to be.
Click to expand...

Vans usually notifies of the price increase and they are very nice about dealing with the rush of orders trying to beat the deadline. As others have said, it's usually around April Fools Day. I think it varies around 2%. An empennage would not be a deal breaker but ordering the wing and fuse as well would save a lot. Since there is a couple months between order and shipping plus the rush, I would order all three. If the tail is in stock and ships fast, you will make good progress with the tail when they ship the wing and fuse. I ordered wing and fuse last year a day before the increase. The only issue has been finding space for the crates. I documented the pickup from the shipper on my blog if you would like to see what the crates look like.
 
Hmm. Something to consider then. We are currently in the home buying stage now, so we're planning on moving soon. I was holding off on my kit purchase till we got settled in the new house, to avoid having to move the crates so much.

But, if the cost increase is considerable enough, I might have to reevaluate and buy the the tail, fuselage, wings, and finishing kits before we move.
 
Historically the price increase was the April bench mark, followed by a decrease for the Sun-n-Fun special price, then followed again back up to the price increase just placed back in April.
Last year they merged the price increase to after the Sun-n-Fun fly-in for a one time per year price adjustment / increase.
If I remember the conversation right, that was intended to be the norm for the years to come.

We'll see.

Tom
 
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