Van’s Hikes Prices 32 Percent, Protects Customer Deposits

Van's Aircraft has confirmed it will raise prices for parts, kits and accessories an average of 32 percent to stem the bleeding from its struggling enterprise. It's also changing ordering processes and making a fundamental accounting change in the way it handles customer deposits. In a post on its website on Saturday, first reported by KITPLANES, the company said price increases will vary depending on the item and are key to Van's overall recovery. "While these price changes are significant, they are also necessary," the announcement said. "Over the past few years, the cost of producing airplane kits has soared substantially. Candidly, due to a number of factors we found ourselves operating the business at a loss."

As for the kits themselves, Van's has decided to drop the huge range of customization it previously allowed for kits, which it said was costly and inefficient. "Moving forward, Van’s is standardizing our kit offerings," the announcement said. "We have reviewed what is included (or not included) in each kit and made a number of changes. In addition, we are implementing a no-deletions policy ..." As for customer deposits, 35 percent of the kit's cost will be required within 14 days of ordering and the money will go into a separate account until creation of the kit begins. Under the current process, customer deposits went straight into the company's operating account to use as required.