Professional Maintenance Management for Owner-Flown Aircraft
SavvyMx is our flagship service that incorporates everything Savvy has to offer. It is appropriate for both experienced and new aircraft owners.
SavvyMx is our flagship service that incorporates everything Savvy has to offer. It is appropriate for both experienced and new aircraft owners.
Help you select the best service centers and maintenance technicians for each job while steering you clear of the not-so-good ones because we’ve worked with hundreds of shops throughout the US.
Our three-phase protocol (Estimate-Approve-Repair) eliminates unpleasant invoice surprises. We obtain and examine written estimates for each maintenance task, we get your approval, and then we authorize your repair.
Advise you as to which maintenance tasks are important and which ones are not worth doing just yet. By helping you decide when to “just say no,” we often drastically reduce your maintenance costs.
By giving specific written direction to the service centers and maintenance technicians, we eliminate miscommunication and make sure that the work performed is precisely what you approved, nothing more and nothing less.
Review your maintenance invoices to ensure the charges are reasonable and in conformance with the shop’s estimates. If they aren’t (and this isn’t uncommon), we don’t approve payment until the charges are corrected.
Review the maintenance logbook entries to make sure they are complete, accurate, and free from any statements that might compromise the resale value of your aircraft. (You’d be surprised how often this happens!)
SavvyAnalysis Pro is included at no additional cost. We analyze your engine monitor data and provide you with diagnostic information about the health of your engine and suggestions for improving your operating technique.
SavvyBreakdown is included at no additional cost. We provide 24/7/365 breakdown assistance with a 15 minute response time should you ever develop a problem with your aircraft while away from home on a trip.
I am now VERY reluctant to pull a cylinder without proof it is necessary after reading lots of Mike Busch articles. He has been a tremendous help to my understanding and interactions with customers and I’m thankful for his work and for the rest of you who advocate and practice a 21st century approach to…
Your organization really is impressive in so many ways. This is just another example of your customer service. I tried to change my N-number last night, but discovered that field was not one I could change, This morning, I discovered you had already changed it for me and anticipated by next ask. Thank You for for…
Only an idiot or masochist (or both) could miss the value of what Savvy offers.
I love the service offered by Savvy and plan on continuing as a SavvyMx client for as long as I own an airplane.
This is best money I have ever spent in aviation!!!!!! The SavvyMx service is Utopia.
The shop’s original estimate was: $8,693. After Savvy got done withthem, the final invoice was $5,781. Way to go, guys! SavvyMx more than pays for itself once again!
I have been very happy with the Savvy program. I like having a knowledgeable team on my side when dealing with mechanics. I’m sure I have saved many times Savvy’s fee in reduced maintenance costs. My Savvy account manager has always been prompt at responding to my needs, and seems to really care about my…
It was truly a benefit to have you Savvy guys involved. The annual went far smoother and right on schedule this year, which is a first!
I’m very satisfied. Savvy saved me $6,000 on my annual. It’s been a pleasure working with you guys. I’m renewing for another year.
Thanks again for stepping in and saving me from the greedy hands at the Cessna Service Center. Savvy zealously represented my interests with this predatory shop in a most professional and expert manner. I figure Savvy probably saved me at least $40,000 on this annual.
Thanks for the outstanding support Savvy generously provided during the past year, especially during the annual and numerous items that occurred in my first year of aircraft ownership. I received so much more than I expected. It has been a real pleasure working with Paul, Tom, Mike and all the other great folks at Savvy.
Now that I am a client, I simply can’t imagine how I ever managed my maintenance without the help of Savvy. You guys are a great team, and I am forever grateful for all of your help with my Cessna 310 thus far.
Savvy correctly diagnosed my engine issue after reviewing data from my engine monitor, and I had the work performed that Savvy suggested. The original estimate from my Service Center for this work was $1,965, but under Savvy’s guidance the final invoice came in at just $878. This saved me over $1,000 on this one maintenance…
Huge kudos to the Savvy team! I just came out of annual and they saved me more than $5,000 over my Service Center’s original quote. Some of this came from unnecessary work that Savvy advised me to decline, and some came from excessive labor charges that Savvy questioned. Savvy did a great job of persuading…
Because hiring Savvy to manage your maintenance will improve the quality of your maintenance, while relieving you of the hassle of managing your own maintenance, and very likely saving you thousands of dollars year after year. We love working with top-notch mechanics and shops, and most of them love working with us. No single shop or mechanic, no matter how terrific, can offer the expertise and experience of Savvy’s technical team.
In addition, Savvy can be a godsend when you face an aircraft owner’s worst maintenance nightmare: a mechanical problem away from home. Instead of having to deal with unfamiliar shops and mechanics, you simply contact your Savvy account manager and he handles everything for you. He’ll ensure the problem is diagnosed properly, that it is repaired in the most cost-efficient fashion, and that the charges are fair and reasonable. That kind of peace of mind is priceless!
In our experience, some mechanics are a bit doubtful at first (and understandably so) because they are unfamiliar with the concept of professional maintenance management. Once they’ve had a chance to work with Savvy, however, most support the concept enthusiastically. We interface with many of the top GA shops and technicians in the industry, and almost all are absolutely delighted to have a technical team of Savvy’s caliber backing them up and assisting them with troubleshooting and decision making.
Imagine your doctor told you that you needed major surgery. Would you hesitate to seek a second opinion because you were concerned that your doctor might be offended? Of course not. Good physicians encourage their patients to seek a second opinion before undergoing any major medical procedure. The same thing applies to aviation maintenance professionals.
For heaven’s sake, please don’t wait until the eve of your annual inspection to sign up for Savvy! This makes it very difficult for us to do all the necessary preparation, logbook review, and service center selection and due diligence that are necessary for us to do the best possible job for you. We’d like at least two months lead time to prepare properly for your first annual inspection.
Also, even though your annual inspection isn’t due for awhile yet, delaying your sign-up will deprive you of one of the most important aspects of Savvy: having a seasoned professional account manager to help you deal with unscheduled maintenance and problems you encounter, particular when you’re away from home. Our clients tell us that they really appreciate all the money we save them during annual inspections, but that when we come to their rescue when they have mechanicals on the road, it’s priceless!
We suggest you don’t wait, for three reasons:
Most of these reasons also apply to aircraft that are under a factory pre-paid maintenance program (like Cirrus CMX).
The flat-rate annual fee of Savvy’s flagship SavvyMx service is:
Yes we do, lots of them. We charge a flat-rate fee for managing a pre-buy that varies with the complexity of the aircraft involved. In most cases, we charge a fee equal to our standard annual management fee for the type of aircraft, and then credit 50% of that fee against your first year management fee if you purchase the aircraft and place it under ongoing Savvy management.
Before you sign up for a Savvy-managed pre-buy, we prefer it if you send us a scanned copy of the aircraft’s maintenance records so that we can do a preliminary review and make sure that it looks like a good purchase candidate with no red flags or show stoppers. We really don’t want you to waste money doing a pre-buy unless we’re pretty confident that it’s an aircraft worth buying. Please email the records to Savvy’s prebuy review specialist Tony Barrell.
Once you’re ready to schedule a Savvy-managed pre-buy, we’ll need you to enroll online and agree to a simple prebuy agreement that defines what you can expect us to do for you during the pre-buy process.
Yes we do, for aircraft that are under Savvy management. However, major upgrades and other major repairs and alterations are not covered by Savvy’s standard annual management fee. We charge a modest supplemental flat-rate fee for managing your upgrade. Such fees generally vary between 50% and 100% of our standard annual management fee for the class of aircraft involved.
For most upgrade projects, our management fee is less than the sales tax. As always, you can anticipate that we will very likely save you considerably more money in reduced parts and labor cost than what we charge you to manage the project.
For avionics upgrades, we evaluate and recommend avionics shops, secure and evaluate competitive bids, assist with panel layout design, and manage each phase of the upgrade process.
No, we don’t. The maintenance of aircraft in these three categories fall under a different set of FAA regulations that severely limit Savvy’s ability to depart from the manufacturer’s maintenance program. It is difficult for us to “earn our fee” for such aircraft, so we stay away from them.
It depends. Many such leaseback arrangements provide that the FBO or flight school to which the aircraft is leased back have dictatorial control over the maintenance of the aircraft, giving Savvy very little leverage to influence the way maintenance is done. Leaseback arrangements also often fail to meet Savvy’s insurance requirements. If you believe that these show-stoppers do not apply to your leaseback situation, please contct us and we’ll discuss it with you and see if it’s workable.
Generally not. Savvy’s flat-rate annual management fee structure is calibrated for owner-flown aircraft that undergo only one annual inspection per year. Aircraft used in commercial operations that require 100-hour inspections under FAR 91.409 do not generally qualify for Savvy’s managed-maintenance program. If you would like to discuss your aircraft’s particular situation to determine whether or not it qualified for the program, please contact us and we’ll be happy to discuss it with you.
Absolutely. We have managed the maintenance of aircraft located in United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Canada. Some of these aircraft are N-registered, others are registered with the local Civil Aviation Authority. Some are under full-service SavvyMx management, but most owners opt for SavvyQA consulting where the owner handles the interface with the maintenance providers.
We have much more regulatory latitude—and much more influence on your maintenance outcomes—if the aircraft is N-registered and its maintenance falls under the U.S. FARs. Most other national CAAs are much more restrictive in their maintenance regulations in ways that significantly restrict our radius of action. In our experience, it is highly beneficial for owners to maintain their aircraft in N-registry (typically by maintaining ownership of the aircraft in a U.S. entity) where that can be done legally. We have assisted some of our clients to establish U.S. entities for this purpose so that their overseas-based aircraft could be maintained in N-registry and maintained under FAA regulations.
To provide full-service management, we require that the aircraft be maintained in shops staffed by mechanics who can communicate with us fluently in English via our online ticket system. In situations where this is not practical, we typically recommend our SavvyQA consulting service and have the owner interface with the shop.
Generally not. However, for aircraft under Savvy management, we do manage repairs of gear-up landing damage, prop strikes, and other accidental damage covered by insurance.
Major repairs of this sort are not covered by Savvy’s standard annual management fee. We charge a modest supplemental flat-rate fee for managing the upgrade. Such fees generally vary between 50% and 100% of our standard annual management fee for the class of aircraft involved.
Not usually, although we have made some exceptions for some Van’s RV-series aircraft. SavvyMx is intended mainly for aircraft that have standard airworthiness certificates. For most owners of experimentals, our SavvyQA consulting program is a better fit. If you would like to discuss the possibility of placing your experimental amateur-built aircraft under the SavvyMx program, please contact us and we’ll be glad to consider your aircraft on a case-by-case basis.
Generally not. Savvy reserves the right to decline to manage the maintenance of any aircraft manufactured prior to 1970, although we’re somewhat flexible. We evaluate older aircraft on a case-by-case basis, to determine whether or not we feel the aircraft still has reasonable factory support and parts availability. For example, we will sometimes accept a 60s-vintage Bonanza or Cessna or Piper because those aircraft are still well-supported by the manufacturer and most parts are still readily available. When in doubt, please contact us for a determination before you sign up.
(EAA presently defines aircraft built before 1945 as “antique,” from 1945 to 1955 as “classic,” and from 1956 and 1971 as “contemporary.” EAA updates these definitions from time to time.)
Given the extremely litigious nature of today’s aviation maintenance environment, Savvy has to be very careful with respect to protection from liability. Savvy carries its own $5 million comprehensive general liability (CGL) insurance. Savvy’s service agreement with its clients also includes a mutual hold-harmless clause.
In addition, Savvy also requires that every client add Savvy as an “additional insured” (AI) to their aircraft liability policy each aircraft under management. We require this for two reasons:
Having Savvy added to the client’s aircraft liability policy as an AI accomplishes these objectives. In our experience, virtually every insurance company that insures GA aircraft is willing to do this. Most major GA underwriters do this at no additional premium, since underwriters realize that Savvy’s professional maintenance management actually lowers their risk of having a claim. (A few underwriters charge a small additional “nuisance fee.”)
Note that Savvy carries its own $5 million CGL policy which provides Savvy primary coverage in the event of a liability judgment, so the likelihood of any dilution of your liability coverage limits is extremely small. In fact, since Savvy’s founding in 2008, the company has never been sued and has never made an insurance claim.
Savvy’s requirement to be added to your aircraft insurance as an AI is really no different than when an aircraft owner takes flight training from BPPP or CPPP or FlightSafety or SimCom, and the training organization requires that it be added to the owner’s policy as an AI.
NOTE: The requirement that Savvy be added to the aircraft’s insurance as an AI applies only to aircraft enrolled in our full-service SavvyMx managed maintenance program. It does not apply to aircraft enrolled in our other services (SavvyQA, SavvyPrebuy, SavvyBreakdown, SavvyAnalysis).
Call or email your insurance broker or agent and ask that Savvy be added to your aircraft liability policy as an “additional insured” (AI). Ask your broker or agent to obtain a “certificate of insurance” (COI) for:
Savvy Aviation, Inc.
30 N. Gould St., Ste 7491
Sheridan, WY 82801
Ask that the certificate either be emailed to operations@savvyaviation.com or snail-mailed to the Wyoming address above; we much prefer that it be emailed. We will need to have that COI in hand before we can start managing the maintenance of your aircraft.
NOTE: At present, every major GA underwriter is happy to add Savvy as an additional insured. Two notable exceptions are Aerospace Insurance Managers (AIM) and its spinoff Acceleration Aviation Underwriters, both of which charge a ridiculous $250 annual fee to add Savvy as an additional insured. So if you want to put your aircraft under SavvyMx management, you probably should avoid AIM and Acceleration (unless and until they eliminate this punitive fee).
IMPORTANT: If your broker is unfamiliar with Savvy, make sure to explain that Savvy is not a maintenance provider, and is in fact forbidden from performing maintenance on your aircraft by the terms of the Savvy service agreement. If your broker has any difficulty with this, please ask him or her to contact us and we’ll help get things straightened out.
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