The short answer
A pre-buy (pre-purchase) inspection is an examination of an aircraft and its records performed for a prospective buyer before purchase. It has no FAA-defined scope — the buyer sets it — and typically combines a physical inspection with a records review covering logbooks, AD compliance, and damage history.
Records are half the inspection
Experienced buyers weight the records review as heavily as the physical inspection: continuous logbooks, documented AD compliance, 337s matching known modifications, and consistent times (TTAF, SMOH) across entries. Gaps, rebuilt-title events, or unexplained inconsistencies affect value even when the metal is sound.
A pre-buy is not an annual and doesn't return the aircraft to service — though buyers sometimes negotiate upgrading it to a full annual signed by an IA, which starts their ownership with a fresh inspection clock.
Related terms and reading
Keep every hour and inspection straight
Maggneto tracks engine times, inspections, and ADs from your actual logbooks — so terms like these become numbers you can act on. Browse the full maintenance glossary.