Thoughts on Bring A Trailer?

I've noticed a bit of a trend with BaT and I'm wondering if I'm alone here.

Previously, I really liked the site and the information and offerings it had. Prices were decent and the vehicle selection was great because it wasn't muddled down with chaff.

But now it seems that the site is absolutely obliterating a lot of collector car markets with huge price inflations and making it a challenge for a lot of people to get into vintage, collector or performance vehicles. Then if you want something desirable, you're going to bend over and bring a trailer full of cash to get it.

Nowadays, it really seems like the whole BaT site is loaded with over-priced, over-appreciated, and "rose-colored glasses" perspectives on cars. The "community" that bogs down with all the comments and discussion seem to be filled with obnoxious self-aggrandizing personalities. Maybe I'm just jealous of their traffic

But in all honestly, the site isn't what it used to be, and now I'm curious what other sites are you guys looking at for fun cars? I've checked out Carsandbids.com for a little while and it seems to have some stuff, but it's also getting infected with stupid listings. Example, people are JAZZED over a Lumina minivan....I'm not cool enough to appreciate or understand why, but it is what it is. 

 

It is a bit of a mixed bag, if you ask me.  BaT is probably the better of the used car sites out there, Although I have not bought anything, I am registered.  They tend to curate their offerings a bit more than most.  You have to submit high quality images, point out issues and provide a driving video.  Cars on there are generally above average and certainly the prices are premium (probably because of "expectations" and maybe the quality is at least marginally higher).  It is also a site where there is so much speculation that, like you said, you need to bring a trailer full of cash for anything you get on there.

Ive noticed that you have far too many know it alls on the site who try and tear cars apart without ever having bid on a single car, or if you look at their bid history it was so far below the value of whatever they were bidding on you know they had absolutely zero shot. Yet they are on every car, asking questions, requesting info be posted etc. 

1 hour ago, Allan-Herbie said:

Ive noticed that you have far too many know it alls on the site who try and tear cars apart without ever having bid on a single car, or if you look at their bid history it was so far below the value of whatever they were bidding on you know they had absolutely zero shot. Yet they are on every car, asking questions, requesting info be posted etc. 

This is very VERY true too.

20 hours ago, Allan-Herbie said:

Ive noticed that you have far too many know it alls on the site who try and tear cars apart without ever having bid on a single car, or if you look at their bid history it was so far below the value of whatever they were bidding on you know they had absolutely zero shot. Yet they are on every car, asking questions, requesting info be posted etc. 

You are 100% spot on! I'd speculate because they have no chance at purchasing most turn to being critical to make themselves feel better.

What Allen said.  I like the site and think the prices are reasonable for most cars, no different than other auction sites. While there are some knowledgeable people who post, there are definitely a lot of tirekickers.

2 hours ago, Chipster said:

What Allen said.  I like the site and think the prices are reasonable for most cars, no different than other auction sites. While there are some knowledgeable people who post, there are definitely a lot of tirekickers.

And sadly the tire kickers are the most vocal. 

18 minutes ago, Allan-Herbie said:

And sadly the tire kickers are the most vocal. 

Find any other candidates for Aventadors lately? 

On 9/15/2020 at 1:04 PM, Allan-Herbie said:

Ive noticed that you have far too many know it alls on the site who try and tear cars apart without ever having bid on a single car, or if you look at their bid history it was so far below the value of whatever they were bidding on you know they had absolutely zero shot. Yet they are on every car, asking questions, requesting info be posted etc. 

I agree with you , i find the comments very aggravating , everybody is an expert and endless criticism by a bunch of losers . I think the auctions are doing very well for the owners of the site, it seems the staff is very aggressive with pressuring the sellers to agree to low reserves . I would never auction a car on the site but i almost did buy a car at one of their auctions couple of years back , got outbid sadly.

10 hours ago, Destructo said:

Find any other candidates for Aventadors lately? 

Not yet... 

9 hours ago, LPDADDY said:

I agree with you , i find the comments very aggravating , everybody is an expert and endless criticism by a bunch of losers . I think the auctions are doing very well for the owners of the site, it seems the staff is very aggressive with pressuring the sellers to agree to low reserves . I would never auction a car on the site but i almost did buy a car at one of their auctions couple of years back , got outbid sadly.

Yes! They definitely try and pressure low reserves! 

I have never bid on anything and I do not plan to anytime soon. It is a good time waster to just browse through and look at some cool cars though. I don't bother to look at the comments because I have noticed the same. If I want to see comments of people talking nonsense and nothing of value, I'll go on Facebook

I spent nearly 10k on bid "deposits" in the course of a weekend. To bid they need a legit deposit to weed out people, but the peanut gallery always has something to say, even for a bunch of tire kickers. Like other car auction sites for non-contemporary or special interest cars, people get emotional and irrational.

On 9/17/2020 at 5:03 PM, TestShoot said:

I spent nearly 10k on bid "deposits" in the course of a weekend. To bid they need a legit deposit to weed out people, but the peanut gallery always has something to say, even for a bunch of tire kickers. Like other car auction sites for non-contemporary or special interest cars, people get emotional and irrational.

Hmm... They take your card info. They dont charge your card unless you win. 

On 9/16/2020 at 8:10 PM, Allan-Herbie said:

Not yet... 

 

17 hours ago, Allan-Herbie said:

Hmm... They take your card info. They dont charge your card unless you win. 

They immediately charged me something like 5% of my bids when I used it. Maybe because I came out swinging hard for a car.

"https://bringatrailer.com/faq/"

• All bids are verified by a credit card hold to ensure commitment of potential buyers. When a bid is placed, we place a hold on the credit card on file for 5% of the bid amount. When the auction closes, the hold is released for all bidders who didn’t win the vehicle.

6 hours ago, TestShoot said:

They immediately charged me something like 5% of my bids when I used it. Maybe because I came out swinging hard for a car.

"https://bringatrailer.com/faq/"

• All bids are verified by a credit card hold to ensure commitment of potential buyers. When a bid is placed, we place a hold on the credit card on file for 5% of the bid amount. When the auction closes, the hold is released for all bidders who didn’t win the vehicle.

Hmm.. they didnt do that with me. 

They put a hold as a temporary charge of 5% or the max of $5000

the charge is only temporary until the end

I've sold a few cars on BaT (Miata Turbo, Ferrari 456 GTM, 2001 BMW M5), won one, and have chatted w/ Randy a number of times (cofounder). I did a lot of due diligence on the business itself when a PE fund contacted me to help diligence the company.

I think you've just got to know the audience you're participating with, and the benefits of going with such a platform. A poorly documented car gets slaughtered, Porsche people are far and away the most annoying commenters, and generally high participation and documentation gets good results.

There's fewer and fewer "deals" but thats simply because BaT has literally all the volume of online classic car buyers and so its now a fairly efficient market. I missed out on 2 Diablos, a 512TR, but eventually found a car at an overseas auction just by being patient.