Bring A Trailer "No Reserve"

[Stretch Cab]

I enjoy following BAT and see that a lot of the cars are offered at "No Reserve". What do you think about selling your car this way? To me it would scare me to death.

Am I missing something?

[jack backer]

The idea is to create ‘auction fever’.. the item offered at no reserve has value, if the offer is too low another bidder will counter offer, creating a bidding war… “no reserve” is used as an enticement, the item will sell.

[nkaminar]

Aside from the bidding war, the car will sell. If you want to just get rid of a car then no reserve is the way to go. One of the latest was a flat bed truck sold as a roadster pickup. It had a home made bed and looked to be a cut up sedan or phaeton. It sold for $23,000. Way over priced in my opinion. The open cars go for more but someone bought a car that is not an original and would normally have reduced value because of that. The owner probably just wanted to get rid of the car and did some cosmetic work to sell it. I am sure they were happy with the price.

[Terry, NJ]

Auctions scare me! Both as a seller and a buyer. Too much can go wrong! Lazy auctioneers who want to get the auction over and just get on with it. ( That cost me a nice tractor once) The 20-25% auctioneer's cut and the 10-20 buyer's premium! Sometimes auctioneers will try to wring out the last penny from you when no one else is bidding. This is especially true if you're short, but in a crowd. You can't see who you're bidding against, and actually it's no one, but he keeps looking at you and raising the bid 5 or 10 bucks! Auctions scare me!
Terry

[Oldbluoval]

I’ve been to bankruptcy auctions on auto shops (not vintage cars or parts) where more was bid on equipment than retail price for new!
There is a frenzy…go figure

[Jeff/Illinois]

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A no reserve auction on an antique car would scare me off as a seller. I wouldn't venture that. Way too risky.

You can go to Hemmings and for 99 bucks lay out your car for auction, with reserve, and they seem to bid pretty steeply on there. If you place your reserve just below what the car is actually worth it will do well. Trick is not to get stupid and put B-J type money on the car, as a reserve.

I also abhor auctions with that 'Bidder's PENALTY' quit calling it a 'PREMIUM'. All they are doing is scalping you. When I see that I turn and walk away. They seem to do that a lot in Wisconsin, plus Wisconsin and Iowa charge sales tax on auction items unless you have a sales tax number.

I don't even waste my time anymore on that kind of a rip off. For all of Illinois' faults they haven't stooped to that level yet.

[ronn]

everything brings too much on BAT in general.........

so not a bad way to sell, but they dont accept all cars. they are a bit picky....

two a 400s sold on there last summer and they went pretty cheap, but that mkt has been down now for a few yrs.

[Raaf]

I would be very weary of trying to sell a car like ours on Bring A Trailer.

You have to consider the audience. The cars that draw the most attention are typically Porsches, Ferraris and more modern cars. If there is a not a lot of attention, then the bidding never really heats up. Also, members on that site seem to know very little about As so that doesn't help either. Then add "No Reserve" to that equation and you've opened the door for a steal for the buyer.

On the other hand, it may be a good site to try to find cars since your competition will be more limited. You don't have a line of experienced Model A owners fighting against you. You're obviously taking a chance in not seeing the car in person, but at the right price it may be worth taking a chance.

Here's an example from this weekend:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1929-ford-model-a-95/

Would you be happy selling your car in that condition, at that price? I'm going to guess, "No."

Would you have taken a chance on purchasing that car at that price? You have to be asking yourself if that body is rust free? ...and if those little quirks in the startup video are a big deal? Regardless, seems like a good price to me. If that car indeed runs well and has little rust, etc - then that is a total steal. You'll note the comment stating "Fair Market Value" - I'm not sure about that.

Knowing the general ignorance of the users, and their predetermined interest in specific vehicles, I was able to buy a 1970 Triumph Bonneville very well under market at No Reserve. The seller was ready to see it go, but wasn't super pleased with the sale price. For me, it was low enough to buy it based on photos alone and have it shipped halfway across the country. I could have probably flipped it for a 25-30% gain locally with no problem.

They are almost blind to certain vehicles on that site.

[ronn]

Raaf, that is about fair mkt value for that car. dont forget the BAT fees as well. How much should one expect to sell an old restoration 29 for? I personally havent seen them go for more, unless better condition or 30-31.

[Raaf]

Ronn - I'd trust your sense of valuation better than mine. I paid more for my '29 Roadster and it's a twenty footer with no top or top hardware. ...but then again it also had full documentation for complete mechanical run through, which was more important to me.

Maybe I say it's low because I'm trying to make myself feel better about what I paid for mine?

Either way, managing a sale on Bring A Trailer doesn't seem like the right fit for our cars overall. I could be wrong of course - happens all the time.

[WHN]

I have been looking at the pictures for a day now. It took me a couple of times running through them to make a decision on the selling price.

Car has to many issues. I think who ever bought it, paid a lot more than I would have. Actually, I would have run away from it.

I sold a 29 Sport Coupe three months ago that was redone in the early 80’s, for 50% more. Ours was completely, mechanically, restored. Great correct top and good paint. Correct shocks, rebuilt engine, etc. All service records.

This car looks like it has been very cheaply done.

Enjoy.

[Raaf]

WHN - interesting. I'll take a deeper look myself.

[Stretch Cab]

Interesting comments. It seems that BAT makes it easy to list your car and the pictures and information always seem to be clear. I don't think I would have a problem using them but I would have to set a reserve before I could sleep during the 7 days or so it was listed.