Is Bring a Trailer Legit?
Bring a Trailer, or BaT for short, is an auction platform that facilitates the sale of collector cars and classic vehicles. The platform itself is legit; however, it cannot police the actual deal, nor does it interfere with or hold the vehicle. The platform merely facilitates the connection between seller and buyer; all transactions are done outside of the platform, so there’s a consumer advisory to proceed with caution.
Its abundance of classic cars and exotic cars makes it a popular destination for collectors and car enthusiasts alike. This is a more specialized service that allows customers to find rare vehicles that would otherwise be lost amongst more regular vehicles in most marketplaces or auction houses.
Who should use Bring a Trailer?
That being said, due to the collector-focused nature of the platform, most of its customers and visitors are people who have experience with car buying. The intended audience for Bring a Trailer is people who are looking for rare vehicles that wouldn’t be readily available in dealerships. This means that the cars that are found on the website are either older or more exotic than regular vehicles, making it the perfect place for collectors and car enthusiasts alike.
Who should avoid Bring a Trailer?
While the website gives customers access to a wide range of vehicles, most of the selections available on the website are rare, more exotic, or classic cars. This means that if you are looking to buy a regular vehicle, it might not be the right place for you. Bring a Trailer facilitates online car auctions, which happen through bids, meaning that if you are looking for a firm price and want to simply buy the car and no haggle, then this might not be the best choice for you.
Bidding starts at a lower price, and by the time the auction is closed, the original price can double, which is fine for exotic cars, but might not be the ideal situation for someone with a small budget.
What Is Bring a Trailer and How Does It Work?
Bring a Trailer is a very popular website, one of the most well-known car auction websites in the U.S. Bidding on a well-loved classic car is made easy through the website, and a lot of car enthusiasts prefer this method of searching for the best deal. Each listing comes with some vehicle history, and as far as online car auctions go, BaT auctions are relatively safe, as each listing gets vetted for authenticity. There are some risks involved in bidding on a car sight unseen; however, the website itself is legit and safe to use.
Buying a Car Through Bring a Trailer
Bring a Trailer is a specialized website that allows sellers to publish their own auction listing. Visitors can engage in the bidding process once they confirm their profile, and they can place as many bids as they wish. Once the bidding time elapses, the last user with the highest bid wins the auction. All transactions are done outside of the platform, which means that buyers and sellers have to arrange the transfer through a third party or with a wire transfer.
Selling a Car on Bring a Trailer
In order to sell a car on Bring a Trailer, a user must create an account with the website, confirm said account, and provide some proof of ownership over the vehicle they are selling. Further documentation is also required for the website to verify the seller's validity.
You don’t have to be a dealership in order to sell a car on Bring a Trailer, but instead you can be a private individual. Once you’ve created and confirmed your account with the service, you can publish a listing. Each listing is vetted through the service via documentation and a strict community of knowledgeable individuals who ask specific questions to ensure the vehicle is real and that the seller is legit.
Once the listing is confirmed and vetted, the seller can initiate bidding and set a starting price. The website has an arbitrary timer for each auction, during which participants can bid on the vehicle. The highest bidder wins, and the auction is closed once the bidding time elapses.
How Bring a Trailer Makes Money
As a facilitator of one of the most well-established car auctions on the internet, Bring a Trailer makes money through several revenue streams. Their highest grossing income stream is through their 5% buyer fee or buyer premium added to the final winning bid of every auction - this is capped at $5,000. Aside from their primary income source, BaT makes money through seller fees, which can range from $99 to $350, specialized services like photography services, and additional premium listing upgrades.
Pros of Using Bring a Trailer
Bring a Trailer has many advantages, especially for enthusiasts all around the U.S., and is becoming quite popular outside of the U.S. as well. This section explores the positive sides of bidding on the website.
High-Quality Collector Cars
As an enthusiast marketplace, BaT offers visitors access to rare, high-quality collector cars that are hard to find. The service helps communities come together and assists in localizing rare finds all over the U.S. in one location, bridging the gap between the scarcity of certain brands, makes, and models, and the people who love them.
This means that if you are looking for something rare, you finally have a way to find it and get the chance to bid on it without a lot of hassle on your part.
Transparent Auction Process
The bidding process is quite transparent and clear, with no catches or hidden fees that are not disclosed or that you do not expect. The process of bidding on a classic car is quite easy to understand, and the platform makes it clear what the process involves. It makes it easy for every participant to see what the starting price is and what the current bid level is. Customers can easily join or opt out of each auction if the price does not suit them or if the bidding is out of their budget.
Enthusiast Community
BaT is known for its enthusiast community, which is one of its safety nets and provides quite a lot of protection for buyers. If you are an exotic car owner and want to find a place and a community of people who will appreciate your vehicle the most, then you’d probably be hard-pressed to publish your listing on BaT. This means that rare cars can easily find new owners, and car enthusiasts all around the country can find exactly what they are looking for.
Common Complaints About Bring a Trailer
There are some concerning complaints regarding the conduct outside of Bring a Trailer, and it's important, as an unbiased review of the website, to discuss what sort of community complaints are floating around. Here’s what we have to say about the most common complaints about Bring a Trailer.
Buyer and Seller Fees
There are significant buyer and seller fees that the platform imposes. These are its main sources of revenue, meaning that the website does have an interest in facilitating more bids. The buyer's premium is 5% of the winning bid price, which is luckily capped at $5000; however, that is a significant addition to the already presumably high price of the vehicle.
Competitive Bidding
One of the biggest issues that buyers are facing is the fraudulent bidding practices that have been seen on the website. Some users disclose that they are aware of fraudulent practices that involve multiple parties artificially inflating the sale price of a vehicle through dishonest bids. The only solution that BaT has so far enacted is to ban users who are involved in competitive bidding.
Another side of this issue is that the service is becoming more popular for buyers, which means that there are more bidders in each auction and therefore prices for sales of exotic or classic vehicles tend to be much higher than they’d be at a lesser-known auction house.
Limited Buyer Protection
Since Bring a Trailer does not hold or have access to the vehicle, and since all transactions and transfers between buyer and seller happen outside of the platform, the service cannot provide the buyer with any protection. This leaves buyers and sellers alike quite vulnerable to predatory behaviour, so all users should be cautious, vet the other party, and ensure the safe transfer of funds, titles, and vehicle documentation before finalizing any deals.
Is It Safe to Buy or Sell on Bring a Trailer?
As an auction platform, Bring a Trailer does not handle any payments, and therefore, it cannot guarantee the safety of its visitors. That being said, it does extend quite a lot of safety nets during the listing process for each vehicle, including a community of enthusiasts that checks each listing for its legitimacy. Before a listing can go live, a seller needs to submit documents showcasing that the vehicle is owned by them, including the title of the car and other relevant documentation.
While the platform doesn't have access to the car, it performs extensive checks and vetting, making it safe to use. User caution is always advisable when dealing with online car auctions.
How to Avoid Auction Risks
The best way to avoid auction risks is to always vet the car personally or through a third-party local mechanic who can check the vehicle over for you. Always submit a car to inspection before buying or sending any sort of money. Always make sure the car has a valid title and that the seller's information matches that on the title. Always use a safe, third-party payment system and always confirm any and all billing information before sending money. Do not engage with or send money to unknown individuals who are outside of the deal. Do not trust “middlemen” whom you don’t know or have personally vetted.
Tips for Buying a Collector Car
One of the biggest draws of Bring a Trailer is the abundance of collector vehicles that can’t be found elsewhere. This, however, comes with some risks, like the car not being in its original state or being modified by its previous owner. You are also not fully aware of the car’s history until you get the VIN and check with a service like Carfax. We recommend you vet the vehicle and the seller before continuing with any deals. We also recommend requesting a private visit with the seller or for the seller to make the car available for inspection by a professional. We also recommend using your own classic car transport service or using enclosed auto transport for the transportation of the vehicle. There are specialized collector vehicle shipping services that can ensure the safety of the car for the entirety of the shipment.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bring a Trailer
Is Bring a Trailer legit?
As an auction platform, Bring a Trailer is a legit service that facilitates the buying and selling of enthusiast and classic vehicles located in the U.S. Bring a Trailer does not hold or own the vehicles that are being auctioned, but rather only facilitates the connection between the buyer and the seller.
Is Bring a Trailer safe?
It depends on the knowledge of the customer and the amount of preparation or vetting a buyer does before selecting a car. We always recommend using a 3-rd party inspection service or a local mechanic who can look over the car. We also recommend requesting documentation for the vehicle, like the current title, to see if it matches the seller’s name and information.
How does Bring a Trailer work?
Bring a car is a car auction platform that allows sellers to list vehicles for sale and put them out for auction. Sellers set a starting price and a time limit for the auction, and then a starting date for the auction. Auctions can be as long as several days and as short as a couple of minutes. Sellers can also set a preferred asking price, ending the auction once the bids hit that mark. Both sellers and buyers have to pay a percentage to Bring a Trailer upon a successful sale.
What are Bring a Trailer fees?
There are buyer and seller fees associated with the use of Bring a Trailer. Buyer premiums are 5% of the winning bid value, capped at $5k, whereas sellers can list their car for as low as $95 and as high as $350, setting it as a priority listing. Additional fees are optional according to the additional services that the platform offers.
Can you sell your car on Bring a Trailer?
Yes, these are the primary reasons the platform is so popular: it offers access to sellers all over the U.S. to list their vehicles for sale. There is a vetting process involved that ensures the car title is legit and that it has not been tampered with.
How long do Bring a Trailer auctions last?
Bring a Trailer car auction for the last 7 days. There is a safeguard to protect from price sniping at the last minute, extending the auction by 2 minutes each time there’s a bid that has been placed in the remaining 2 minutes of an auction.
Does Bring a Trailer inspect cars?
Bring a Trailer does not inspect the cars themselves; however, it has an active community of enthusiasts who scrutinize each vehicle. The platform also requires sellers to submit the car’s documentation on the platform to be reviewed.
Is Bring a Trailer better than Cars & Bids?
Both services have their pros and cons, but in the end, they are tailored to different types of audiences. BiT services older vehicle communities and classic cars, while Cars & Bids focuses on more modern vehicles, 1980s or more recent classic cars.
What types of cars are sold on Bring a Trailer?
Bring a Trailer mainly focuses its binds around more specialized classic, vintage, and enthusiast vehicles. It's more likely to find rare, vintage cars on it rather than more modern variants. BaT frequently hosts pre-war cars and 1950’s cruisers, Corvairs, exotic sports cars from the old muscle car period, muscle cars and restomods. The site has categories for hot rods, convertibles, motorcycles, trucks & 4x4, and more.
How do you win a Bring a Trailer auction?
By being the highest bidder. You can also win if you are the second or third highest bidder if the first two fall through
