So he started Bring a Trailer to showcase his findings, and over the next 7 years, BaT built quite a following of like-minded car enthusiasts. As someone who obsessively hunted online classified ads, Randy realized his efforts to identify the most interesting cars for sale online were going to waste – only he was seeing them. com ) Bring a trailer started in 2007 as a pet project for founder Randy Nonnenberg.

Is spending that kind of money on a car you haven’t seen in person a good idea? Do sites like Bring a Trailer and Cars and Bids have policies in place to ensure high-quality live auctions that protect buyers and sellers? Let’s take a closer look at the origins of Bring a Trailer and Cars and Bids and then consider their policies that protect users.īring a Trailer ( bringatrailer. These enthusiast auction sites often trade in rare collector cars or high-end coupes from brands like BMW, Ferrari, and McLaren, with the highest bidders regularly committing to 6 – or even 7 – figure price tags. Everything from a vintage Chevrolet Corvette or Ford Mustang GT to the latest Mercedes-Benz AMG or Porsche 911 regularly change hands on these sites.įor these buyers, this isn’t like going to an Autotrader or Craigslist classified ad, where the used car pricing on a high-volume Dodge, Nissan, or Toyota might range from $5,000 to $25,000. But we now live in a world where online car buying isn’t just common, it’s dominant, helped along in recent years by everything from a global pandemic to confidence-bolstering technology like high-resolution photos and vehicle history reports.īut the biggest shift in the last year or two has been the explosive growth of car enthusiasts turning to car auction websites like Bring a Trailer (or BaT ) and Cars and Bids when seeking their next exotic or classic car. The automotive world has evolved over the past two decades, and in that time eBay Motors has sold millions of cars, most of them to first-time online car buyers willing to take a chance on the digital marketplace. And even retail bidders have had access to auto auction sites like eBay Motors for over 20 years, though back then the thought of buying a vehicle through an online car auction, without seeing it in person or performing a pre- purchase inspection, was considered risky at best.

Fleet managers and wholesalers have been using the auction marketplace to locate and purchase inventory for dealership lots since the early-2000s. The concept of an online, or digital, car auction site is not new.

Cars and bid