Bring a Trailer Reviews

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About Bring-A-Trailer

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Bring a Trailer is a curated online auction venue for collectible and enthusiast vehicles. Its auction specialists create listings with materials provided by sellers, and many features focus on transparency. Buyers and sellers handle purchasing transactions directly.

Pros
  • Free CARFAX reports available
  • Writes listings in-house
  • Multiple service levels for sellers
Cons
  • No guarantees
  • No financing

What is Bring a Trailer?

Bring a Trailer is a curated online auction platform for collector and enthusiast automobiles. The site provides listings at three service levels:

  • Classic service includes a seven-day auction with a custom-written listing from an auction specialist.
  • Plus service adds professional vehicle photography. Plus listings stay on the site for seven to 21 days.
  • White Glove service is available for significant cars and collections. Just contact a Bring a Trailer representative and let them know you want to sell, and a concierge will do the rest, assuming you qualify.

Bring a Trailer also provides shipping for some vehicles purchased on its site. If the vehicle is eligible, the Bring a Trailer shipping quote box will be active on its listing.

How does Bring a Trailer work?

Bring a Trailer works differently depending on whether you’re buying or selling:

  • Buying: Potential bidders can use Bring a Trailer to ask questions, schedule a viewing or inspection, or set up a test drive. The minimum price the seller is willing to accept, called a reserve, is not shown on the site, though.
  • Selling: For Classic and Plus service, start by submitting information about the vehicle online. You need to call for White Glove service. Once the listing is approved and scheduled, the auction eventually goes live with an informational listing, photo gallery and additional seller features.

Auctions continue online for a set period, and Bring a Trailer does not announce if or when a reserve has been met (if there is one). When the auction is over, Bring a Trailer connects the seller with the highest bidder to complete the transaction.

Selling a car on Bring a Trailer

To get started, first choose a service level and submit your vehicle. This involves answering questions on the submission form and uploading photos so the auction team can evaluate if it’s a good fit.

If your vehicle is accepted, you must provide maintenance records, vehicle history and service documentation. Then an auction specialist writes a comprehensive, honest listing.

With Classic service, you approve the listing, and the Bring a Trailer team then schedules the auction. This process typically takes a few weeks from submission to auction. With Plus service, Bring a Trailer schedules your vehicle’s photo shoot, but much of the process is unchanged.

You can lower the reserve during the auction if desired. If the auction reserve is met when the listing ends (or there is no reserve), Bring a Trailer provides you and the winning bidder with each other’s contact information. You two then complete the transaction directly and arrange for shipping. Bring a Trailer provides support during this part of the process if needed.

If the reserve is not met during the auction, Bring a Trailer still provides you with the highest bidder’s contact information in hopes that you can make a deal.

Buying a car on Bring a Trailer
Buying a car on Bring a Trailer starts with browsing current auctions. You can look at detailed listings, photo galleries and additional seller features. Each auction also has a comment thread to discuss the vehicle and ask the seller questions. Potential bidders can also set up a test drive.

You must register to bid on Bring a Trailer. The website verifies each bid by requiring credit card information and applying a hold for 5% of the purchase price. When the auction closes, the hold is released for losing bids.

Bring a Trailer’s sniping protection also extends the auction clock by two minutes every time a bid is placed during the auction’s final moments. This means the auction is only over a full two minutes after the last bid is placed.

If you win the auction, Bring a Trailer shares your contact info with the seller and gives you theirs. Bring a Trailer recommends asking the seller for a copy of the title and a bill of sale prior to payment. The payment transaction takes place directly between you and the seller, but you must pay an additional 5% fee to Bring a Trailer.

Bring a Trailer fees and financing

To sell a vehicle, Bring a Trailer costs start at $99 for Classic service and $349 for Plus service. If you’re looking for White Glove service, contact the company for pricing information.

Buyers pay a 5% fee to Bring a Trailer on top of the sales price, with a minimum of $250 and a maximum of $5,000. Bring a Trailer does not provide financing for vehicles since all transactions are direct between buyers and sellers.

Bring a Trailer FAQ

Who owns Bring a Trailer?

Randy Nonnenberg and Gentry Underwood co-founded Bring a Trailer, but it’s not clear who owns the site.

Where is Bring a Trailer located?

Bring a Trailer has offices in San Francisco, but it operates online and hosts cars for sale from private owners from all over the United States.

Does Bring a Trailer have an app?

No, Bring a Trailer does not have an app.

What types of vehicles does Bring a Trailer sell?

Bring a Trailer specializes in classic, collector and enthusiast cars. Sellers can also list wheels, engines and automobilia.

Is Bring a Trailer legit?

Bring a Trailer is legit, but that doesn’t guarantee it’s safe. It aims to be as transparent as possible, asking sellers for documents, maintenance records, photos and videos of the vehicles before listing a vehicle. Buyers and sellers can communicate during the auction process, and buyers can request an inspection. However, purchase transactions (except for the buyer’s fee) take place exclusively between buyers and sellers, and Bring a Trailer doesn’t guarantee the authenticity or condition of the vehicles on its site.

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Bring-A-Trailer Reviews

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    Page 1 Reviews 0 - 10
    Customer Service

    Reviewed April 18, 2025

    AVOID THIS SITE AT ALL COST!! This is the worst site I have ever used. All they care about is making a buck. Their customer service is just plain awful and rude. If I could leave 0 stars or negative stars I would!! Use any other car auction site besides this one!

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    Reviewed March 26, 2025

    Have commented on BAT for a while both positive and negative comments as to the cars and their presentation. Always keeping it honest and accurate. Then a 'high end' seller complains that my comments are not helping those with 'high end' cars sell them. Bat then restricts my account and no longer allows me to comment, much less ever accept one of my offerings. The notion that Bat wants transparency is nonsense. They only want to provide a safe venue for those who provide them the most income. Started out as a great venue and has evolved to just another money machine for the wealthy.

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      Customer Service

      Reviewed March 6, 2025

      I bid on a car in late '24 and everything with the car and dealer was good however BaT not so much. They tacked on a hidden fee just to get the seller's contact info, I had another user there ask me about how everything went with the sale and I had bought that up. BaT swooped in and lied. Stated I was not charged such a fee so I posted a screenshot of the invoice they sent and they banned me. I asked them to remove my account and remove my card info from BaT but they did nothing, not even a reply to the email and it seems that they do not have any phone number to call... A few months later I get emails about bids being made on my banned account. I login and see that I was no longer banned, could not remove my credit card so I reset the password and emailed them again to close my account. Nothing, then again more bids I did not make were made.

      I emailed again and posted on the listed that I did not make the bids and had contacted BaT about the problem. BaT replied to the listing that it was me that made the bids and that I stated I was not going to be honoring my bids, which was a straight up lie. I never bid on anything after the car I bought in 2024. I later found out that BaT was charging random charges to my card, 2 400$ charges, a 3 350$ charges and a few other smaller ones. I had to file a charge back with my bank and get a new card as BaT refused to remove my card from their site and kept charging me. Every email I sent to them got no reply and in total I had nearly 2k in charges from them for things I did not buy or authorize.

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      Customer Service

      Reviewed Feb. 28, 2025

      Disappointing experience listing a car for auction with Bring a Trailer at every step from start to finish. They argued with me about the reserve I required, rejecting my auction twice before eventually coming back and agreeing to a higher number each time, eventually agreeing to the number I presented as my requirement at the start. No purpose to the argumentative responses at all as to the reserve I needed. The next step was photography. I hired the professional photographer (about $400) that they recommended and one of the first comments in the auction was that “this car would really benefit from professional photography”. Hardly a rousing endorsement and such a terrible start.

      When a reserve is not met on a sale the high bidder and seller get one attempt each to come to an agreement. When my auction concluded and the highest bidder was debating coming up to my counteroffer, another comment comes over on the concluded auction that the high bid is the right value, encourages the buyer not to come up to the counteroffer and to just pass on the car. Bring a Trailer leaves that comment up and repeatedly takes down my response explaining the upgrades done that justify the value, despite my comments being respectful, free of any profanity, and having no contact information. No explanation, just wouldn’t accept my response despite allowing disparaging comments from people who took no part in the auction at all. The auction manager that was supposed to be there for support in the auction also took entirely too long to respond to questions in the closing hours of the auction.

      When there is only a few hours left in an auction with a deadline like that, you can’t take an hour to respond to messages from the seller. The only part of the process that had promise was the creation of a listing description, but even that required multiple corrections and was ultimately disappointing. Looking at other auctions in the site, it’s clear that snarky, rude, and disrespectful comments from bidders are ignored when reported as well. Unless you have something extremely collectible, just put your vehicle on Facebook Marketplace and save your money.

      You’ll end up with a better offer anyway, and every service that Bring a Trailer provides outside of their website for the auction is actually a third-party service that you can replace easily yourself. You’ll also get better offers when the buyer doesn’t have to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to Bring a Trailer for winning the auction. If you have something you need to sell in a hurry and you don’t care how much you get for it, just sell to Carmax and save the time and energy you’d spend on auction antics.

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      Reviewed Feb. 8, 2025

      Heard so many good things until I started to deal with them. I wish I had read about them ahead of time. I would deal with one person then another. Zero experience when looking for VIN numbers on older cars. They give you no direction and you have to investigate and find the information yourself. Took hours and when I finally found it and sent it to them they disregard the information sent. I send them an official form with what is needed to confirm the VIN and that is still not enough because they DIDN'T READ THE FORM!!!! Honestly MORONS!!! I believe kids are running this and have no idea. STAY AWAY!!!!

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      Reviewed Jan. 25, 2025

      I bought a motorcycle through BaT, and it was delivered to me with damage. The seller and their own shipper didn't have a pre-shipment inspection completed, and now there is nothing to show liability or a way for me to recoup my loss. The seller has been one of BaT's customers for many years and has made huge profits off of them. BaT should ensure that they do not allow their bikes to be shipped without any means of insuring for damage while in transport, but they do not.

      On their forum, people post experiences with their purchases or problems encountered. I posted a video of the damage I incurred, so people will know to have their bikes inspected before shipping, and I did not place blame on anyone in the post, but BaT deleted the post because the seller complained to them about it, and now all of my posts are being monitored for review, and if I mention anything about shipping or what occurred, BaT won't let it go through. They are protecting a rice-bowl seller, even though the seller was in the wrong. Buyer beware.

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      Price

      Reviewed Jan. 15, 2025

      I contacted BaT to list my 1972 Firebird, complete re-build with all the best parts out there. BaT didn't like my reserve that I wanted to set for my auction. First they tried to get me to go to a no reserve auction, then they wanted me to limit it to what THEY wanted it to be at, which was half my reserve price. Because I would not lose all my money by putting the reserve where THEY wanted me to, they refused to list my car. I will never buy or sell with them and I will make sure that I spread the word to the car community.

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      Price

      Reviewed Jan. 12, 2025

      Do Not use BAT, EBAY is better, all they care about is to make a sale and charge your credit card, Most of the comments made in the comment section, when for sale, are people that have nothing better to do but degrade your car, just jealous because you have something they don't and can't afford, then you have the know it alls, and the deaders that make things up, been there 3 times, no more for me.

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      Staff

      Reviewed Jan. 10, 2025

      I am echoing the sentiments that I read here. With all the reviews and very little positive speaks volumes about BaT. BaT didn't want a reserve even though it was significantly below the recent selling prices of the same model. Nonsensical irrational reasons provided. I didn't get the impression that my assigned assistant truly understood classic and collector cars or was interested in being helpful. It was clear from his communications that this was just a job for him. Without the feeling of trust with BaT staff, I feel that I may have dodged a bullet here. I would suggest to anyone considering offering their lovingly looked after vehicle to a new home to go elsewhere. BaT appears to have lost their way.

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      Customer Service

      Reviewed Jan. 3, 2025

      Seller was very nice until I flew up to pay and drive the car home. I got an AIRBNB in the area the seller instructed me to. When I wanted to start the car before I wired the money, the seller became extremely irate and demanded I wire the money right away and tell him the second the money got into his account. This of course was impossible since I did not have access to his account. So, I booked the next cheap flight home. There was no way to contact anyone at BAT promptly. You can only email them. It took me a few months but I got my deposit money back through my credit card company. Not only was the seller irrational but by the emails I got from BAT, it seemed that they were in cahoots with the seller. They refused to instruct the seller to treat me, the buyer, civilly. They refused to instruct the seller how money wires work.

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      Bring-A-Trailer Company Information

      Company Name:
      Bring A Trailer
      Website:
      bringatrailer.com