Bring-A-Trailer

Bring a Trailer Reviews

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About Bring a Trailer Reviews

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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 & Cons

Pros

  • Free CARFAX reports available
  • Writes listings in-house
  • Multiple service levels for sellers

Cons

  • No guarantees
  • No financing

Bottom Line

Bring a Trailer is an online auction platform for classic and vintage automobiles. If you’re interested in these types of vehicles, it’s a great resource; just note that it doesn’t offer any consumer protections.

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.

Bring-A-Trailer Reviews

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Page 1 Reviews 0 - 10

Reviewed Sept. 10, 2023

Seller misrepresented motorcycle and Bring a Trailer has no recourse to punish the seller. In fact they honor him because he had sold other bikes on the site. It’s simply ‘buyer beware’ there. They do not even have a way to notify future buyers that a seller is a crook. The ad video in the listing was of another look alike bike.

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Staff

Reviewed July 25, 2023

My experience with BaT was awful and I will recommend against anyone using the site in the future. Summary: I had to do 3 rounds of photos after paying for professional photos. It took them 49 days to list the car. The service was awful and slow. They made the car look like crap - terrible seller experience. Details Here: Despite them saying they wanted to list the Nova and me choosing and paying for the professional photo package I had to send more photos just to give them "a sense" of the car. They gave me a reserve with no actual data to back it up when cars sold on the site with information we had at the time were much higher. Going back and forth was terrible because it was basically one message a day with no calling or messaging options. It delayed going live by over a week.

It took you three weeks to begin processing the listing after getting the photos and only after I complained. They greatly overexposed the photos making the car look a lot worse than it actually does - this seems to be a buyer friendly tactic but one that sellers should be very aware of so they avoid using your site. I had been warned about this by another seller and he was 100% right. These guys only care about the buyers. Their first step was to ask me to do more work taking photos after I bought the professional package because I DIDN’T WANT TO TAKE PHOTOS and would not do a good job. It was clear that their guy knew what he wanted but not where it was nor what it looked like as he gave me bad directions and then told me that since I couldn’t find it he couldn’t list it with the information.

The manager got on the thread after I complained about making this my problem and recognized I HAD found it but needed the other side of it which I did my best to send. So I had to do MORE pictures. I submitted the car on May 23. The auction went live on July 11. 49 DAYS. I paid for premium service and instead still ended up doing a ton of work to get the car listed. They should have offered to refund all or a portion of my photo package after the 3 requests for more photos but their poor understanding of good service continued. If I could give 0 stars I would.

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    Reviewed June 27, 2023

    The process in the beginning was fine. The auction specialist will answer you at least once a day once you are assigned one. Typically if your vehicle is worth under $20k they do not let you put a reserve on it. This was not explained well as I thought my car had a reserve. During the last day of the auction, someone figured out where I lived from the pictures and came to my house! It's been very scary. Sleepless nights since this. I've repeatedly asked Bringatrailer to take my auction down, as the buyer never purchased the vehicle and I'm terrified and unsafe. They are unwilling to do so. We've now submitted the information to our Attorney who is pursuing these illegal activities further.

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    Online & App

    Reviewed June 25, 2023

    Such a stupid experience. I spent 3 hours listing a super collectible and mint condition motorcycle only to find out the next day that they wouldn't accept it.... They gave no reason even though I know that a thousand people of the general public would be looking to buy this motorcycle. And nowhere on their website does it even say that they have the ability to discriminate without reason.

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed June 24, 2023

    The auction went smoothly, and I was fortunate to find a kind and understanding seller, which made the long wait for the car more bearable. However, the shipping experience was terrible. Choosing BaT shipping was a mistake, and it will be the first and last time I use their services. Here's what happened: I won the auction on April 30th, and immediately after, the funds for BaT's fee were withdrawn from my bank account. I also purchased their shipping service for around $870 right after the auction, and the payment was withdrawn as well. The next day, I contacted the seller and arranged a wire transfer for the car payment. That's when the nightmare began.

    For two days, I received no communication from BaT, so I had to reach out to them myself. When they finally got in touch, I informed them about my planned trip to Europe, scheduled for May 15th. Unfortunately, they ignored this information and didn't contact me until May 12th, completely disregarding the fact that I had already prepared my luggage. It was impossible to expect the car to be delivered from South Carolina to Indiana in just two days, and the risk of me not being there was too high. I returned on May 30th, but BaT hadn't scheduled anything to ensure a prompt delivery of the car. I had to wait until June 8th to finally receive it.

    Adding to the frustration, the driver didn't provide me with at least an hour's notice before arriving (I asked for that in the shipping notes). I had to rush to reach the drop-off point, which was not conveniently located since I was working in another area. Despite selecting a large parking lot for an easier transfer to the shipper, the driver parked the car along a busy road instead. Furthermore, BaT had promised me a tracking service for the car's journey from South Carolina to Indiana, but they never provided it. Every aspect of this process went wrong, and I had expected at least some reimbursement for the pain, but nothing happened. I will never go through this again!

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    Customer ServiceStaff

    Reviewed June 23, 2023

    Tried to correct my bid, but the bidding was not monitored by the BAT staff or they ignored it. After they called me the next day due to the failed sale, they admitted they ignored my requests for their own reasons. This all happened before the auction was ended, first I announced I made a mistake, then asked for the bid to be given back to the next highest bidder, but still no response. So then I requested my bid cancelled before the end. Keep in mind, they do not list a phone number or email to contact in the case you need to correct anything. I spent 20 minutes looking for some contact method online before resorting to posting on the auction message board. According to BAT representative, this time lapse was evidence I was not serious, and was cited as why they took no action on my plea for help. Important to note, I had seen them correct bids in the past, but they declined to do so with me.

    As a result, my requests were ignored and my last requests to cancel were deleted entirely from the record trail of messages. This they told me this "hiding of my pleas" was so they did not upset the other bidders. They wrote me later and completely left out mention of my requests to give up my bid to another and then to cancel. I got charged 4700.00 for winning bidder fee for a car I did not want to buy, and I should not have won. They offer no other avenue to communicate with the staff other than auction messages until the next day when they contacted me. And it is important to keep in mind, they are only offering a service, they do not create a binding contract between buyer and seller. They collect their fees regardless of whether they accurately provide an auction result, as was the case with me. I was not buying a car at that point before the auction ended, and BAT knew that! And so did the buyer.

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    Reviewed April 12, 2023

    I tried to list my car with BAT with a reserve and they sent me a e-mail trying to get me to do a auction with (no) reserve so they can guarantee a sale and can get their 5% commission from the buyer and they tried to downgrade the value of the vehicle. That’s not the rules of the sale they have. You should be able to list your car with a reserve but they don’t want honor that. Fraudulent misleading tactics. BE CAREFUL. They have fraudulent sales team.

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    Reviewed April 7, 2023

    I am a car enthusiast. I watched this site for a while and decided to list my pristine Mercedes on their site. They denied my entry stating that they don't accept these cars unless they are AMG or V8's. Mine is a Twin Turbo 6 cylinder with the AMG sport package loaded to the hilt. These jokers are out of San Francisco, are woke jerks IMHO. They allow listing old beaters, scooters and skis but decline to accept my submission. I do NOT RECOMMEND THIS SITE TO ANYONE!!

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    Reviewed March 4, 2023

    After reading the many reviews pertaining to BaT, it further confirms our own unpleasant experience. See below:

    1. Customer service is HORRIBLE. Good luck getting them to answer emails. They either do not, or can take hours/days. Hours don't seem so bad, however, when time is of the essence, minutes and hours can be a very essential component in the selling process of one's vehicle. It can be a make, or break situation.

    2. The picture submission process is grueling. BaT wants 100 plus photos. Not a big deal, although it will take a day, or longer worth of work on the seller's end. And submitting the 100 plus photos does not guarantee that your vehicle will be accepted. In many cases, this just becomes a strenuous labor of love for many.

    3. These "young kids" who are managing/running BaT, who appear to be computer/tech savvy, but have little to zero experience with selling vehicles. These are the people who are listing your prize possessions. These are the people that are forcing low reserves, or they will not list. Why??? And again, who are these people? High school students working a summer job? College students working a side hustle? The millennial sitting in Mom's basement?

    If BaT were more transparent about this end, perhaps it would give sellers and buyers more confidence in using their site. This being said, due to BaT's lack of transparency, the listing staff experience is very questionable. Who are these people? Seriously, as they are the sole person(s) responsible for the success, or lack thereof regarding the sale of one's vehicle. I will get to our personal experience in a moment.

    4. The BaT community is riddled with users who live on the message boards leaving senseless comments that are mostly untrue and do nothing but hurt the sale of one's vehicle. Too many in the community appear to be the old beer fart sitting on their couch in their tidy whities (Walter White style). Ironically, almost 80% of the people who make these insane comments claim to be "former racers", or "avid collectors", or "top notch restorationists" wanting to brag about themselves. But when you click on their profile, they have never even bid on a vehicle, or purchased a vehicle. These people are nothing but a nuisance to the auction process. And BaT allows this.

    We recently listed a vehicle on BaT. No reserve. It sold for way too low. So low that the person who won it was shocked. But, fair and square the winning bid got the vehicle. What I will say, is that some of the comments were very damaging to the sale and had NOTHING to do with the validity of the vehicle. If the comments were true and held merit, then that would have been one thing, however, the few negative comments were false and defaming to the vehicle. Even though there were mostly positive/glowing comments, it only takes one, or two negs to disrupt a buyer's top end purchase price.

    Crazy us, we decide to give BaT another shot. I wish now that we would have gone with the first experience and RAN FOR THE HILLS. We should have sold the vehicle privately, or used another auction site. Well, as we have seen from other sellers' reviews, there tends to be issues with vehicle titles, or proof of ownership. Where I see the disconnect in selling with BaT, they should get all of this information upfront from the seller, i.e. Vehicle title/proof of ownership. Let's face it, a lot of very nice vehicles that are worth boatloads of money are being listed and sold on this site daily. There are far too many trolls wishing that the said vehicle was theirs.

    In our case, this wack-job contacted BaT and said that the vehicle we were selling was theirs. LOL... WOW. With ZERO proof of ownership. Yet, BaT, decided it was in the best interest of the seller and potential buyer to remove the listing. What a HUGE WASTE OF TIME!!! The decision was made even after we sent proof of ownership! This further confirms ours, as well as others' experiences regarding the experience/validity of the listing/auction staff at BaT.

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    Reviewed Feb. 23, 2023

    I could not understand them, they never contact me back. There is not any customer service phone that you can reach your agent (Cameron in my case) and they are asking for highest condition. They dictate all aspects of sell, they set the reserve price and most importantly they do not know what they are talking about, in my case Mr ** set the reserve price Soo low, and when I informed him I will not go below my minimum and will not let my car go below my min price which is lower than similar car that they are listing guess what happened he never responded back.

    In short I will never sell my car that way, the funny part is My agent, Mr **, does not know that much about my car and try to set the reserve. I guess they are the owner not me or you, I am a collector. I have a few old cars, and I know well what they worth, all I can say Guys be careful!!!! BT is not what they advertise! Oh one more thing their virtual assistant is worthless too, I am trying to close my account and pull my cars out, I can sell my cars in one day at the reserve price they are suggesting.

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    Bring-A-Trailer Company Information

    Company Name:
    Bring A Trailer
    Website:
    bringatrailer.com