BAT Selling Experience

[11Budlite]

I was wondering if any forum members have had an experience selling a car on BAT and whether it was positive or not. It looks like the basic listing fee is $99 for the seller. I have a RHD S2 vintage racecar replica roller built by Automotive Restorations that I'm thinking of selling because I have a new Caterham kit that should be here later this summer. I thought this car might be a good candidate because you really would need to "Bring a Trailer". I'll probably just list it here but thought it might be interesting to see how it would do on BAT. Any comments?

 

TIA

[Kitcat]

No experience selling but I am a near-daily visitor to that site. Typically, they have Caterhams but other se7ens sell there as well. IMHO, the best place to sell a Caterham as they tend to go for $5K-10+K more than my semi-informed opinion suggests they should.

 

Take lots of pictures. Even better, hire a photographer or use a friend who loves photography. That can add many thousands of $'s to the final price. So many great cars are shot with the photographer's image reflected in the photo, which is set in the driveway, in poor light, next to the garbage cans. In other words, the car is presented in the worst possible way to generate $ and interest.

 

Since your car is in unassembled kit form that makes the photos that much more challenging.

Edited July 22, 2019 by Kitcat

[DavidL]

I'll add that there is a 1998 Caterham on BAT at the moment with stunning drone-video footage that has made quite a splash (and the roads are in my neighborhood).

 

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1998-caterham-super-seven-2/

 

Obviously a driving video is irrelevant for your sale, but you can look at the BAT historical data for Sevens here:

 

https://bringatrailer.com/lotus/seven/

 

good luck, David

[Canadian 7]

Seems good for sellers at only $99 but I think it is a rip-off for buys at 5% commission! I would never pay that. I did just buy a car that was listed a while ago on the site but I purchased it after it did not sell.

[Croc]

PM sent

[11Budlite]

Thanks everyone for your input. Still not sure what direction I'm going to go but if I had a bigger garage I think I'd try to keep it.

[Kitcat]

A very basic '98 Caterham just sold on BAT for $23250 (+5% commission). It had a 4sp, live rear, drum rear brakes, 100 hp 1600cc X-flow. Not Dedion, not 1700 cc X-flow w/35 more hp, not 5 sp overdrive, etc. Cars of this spec were selling for $16K when I started looking (11 years ago). Everyone wanted the high hp, high spec versions. There were nearly 700 people watching the sale and it had 12K views. That's a lot of attention.And this is an excellent price. IF I ever sell mine, BAT will be the venue.

[Slonie]

IF I ever sell mine, BAT will be the venue.

 

And for once, your tireless and generous VIN-decoding and informative posts on BaT will actually result in money in your pocket! :cheers:

[Kitcat]

Thx Sloanie! Croc is the master decoder and, as far as I can tell, no one knows more about Caterhams than he. But I enjoy hanging out at BAT and commenting on occasion: it's one of my retirement hobbies:). I continue to learn more about Caterhams there-like how the "long cockpit" Cat was developed, I literally had it backwards.

[Croc]

I literally had it backwards.

 

Yes that is your usual exciting driving style! :jester:

 

 

 

My two main concerns with BAT are:

 

1) There is a peanut gallery of uninformed commenters who actively mislead with their own misconceptions. That whole long cockpit discussion was ridiculous until (I think it was) one ex-Caterham dealer from MA stepping in and laying out the timeline in a credible informative way. In this case the misconceptions were corrected by a knowledgeable intervention. However, that may not always be the case and misconceptions can tank an auction with uninformed facts. This is more frequent than people realize. I have even seen flash mobs actively criticize and disparage cars for sale (e.g. NZ Ford Escort, one M3 from a PNW dealer, one 80s Porsche 930) - cars then failed to sell. Hitting the unconstructive post button often is too late to propagate the wrong facts and false assertions. I tend to ignore the comments and ask the seller directly offline when I am purchasing a car there. Its generally worked to my advantage.

 

2) The market for specialist cars is thin. If you are selling a Porsche VW 911 Beetle or other more mass market classics then the BAT auction process is brilliant. If you are selling a Caterham or a Stalker then the auction is going to have uncertainty. It depends on who is bidding on the day. Search Caterham auction results on BAT. The results are unbelievably choppy in values compared with sale prices via ads on this forum. This demonstrates that success for the seller requires 2 bidders actively wanting the car and prepared to go head to head on the final day. Its not always a simple matter of setting your own reserve - BAT negotiates that with you as I discovered when I explored selling one car out of curiousity. BAT want a realistic reserve as they need a flow of actual sales. I would only use the BAT if the reserve is right for me and if it does not sell then you view it as a pretty cheap price for excellent national advertising exposure that transitions into a longer term sale process via USA7s or EBay/Hemmings classifieds. I still think, on average, a classified ad on this forum for a seven will achieve a better win-win result for the buyer and seller than BAT if the seller has the patience.