The bottom line: If your car is something special, like a rare model, a well-kept classic or a car with a cool story behind it, Bring a Trailer is where to sell it. It’s an online auction for classic, collector and enthusiast vehicles, and it chooses which cars it lists.
Its audience is the reason to list here: the site has over 700,000 registered users, and the sellers who praise it name the size of that audience and the help of its staff.
The reserve is BaT’s call as much as yours. It lists some cars only at no reserve, and a top bid below your reserve can still count as a sale if BaT pays you the difference. No price is guaranteed.
Listing costs $99, or $429 with professional photos, and the buyer pays BaT a 5% fee on top of the bid. The auction runs for 7 days, and you answer bidders’ questions in public comments while it runs. Some sellers had trouble getting paid through its payment partner, Caramel.
If Bring a Trailer turns your car down, or you’d rather not wait for an auction, Sell Car Advisor’s comparison tool gets you several instant offers at once.
Bring A Trailer auctions classic and collector cars to enthusiasts
- Reach car enthusiasts globally
- Specialists write your listing
- Bidding wars drive rare cars up
- Detailed Q&A in comment section
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Audience match 30% 5/5
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Sale price potential 25% 5/5
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Listing cost / fees 20% 3/5
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Process transparency 15% 4/5
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Time to sell 10% 3/5
What We Like
- Huge audience of car enthusiasts who actually want to buy collector vehicles
- Sellers report selling above what they hoped, with hundreds of people watching the auction
- The comment section lets buyers ask detailed questions before they bid
- Your listing reaches buyers all around the world, not just locally
- Professional auction specialists write your listing for you based on what you provide
- The 2 minute extension rule stops last second sniping and keeps bidding fair
- Buyers pay the 5% fee, so sellers keep their full sale amount minus listing fees
- White Glove service for high end cars covers the listing, photos and strategy, and a specialist helps you answer comments
- They sell more than just cars including motorcycles, boats, ATVs, and car memorabilia
- Verified Checkout handles secure payment and title transfer for eligible sales
- If your reserve isn’t met, there’s a structured offer process to still make a deal
What You Should Know
- Sellers report being pushed hard to list without a reserve price, especially for common enthusiast cars
- Buyer vetting isn’t always reliable, and some winning bidders don’t follow through with payment
- If there’s a dispute after the sale, you’re mostly on your own to work it out with the buyer
- Not every car gets approved, and an accepted car usually takes a few weeks to go live
- On the $99 Classic plan you take every listing photo yourself. A professional photographer costs $330 more, through the $429 Plus plan
- If a buyer picks Verified Checkout, you have to use it even if you’d prefer a direct wire transfer
- If you refuse to sell after the auction ends, you can be barred from the site
- Their payment partner Caramel has caused weeks of delays for some sellers trying to get paid
Automated assistant: general info, not legal advice
Answers come from our state paperwork data and published guides. Confirm anything binding with your state DMV.
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How Does Bring a Trailer Compare to Alternatives?
Bring a Trailer isn’t the only online auction for collector cars.
| Platform | Best For | Notable Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Cars & Bids | Modern enthusiast vehicles (1980s onward) | No seller fees, buyers pay 5% (max $7,500) |
| RM Sotheby’s | Investment grade classics and rare exotics | Full service auction with global reach and professional marketing |
| Collecting Cars | European sports cars with documented history | Strong in international markets and cross border sales |
| PCarMarket | Porsche specialists and enthusiasts | Dedicated to one brand with deep model expertise |
| Bring a Trailer | Well documented enthusiast vehicles of all eras | Largest community with active comment sections, sellers pay $99 to $429, or $2,500 for White Glove |
Cars & Bids is the closest competitor to BaT. It focuses on newer enthusiast cars from the 1980s onward. The big difference is that sellers list for free, and only buyers pay a fee: 5%, capped at $7,500.
For a high-end classic, RM Sotheby’s handles everything for you but takes a bigger cut. It’s the better choice for museum-quality cars worth six figures or more.
For a Porsche, consider PCarMarket: it deals only in Porsches and knows that market well. BaT still gets more traffic overall, but PCarMarket attracts serious Porsche buyers who know exactly what they want.
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Audience match 30% 5/5
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Sale price potential 25% 4/5
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Listing cost / fees 20% 5/5
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Process transparency 15% 5/5
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Time to sell 10% 4/5
- Sellers keep 100% of sale price
- Over 80% sell-through rate
- SafePay handles money and title
- Listing help from the team
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Audience match 30% 5/5
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Sale price potential 25% 4/5
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Listing cost / fees 20% 4/5
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Process transparency 15% 2/5
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Time to sell 10% 2/5
- 165,000 Motor News subscribers
- 3 listing types to choose from
- Free 6-month listing if no sale
- Phone and email support offered
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Buyer reach 25% 3/5
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Safety features 25% 4/5
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Listing cost 20% 3/5
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Time to sell 15% 4/5
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Ease of listing 15% 3/5
- Listing fee is $34 or $79
- 40 photos with either fee
- No percent fee on sale price
- 2.8% fee on deposits via eBay
Want to see what different buyers would offer for your car? Use Sell Car Advisor’s comparison tool to get quotes from multiple services at once.
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How to List Your Car on Bring a Trailer?
1. Submit Your Vehicle
First, you need to pick a listing plan. Classic costs $99 and you provide your own photos. Plus costs $429 and includes professional photography. White Glove is for serious collections and comes with a personal concierge who handles the listing, photos and reserve strategy, but doesn’t comment for you.
The form asks about the car and the reserve you want, and takes your photos. The more information and photos you send with it, the sooner the listing goes live. Photos made or edited with AI aren’t allowed.
Step1
Step2
Step3
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Step5
Select a plan
Enter year, make, model, other details
Upload images
Enter VIN and condition details
Enter contact info and submit
2. Wait for Approval
BaT’s team reviews your submission to decide whether your car fits its audience, and usually answers within two business days. It doesn’t accept every car.
BaT weighs the car’s condition, the quality of your information and photos, the reserve you ask for, and similar cars already for sale. If it says no, it may not tell you why: some sellers say they were turned down with no reason given.
3. Set Your Reserve Price
If your car is accepted, you agree a reserve price with BaT: the lowest amount you’ll sell for. Sellers report BaT pushing their reserve down, steering them to no reserve, or turning the car away over it. One asked for a $20,000 reserve and was offered one $10,000 lower.
BaT lists some cars only at no reserve, and without a reserve the car sells for the top bid, however low. Agree only to a reserve you’d sell at, because it also caps what you can ask the top bidder if bidding falls short. The reserve isn’t shown on the listing, and BaT asks you not to discuss it during the auction.
4. Manage Your 7 Day Auction
Most auctions run for 7 days. Bidders ask questions in the comments, and answering them, and joining the discussion, raises their confidence in the car. BaT alerts you only to comments that tag you, so read the whole thread yourself several times a day.
You can add videos to the listing through the comment box, up to six in each comment, such as a cold start, a walk-around or a drive.
Tip: You can lower your reserve at any time during the auction, down to the high bid, with the button on the auction page.
5. Auction Ends
When the timer hits zero, the auction doesn’t always end. If someone bids in the last 2 minutes, the clock adds 2 more minutes. This keeps going until nobody bids for a full 2 minutes. That way nobody can win with a last-second bid.
If your reserve is met, the car is sold. If bidding falls short, BaT may pay you the difference and mark the car sold, under a Make-Whole program you agree to when you submit. It pays only after the buyer has paid you, and the listing shows the car as sold even if you then refuse to sell. Otherwise, the listing shows “Bid to” with the highest amount. BaT then runs a structured offer process. The top bidder has 24 hours to make an offer, then you have 24 hours to accept, decline, or counter. You can’t ask for more than your original reserve.
6. Complete the Transaction
BaT asks the buyer to pay within three business days, or on a timeline you both agree on, but sets no fixed deadline. BaT connects you with the buyer, and you work out payment and pickup details. BaT recommends you take payment by wire transfer.
If the buyer picks Verified Checkout (powered by Caramel), you have to use it. You link your bank account, Caramel holds the buyer’s money, and it pays you when your title arrives: all of it on a sale under $75,000, or half then and half when the car is picked up on a sale above that. A wire from Caramel carries a $25 fee. If Caramel is handling the title, send it to Caramel, not to the buyer or their shipper.
Heads up: Some sellers say Caramel held up their payment, one of them for two weeks.
7. Arrange Delivery
The buyer arranges and pays for shipping, or collects the car in person. BaT Shipping gives instant quotes on the listing page for pickup and drop-off in the contiguous 48 states, and it books a transporter only after you confirm the buyer has paid you in full.
Have every item the listing promised ready to go with the car: manuals, service records, spare parts and extra keys. Send important documents by certified, trackable mail rather than in the car.
What Can You Expect to Get?
Prices on Bring a Trailer vary a lot with what you’re selling. It sells over 900 cars a week, mostly classic, collector, exotic and enthusiast vehicles, and your price depends on the car’s rarity, condition and paperwork, and on which bidders are watching that week.
Recent Bring a Trailer Results
| Vehicle | Status | Sale Price |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300TI | Sold | $28,750 |
| 2016 Porsche Cayenne | Sold | $28,050 |
| 1952 Citroen Traction Avant 15 Six | No Reserve – Sold | $48,000 |
| 1970 Fiat 500F Jolly Conversion | No Reserve – Sold | €20,000 |
| 1970 Land Rover 88 Series IIA Santana | No Reserve – Sold | $13,250 |
| 2011 Ferrari 458 Italia | Sold | $166,000 |
See 22 more results
| Vehicle | Status | Sale Price |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 Ferrari 328 GTS | Sold | $107,000 |
| Pratt & Miller 2008 Chevrolet Corvette C6RS | Premium – Bid to | $170,000 |
| 1980 Porsche 928 | Sold | $19,950 |
| 1968 Chrysler Town & Country | Sold | $19,000 |
| Coyote-Powered Ford Mustang GT Convertible by Revology | Sold | $200,000 |
| 2012 Aston Martin Virage Volante | Sold | $55,888 |
| 1977 Kawasaki KZ400 | No Reserve – Sold | $5,000 |
| Mustang Trail Machine | No Reserve – Sold | $2,850 |
| 235-Powered 1950 Chevrolet 3100 Flatbed 4-Speed | Sold | $19,250 |
| 10k-Mile 2008 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 3LZ | No Reserve – Sold | $46,250 |
| 29k-Mile 1985 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe | No Reserve – Sold | $10,800 |
| 1970 Pontiac GTO Convertible | No Reserve – Sold | $36,750 |
| 2013 Rolls-Royce Ghost | Bid to | $73,250 |
| 13k-Mile Supercharged 2005 Chevrolet SSR 6-Speed | Alumni – Sold | $33,000 |
| 1929 Ford Model A Roadster Pickup | No Reserve – Alumni – Sold | $20,250 |
| 1979 Toyota Corolla 2-Door Sedan 5-Speed | No Reserve – Sold | $10,750 |
| Bally Evel Knievel Pinball Machine | No Reserve – Sold | $7,101 |
| 6k-Mile 2010 Ferrari California | Sold | $94,000 |
| 7k-Mile 2016 Dodge Viper SRT ACR Extreme | Bid to | $211,111 |
| 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser FZJ80 | Sold | $11,501 |
| 24k-Mile 2001 BMW 325Ci Convertible | Sold | $13,500 |
| 6.0L Vortec-Powered 1971 GMC Jimmy 4×4 | Bid to | $85,000 |
What this tells us:
- No reserve doesn’t mean a low price: a 1952 Citroen Traction Avant sold for $48,000 and a 10k-mile 2008 Corvette Z06 for $46,250, both at no reserve
- A high bid isn’t a sale: four cars here ended “Bid to”, below their reserve, including a Dodge Viper ACR bid to $211,111
- BaT sells more than cars: a 1977 Kawasaki motorcycle and a pinball machine are among these results
Bring a Trailer Reviews – What Other Sellers Say?
| Platform | Bring a Trailer Rating | Good | Bad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,863 total reviews) | Staff is helpful and listings reach serious buyers | Getting support after problems is difficult |
| Trustpilot | 1.4 out of 5 stars (145 total reviews) | Little praise; one seller still calls selling there kind of fun | Pressure to list without reserves, Caramel payment delays |
| Reddit Reviews | Mixed | Good platform if your listing gets accepted with a reserve | Inconsistent buyer vetting, limited dispute help |
Google ★ 4.6 · 1,863
Trustpilot ★ 1.4 · 145
Reddit mixed
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Common Questions About Selling on Bring a Trailer
What types of vehicles sell best on BaT?
Classic, collector, exotic and enthusiast cars, from sellers anywhere in the world. BaT also auctions motorcycles, boats, 4x4s, ATVs, parts and automobilia.
How long does the listing process take?
Usually a few weeks from submission to a live Classic auction, then the 7 days of the auction itself. BaT replies to a submission within about two business days. Plus takes a little longer, because the photo shoot has to be booked, and a White Glove auction takes about three weeks to produce.
What are the listing fees?
Sellers pay $99 for Classic service or $429 for Plus service (which includes professional photography). White Glove service for major collections costs a flat $2,500 per vehicle.
Buyers pay a 5% fee on cars with a $250 minimum and $7,500 cap. For motorcycles, tractors, parts, and memorabilia, the buyer fee is 10% with a $4,000 cap. Sellers don’t pay any commission on the sale price.
Can I set my own reserve price?
Not on your own. You ask for a reserve when you submit, and the figure is agreed with BaT, which can turn the car down if the two of you are too far apart. Some cars it lists only at no reserve.
What happens if the winning bidder doesn’t pay?
BaT bans the bidder and keeps their buyer’s fee, and none of that fee comes to you. In the cases sellers describe, BaT relisted the car, once at no charge, rather than selling it to the second-highest bidder.
Don’t cancel the sale yourself because a buyer is slow to pay: one seller who did was banned from the site.
How are vehicle condition issues handled?
Disclose every known issue in the listing: BaT relies on you for accurate information about the car. Bidders ask about condition in the public comments, and can use the Contact Seller button to arrange a viewing or a test drive.
Can I cancel my auction once it starts?
No. BaT doesn’t cancel auctions, and while yours runs, the car can’t be advertised anywhere else. Sellers who refuse to sell after the auction ends are typically barred from further activity on the site.
What documentation do I need?
Service records, ownership history, receipts for any restoration or modification work, and the title. If the car has a loan, know the payoff amount: you cover any shortfall between the winning bid and what you owe. BaT adds a free Carfax report to the listing of a 1981 or later car.
How are international sales handled?
BaT accepts cars from sellers anywhere in the world, and the buyer is responsible for shipping, taxes and registration. BaT Shipping runs only between addresses in the contiguous 48 states, and Verified Checkout only when the buyer and seller are both in the US, so an overseas sale is paid and shipped directly between the two of you.
Is there a minimum value for listed vehicles?
No. BaT publishes no minimum, and the results on this page include a 1977 Kawasaki motorcycle that sold for $5,000. What decides it is whether BaT picks your car from the submissions it gets.
Can dealers list on BaT?
Yes. BaT lists cars from dealers as well as private sellers, and its White Glove service takes licensed retail dealers, who send a copy of their dealer license. Verified Checkout is for private-party sales only, so a dealer’s sale doesn’t go through it.
How are disputes resolved?
Mostly between you and the buyer. BaT’s terms make every purchase a deal between the two of you, with any refund owed by the seller, not BaT. When a buyer complains to BaT, it checks the claim against your listing and refunds no more than its own fee, so what you disclosed in the listing is what a dispute turns on.
What happens if my vehicle doesn’t sell?
You and the highest bidder get one round of offers, 24 hours each, or BaT may pay the difference to your reserve under Make-Whole. If neither happens, the auction closes with the reserve not met, and BaT generally won’t relist the car, because a listing gets the most interest when it’s new to the market.
What is Verified Checkout and is it mandatory?
Only if the buyer picks it. Verified Checkout is BaT’s payment and title service, run by Caramel, a licensed dealer, and once the buyer chooses it you complete the sale through it rather than take a direct wire. It’s only for private-party sales with the buyer and seller both in the US.
Caramel’s wire to you carries a $25 fee. When it isn’t handling the title, you can choose a bank transfer instead, where the instant option costs 0.5%, up to $100.
Is Bring a Trailer legitimate?
Yes. Bring a Trailer has run since 2007, is part of Hearst, and sells over 900 cars a week. It has a B rating from the Better Business Bureau and answers the complaints filed there. Sellers’ complaints are about reserves, slow support and buyers who didn’t pay, not about scams.
Bring a Trailer Review
Bring a Trailer is our 2026 recommended pick for classic and collector cars, with a huge audience of over 700,000 registered users. Listing cost and time to sell pull the score down, as seller fees run $99 to $429, or $2,500 for White Glove, and a listing usually takes a few weeks to go live.
Product Brand: Bring a Trailer
4.3
Pros
- Huge audience of car enthusiasts who want to buy collector vehicles
- Rare and unique cars tend to get strong bidding wars
- Your listing reaches buyers all around the world not just locally
- Professional auction specialists write your listing for you
Cons
- Seller fees run from $99 to $429, or $2,500 for White Glove
- A listing usually takes a few weeks to go live after you submit
- Sellers report being pushed to list without a reserve price
Article Update History
Verified Checkout, the block on off-platform deals and slow listing approvals added from recent seller feedback.
Originally posted and shared with our readers.
Sources
"Bring A Trailer Reviews" Accessed Jan. 17, 2026
"Bring A Trailer Reviews" Accessed Jan. 17, 2026
"Bring A Trailer Reviews" Accessed Jan. 17, 2026
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