by The automotive world has been undergoing serious changes over the last ten years, and now these transformations have touched the classic car market. Previously, this segment was considered quite stable, but now the situation has changed dramatically.
A prime example is a recent incident with a Toyota. After a series of successful sales of this brand’s pickups for big money on Bring a Trailer, one of the models suddenly fell short of the expected price level. The dissatisfied seller did not hesitate to express his emotions in the auction comments.
This 1982 Toyota Pickup was in excellent condition. It was equipped with a practically new 2.4-liter 22R Stroker engine, a manual 5-speed transmission, Old Man Emu shock absorbers, a two-range transfer case, a protective grille and a Warn winch, as well as a set of spare parts. Similar models had recently gone under the hammer on this platform for over $40,000.
However, the auction representatives seemed to doubt the high value of this particular specimen. As the seller confessed in the comments, he asked to set a reserve of $17,000, but the organizers refused.
In response to a user’s question: “Why did you agree to a no-reserve auction if you expected to get $30,000?”, the car owner replied: “I wanted to set a minimum of 17 thousand, but BaT did not agree. In the end, they could have paid me the difference of those 2 thousand. Long story short, I will never use their services again and would not recommend them to anyone.”
BaT Photos
The seller learned an important lesson: a no-reserve auction truly does not guarantee a minimum amount. In this case, the losses amounted to about $14,000. According to the man, he bought the pickup for $17,000 and invested another $12,000 into it before the sale, but received only $15,000. Not the best result.
Sometimes, no-reserve auctions lead to fierce bidding because buyers know the car will definitely be sold. But it also happens that the seller receives much less than expected. In this situation, there were other options: to ignore the auction’s advice, choose a different platform for the sale, or find a buyer privately. This case has become an urgent piece of advice for everyone.
