The Daily Vroom

Good morning, Vroomers!

Time for a quick update on some of the standout cars we’ve covered recently—and how they fared when the hammer finally dropped.

Remember that 187-mile 2001 Mercedes-Benz SL60 that rocketed to $185K on day one? The excitement fizzled out, with just one more bid in the final seconds, landing at $186K—still a wild number for an R129.

Meanwhile, the 243K-mile 1987 Mercedes-Benz 300TDT put on a show in its last moments, stretching a two-minute finale into 30 and closing at $28K—money well spent.

And as for SBX, we wondered if they were finally shifting out of first gear. Turns out… not yet. The big sales didn’t come through. Back to the drawing board.

MARKET LEADERBOARD

💰 The figures shared below don’t count any other sales such as car seats, memorabilia etc… All online auction sites are analyzed to put this leaderboard together.

I only include websites that have sold 5+ vehicles in the chart below.

YESTERDAY’S TOP 5 SALES

Want to dive deeper into any of these listings? Just click on the car to take you directly to the listing.

BaT’s European Expansion: More Than Just a Shipping Problem

It's becoming clear that Bring a Trailer’s European auctions need European buyers to succeed. While the platform has nailed online auctions in the U.S., shipping concerns—and, frankly, a lack of familiarity—are keeping many American bidders on the sidelines. Even when an experienced seller like 1600veloce is listing a car, buyers hesitate. And for less seasoned European sellers, the process isn’t always as smooth as it should be.

Take the Moto Guzzi GTV 500 with a sidecar, a truly rare post-war piece of Italian engineering. It reached €6,600 RNM.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Fiat Tipo 1.4 DGT barely moved the needle, stalling at €300 with only two bids. Yes, it’s a humble commuter car, but in the right setting, it could have found a stronger following. Instead, it highlighted the challenge: if BaT can’t bring in European bidders, less mainstream cars won’t stand a chance.

So how does BaT actually build a European audience? That’s a conversation for another day—and one that’s already happening behind the scenes. But one thing’s for sure: U.S. buyers alone won’t be enough to make European sales a success.

Don’t forget, it’s still VERY early days for their European operation and they’ve already sold 10+ European cars this year like this Special Wishes 1987 Porsche 911 Turbo Slant Nose Coupe. No doubt lots more to come.

Auctions vs. "Offer Accepted"

Something interesting is happening in the collector car market. While scrolling through our platform leaderboard, one thing becomes crystal clear - we're seeing way less variety in terms of platforms than this time last year. The market has consolidated to basically four major players who consistently sell 5 or more vehicles a day. Let's dig into what's really going on here.

First, the obvious: ‘some’ platforms are struggling. Not just to sell cars, but even to get listings in the first place. We're seeing previously active sites barely hitting five listings a day, let alone five sales.

But here's where it gets interesting - there's a growing trend of "winning offer," "offer accepted," and "sold after auction" tags popping up across platforms. It's like the industry is quietly admitting that sometimes the traditional auction format isn't sealing the deal.

Now, here's the tricky part: transparency. When BaT introduced their "make one offer" feature last year, they did it right - you can see the offer amount and who made it. But on many other platforms? Good luck. Some just throw up a "sold after" tag with no price, others might show the offer but keep the buyer anonymous. As a market observer, it's becoming increasingly difficult to verify if these sales are what they claim to be.

This shift isn't random. Platforms are clearly identifying a gap in the market - buyers who'd rather skip the auction drama and go straight to purchase. But from what I've seen, most of these "offer accepted" cases are actually auction leftovers rather than dedicated listings.

The big question is: does this signal a larger market shift? From my conversations in the industry, the auction model still reigns supreme. People generally prefer the transparency and excitement of competitive bidding over classified listings or make-offer systems. The data backs this up - auction platforms continue to dominate online sales.

But here's the thing about the collector car market - nothing is set in stone. Will this trend toward alternative sale methods grow? Will we see platforms develop more sophisticated offer systems? Spring is coming, and with it usually comes more inventory. Maybe we'll see smaller platforms emerge with innovative approaches to moving metal.

For now, though, the market has spoken: four major players (in terms of consistent sale numbers), one dominant format, and a growing experimental edge of alternative sales methods. The real test will be seeing which of these experiments actually sticks.

*Added note

Hagerty might not have the daily listing numbers, but they have recently added two different collections with 5 & 6 cars respectively, all no reserve auctions. Collections aren’t easy to come by, but they always seem worth it!

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