The Daily Vroom

Good morning Vroomers!

Online auctions racked up just over $10 million in vehicle sales yesterday — a barnstorming total that proves the market still knows how to roar.

PCarMarket took the crown with a 319-mile 2011 Porsche 997.2 GT3 RS 4.0 that hammered for $1,001,917 — a result that’ll surely please their new owners and mark a milestone under fresh leadership.

Also in today’s Vroom:

• A $16K turbocharged Crown wagon that quietly crushed expectations

• A 997 Sport Classic that couldn’t escape EU red tape

• And a look at where the market’s heating up — and where it’s hitting walls

Let’s dive in.

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.

Sale of the Day

This is what the JDM crowd calls a proper win. A 1JZ-powered Crown wagon, unmodified, titled in the U.S., and it hammered at $16K.

That’s not bargain-basement money—but for something this clean, this rare, and already stateside, it’s what I believe is solid value.

These Athlete V wagons blend understated executive vibes with legit turbo performance. You’ve got comfort, cargo space, and a factory turbo straight-six under the hood—no wrenching, no swapping, no importing headache. Just turn the key and go.

The comments were buzzing with people hoping to stretch just a little further. Some backed out, some hit their limit. But the consensus was you won’t find many this clean at this price again.

A reminder that JDM doesn’t have to mean stripped-out or wild—sometimes it means quietly excellent.

Blocked at the Border

This 2010 Porsche 911 Sport Classic should’ve been a done deal.

One of just 250 built. Only 271 kilometers from new. Ducktail, double-dome, manual, Powerkit, Espresso leather — the holy grail of 997s. Condition? Museum-grade. Spec? Flawless.

And yet it stalled at €450,000 — RNM.

The car wasn’t the problem. The cost structure was.

Everyone loved it. The comments were full of admiration. The seller engaged directly, offered post-sale storage, and tried to clear the path to export. But this auction was never going to land cleanly in the U.S.

Importing it now would trigger a 25% tariff on top of the hammer price

Under the U.S. import policy enacted in April 2025, all imported vehicles face a 25% tariff. For a car valued at €450,000 (~$486,000 USD), that’s $121,500 in duty alone — pushing the total well north of $600K once you factor in VAT handling, shipping, and customs.

And the seller clearly wanted more than €450K, meaning the final cost could’ve been even higher for a U.S. buyer.

Even worse — you can’t legally drive it in the U.S.

Because it’s under 25 years old, the car isn’t eligible for the standard import exemption. That leaves two options:

• A Show or Display exemption (limited mileage, long approval wait, no guarantees), or

• Full federalization, which is expensive and often not even viable for 997s.

So you're paying supercar money for something you can’t register, title, or use.

This wasn’t a soft market. It was a blocked one.

The interest was there. The community showed up. But the structure — tariff, legal barriers, logistical cost — made the car effectively unsellable to U.S. buyers.

And it exposes something bigger

While the car was listed in Germany, it ran on Bring a Trailer, a platform still trying to build traction in Europe. A listing like this should’ve activated regional buyers. Maybe BaT did run local marketing — but if so, it didn’t break through.

And if they didn’t, that’s a miss. European sellers need support right now, and BaT needs a stronger buyer base on the continent. Cars like this can’t rely on American demand alone — especially when U.S. regulations and tariffs are working against them.

Because if a zero-mile 997 Sport Classic can’t sell on BaT Europe... what can?