Quote:
Originally Posted by JST
Yes--and while I'm rarely a fan of the concept of "caveat emptor," since it's often used as a get out of jail free card for people to commit fraud, in a case like this...caveat emptor. The people who have bid that car up in the face of so much uncertainty about its history have no one to blame but themselves.
The downside of the BaT model is that while there are a lot of experts, there are also a lot of people looking for things to nitpick. You've got to spend some time there weeding out who is who.
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I have obviously paid attention to the BaT auctions for cars I have an interest in - and especially, have an example in my garage (Mustang, E9, E23 and E38 mostly).
For the E9's that have crossed BaT there have been a wide variety of values for their auctions. Not all the discussions are on BaT that explain this. The E9 forum often has a fair bit of detailed info on the car that BaT does not. Either info on the car's history, previous or current owner or just what we see on the auction.
For the E9's - I have known a couple of these cars myself - informally.
From my standpoint - I feel better about posting on the E9 board than BaT sometimes. Depends on what I want to say - and if it is something I know personally or have known indirectly from other persons.
For the cars I have bid on (E23 and E39 M5 specifically) - I have found online forums that are geared towards them and seen what has been posted there (if anything) regarding these auctions. I was surprised how much is out there talking about the auctions on BaT cars... at least for the cars I have looked at.
Regarding the M3 that is on BaT now, I wonder what is on the other forums that may provide more 'color' to this auction. What I read above discussing the M3 seems pretty serious. Odd that BaT just recommended reducing the reserve instead of pulling the auction totally.