Dennis R. Cliff

Another good point concerning BaT is that their auctions on the internet are viewed worldwide. The person who placed high bid on my car and wired the funds to my bank lives in France. He does speak English however. My auction had a photo of a very thick sheaf of invoices, receipts and other records of the car. Part of the 152 photos were scans of these documents so the buyer could read what was done to the car and the date of service and what it cost. BaT promotes honest auctions and the many photos reinforce a seller's honesty.

bbinder

I sold my 1987 911 on BaT and it was an easy and pleasant experience. Yes, I had to apply to,have the car accepted for auction, and took a zillion photos based on BaTs recommendations. I paid to have a ppi done prior to the auction and posted the report with the auction. The ppi actually dinged my car in a couple of ways that I disagreed with, but my effort to post the ppi showed the level of transparency that I was looking for. During the auction, I did get some private emails that offered to make side deals and cut BaT out of the action (which I ignored). Another email asked if I would void the results if he won and then decided he did not like the car once he saw it (I said no...). The car ended up selling for approximately what I thought that it should, and I did not have to deal with tire kickers or low ball offers.

groovzilla

I'm fairly certain BAT will eventually be ruined in a similar way Ebay has gone downhill.
I see many dealer cars on BAT now and I believe the premium prices are due to the Venue still being seen as a more special "car enthusiast's" site.
Lately is has turned into a bitch session in the comment section w/stupid comments by know-it-all's/wanna-be buyers with no life or money.
All good things eventually get ruined.

sandwedge

Well, I guess I'm different then. All I want from the seller is maybe 10 pictures to give me a general idea of whether or not the car is close to what I'm looking for. 5 of the exterior and 5 of the interior plus any and all maint. records and a Carfax report will do just fine. The rest will be between me and a third party inspector. Sorry but there are enough horror stories out there where I don't trust the seller's representation no matter how many pictures he posts. And as for paint meter readings by the seller, I would just politely tell him/her to save themselves some time since I will have that done during the PPI.

It almost seems like BAT is trying to eliminate the PPI process by having the sellers provide this massive amount of information about what they're selling. Would be nice if it worked but how many buyers have enough confidence in the sellers out there to forego a PPI just because they're provided with a truckload of info about the car? As I said earlier, when Porsche dealerships fraudulently certifies cars that have no business being certified but should be sold at wholesale value at auction, where's the rational to put complete trust in a private seller's representation of his/her car?

lcrain

I would have a very hard time convincing myself to buy a car on BAT. Have been burned before on a car that I laid my eyes on and drove but did not get a PPI. That said, BAT is the clear venue to sell certain cars for premium prices. BAT has no vested interest in whether you get a PPI or not. They are providing a venue. It is not unheard of for sellers to get a PPI of their car before the auction and make that information available. You can always get a PPI on the car during the auction. Ultimately it is up to the buyer to do the right amount of due diligence on a big ticket item like this. Which is why I would have a hard time buying a car on the site. Whether you have enough information or not, BAT brings some impressive prices. Not on all makes and models, but there are a lot of enthusiasts that get on the site regularly looking for the next toy.

gtvr6

I bought my car through BaT and it was a positive experience for me. I think people shopping for a Porsche and other high end cars demand as much information as possible and BaT is able to deliver on this through their listing, pictures and the comments. The comments bring out questions that other potential buyers may not even consider. The responses from an active sellers also helps the process significantly. As for eliminating the PPI process, people have requested PPIs and BaT actually welcome the seller to getting one done to add a level of confidence. a PPI. I never thought I'd buy a car through an auction process but in the 7 days which the listing was up, I felt I knew enough about the car and its history to buy it. No regrets.

That said, If you are going to buy a car through BaT, don't be that guy asking for a PPI with 7 hours to go.

sandwedge

So when do you get to do the PPI with BAT? Days or a week before the auction closes or after you already bought the car with some kind of cancellation clause? I like to do the PPI the day I commit to buy the car and make the commitment contingent on no issues discovered.

gtvr6

Some sellers know this is a common BaT question (probably right after "has the IMS bearing been addressed") and may have one done prior to offering the car. If not, there is a "Contact Seller" button and you can request a PPI. Then you could arrange the PPI in a similar fashion as if you were buying the car from a private seller. From there, this can go a few different ways. The seller could offer to pay for it and then he would post the results for all bidders to see. Most likely, he expect you to pay for it but then would keep the PPI private. The only thing is the later in the auction process, the harder it gets so if a car you like pops up, the bidders really should decide if this is a car they want and ask for the PPI as soon as possible (and not with 4 hours left). Some bidders/buyer's may not do a PPI - I did not. My car was a high mileage 2005 997 being sold through a known and respected seller on BaT so I had trusted him. I felt the price was low so I chanced it and so far (almost 3 years later) I'm happy. The car I received was as presented. I had plans to do a full work up on the car and have the IMS Bearing addressed and clutch replaced when I got it so I wasn't too worried. My mechanic checked the entire car and it was a solid car. The bonus, when he went to replace the bearing, it already had an IMS Bearing in it.

I know people tend to put a lot of faith in the PPI, but the reality is there have been plenty of horror stories where the PPI missed obvious problems that should have caught.

sandwedge

Great explanation. Thank you. And I agree that a PPI is not the holy grail. Obvious defects are missed all the time so I think the best bet is to find a shop with a solid reputation or better yet, recommended by Rennlisters who have used them before. As I've said before, as long as the largest Porsche dealerships in the country CPO cars that should be sold wholesale at auction, who can you trust to forego a PPI short of a close friend or a relative?

TractControlOff

BaT is a great platform and I know it works for many buyers and sellers. When I was selling my 993 (~ 18 months ago), I reached out, they agreed to list my car but wanted a ridiculously low reserve ($10k less than what I had requested). I understand it may have gotten a number close to what I suggested/wanted, but I couldn't chance selling the car that cheap. They were not willing to negotiate the reserve to where I felt comfortable moving forward and a month later, I sold the car for the number I wanted elsewhere - within $1k of the reserve I suggested to BaT.

So definitely not looking to bash the site - in fact I like it, but in my experience, they simply wanted their money for a car sold and were not willing to reach a fair reserve with me.

Big Swole

I've heard the same about their "reserve" policy.
That'd be the only thing holding me back in the future to sell there.

INTMD8

Agreed. I've sold a few cars on there and it went well. A few they were way off on what we each thought was a fair reserve.

993 I had they wanted reserve in the low 30's, I traded it in for low 40's.

68 Charger they wanted low 40's reserve. I sold it to a dealer for just under 60.

57 Cadillac, wanted a reserve in the 30's. Sold on ebay for 85.

loungin

Thinking of selling my 2012 997.2 C2S, maybe on BaT. But a search of recent 997.2s sold doesn't look too encouraging. What reserve do you think they will demand for something like a 2012 997.2 C2S, 56k miles?

Do you think the plus service where they include the photographer for $349 is worth it?

I'm having a hard time getting exposure right, especially interior shots. I'm not sure how they're doing it on the site where both the interior and exterior are visible. For me either the interior is super dark, or the outside is super saturated, and the interior is blurry. Does BaT suggest which angles you need pictures of, or are you basically just blanketing the car with photos?

I have a bunch of spare maintenance parts and some tools (e.g. 997.2 clutch bleeder valve tool) to include with the car. Do you think BaT will accommodate those in the listing or just leave those out? Would they include the full list of accessories added to the car?

SoCal-NSX

I think the problem with the newer Porsche's selling on that site is the market saturation and is why we're seeing the RNM's and the lower bids winning on BaT game thread.

I personally would never pay someone $350 to take a bunch of pictures that I could easily do myself....even if you don't have a great camera a modern smart phone has a good enough camera and there are plenty of free photo edit apps to help create great pics. If you were local to Temecula I would gladly help you out with taking pics.... I've taken thousand of my cars over the years I think I could be a pro by now

finding a great location with with great lighting is key to taking the best car photos

yes, take photos of everything that comes with the car...spare parts, window sticker, books, cover, etc....it all helps

loungin

Thanks for the offer, unfortunately for me I'm in the Bay Area.

What time of day is good for lighting? Obviously diffuse is best but I don't think that's going to happen here for several months.

What kind of backdrop works well with a silver car? Is forrest ok or is that too shaded/busy? Mountaintop?