Take a trailer to beat the big auction companies in sales last year

The sum of $829 Million

Like some automakers moving to an online-based vehicle shopping process used car companies are also moving in the digital direction. Online auctions have surpassed live auctions. At least, that’s what it seems with one online car bidding platform.

Bring A Trailer is “a digital auction platform” and an enthusiast community. It reported that $828.7million was spent on cars in 2021. This reflects an increase of 108 percent over its 2020 result, which was $398 million in 2020. BaT was also a far cry from the nearest live auction company and the digital sector.

Mecum, one the biggest live auction houses worldwide, reported that it sold cars worth $578 million in the last days of 2021. RM Sotheby’s, another major player in this segment, reported that cars were sold for $407 million in 2021. Bloomberg reported that Barrett-Jackson had $191 million in sales, while Gooding & Co. came close with $150 million. Bonhams numbers are not yet available, but it is highly unlikely that they did better than BaT.

Big auctions will always be a business. Randy Nonnenberg (BaT President and Co-Founder) said that they put on a huge show. People are discovering that we offer a highly efficient way to [buy or sell cars], if you are looking for a more personal, simplified way to do this.

Hagerty, a data firm and classic car insurer, shows that online auctions have outperformed live auction sales for first time in 2021. Last year, approximately 20,000 vehicles were sold digitally in North America. This compares to 16,000 live-sold cars. The first number is a significant jump of 107 per cent year-over-year in online sales across the continent.