How Rob Dietz sold $175M of Cars on BaT

What's up everybody? Welcome to the

Smoking Tire podcast. Today's episode is

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etc., patreon.com/thesmokingtirepodcast

is where you do it. All right. On this

episode of the podcast, Rob Deetsz, aka

Wob is in studio. Rob is the uh biggest

or second biggest uh bring a trailer

seller of all time going back to the

very first week they started offering

auctions. and we're talking about

strategies for maximizing your return,

trends in the market, all kinds of

interesting stories with the buying and

selling of cars online that are now

totally ubiquitous. So, this is going to

be real interesting. Everyone, be real

nice to my new friend Rob Deetsz on the

Smoking Tire podcast.

>> All right. Well, [ __ ] welcome to the

program.

>> Thank you so much.

>> Making the drive all the way from the

valley in the middle of the day. Woo

boy. in that giant [laughter] rig. It's

>> the best. It's the best,

>> dude. Rob rolls up. Is it a 2500 or a

3500?

>> It's a Power Wagon 2500 with like a tent

and a tire on top of the tent.

>> It's like 12 ft tall.

>> It's so enormous.

>> What at at highway speeds? Is it a a

whistle? [laughter]

>> Actually, it's pretty quiet.

>> Oh, man. That's lucky.

>> Best. It's a marshmallow. The shock

absorbers are non-existent. It's just a

stack of Stay Puffs on [laughter] top of

one another. It's great.

>> Yeah. Well, for the urban jungle that is

the 405 freeway. Yeah. Well, thanks for

coming down, man. I really I appreciate

it. Oh, I did that wrong.

>> Oh, no. What have I done? I'm solo

today. And uh Zach isn't here and I have

to do the I have to do the uh the old

producing. There we go. And I got the

camera angles wrong. Um dude, I was

looking up some stats today. Yeah,

>> you are a real [ __ ] heavy bike

seller. Are you the alltime biggest

seller? I believe you are. Right.

>> So, there's three guys. It's me, Matt

Randle, who's 911R, and uh Anthony

Sarah, who's 600, Veloce. I think Veloce

has got more volume.

>> You have 1,91

listings on Bring a Trailer, which is

[ __ ]

>> I think dollar volume. We're definitely

the highest of of [snorts] anyone on

BAT. I think we're at like 165 $170

million worth of cars we put on Bring a

Trailer. That's a lot.

>> It's so many cars. And the worst part is

I remember I would say I could probably

refer to 95% of them.

>> So, well, that I mean that would be a

fairly savantlike talent.

>> It's useless brain space.

>> But you said when I saw you at our

mutual friend's birthday party the other

day, shout out to Pete. um that that

you're we you go cuz we were talking

about the the processes and all this

kind of stuff cuz I'm I'm doing it real

small time on behalf of a few of my

clients

>> um at at Westside and and you said some

really interesting things but but the

first thing that caught me was you said

>> every one of those comments is really

me.

>> Yeah. And I was like,

that's so many like a lot of comments

>> because we were watching we actually you

just you just had a car that ended

today. A 993 Carrer S.

>> Yeah, it was a cool car.

>> Really cool car. Do you know that I have

an identical car that we're listing and

that Bat said, "Please wait until Wob's

car is done. Ours whatever. Who cares?

Another like six days." Our It's the

same color Aero kit C2S car. So, we were

waiting, you know, to see what yours

did. Yeah.

>> Um and uh and I was watching, you know,

the the comment in this one. This was a

heavily commented, heavily watched

auction for a popular car.

>> And uh the volume at which you were

commenting was by is pretty

extraordinary.

>> It's important. It's the most important

thing. You see these sellers where they

just don't do anything and you know and

there's just no enthusiasm. Right. Well,

you clearly I mean the other thing is is

is the new way to to look at selling

cars, which is very interesting that you

pointed out the other night is is sort

of cars as content. Meaning the the

listing

>> isn't a traditional listing. It's now a

piece of content subject to the same

sort of algorithmic trends of any other

piece of content.

>> Yep.

>> Which is a crazy a crazy thing to think

about. It's not just that. It's you're

subjected to the same things that any

forum or video or any other piece of

content would have of opinions that may

be verifiable or completely off base or

>> that's intentionally meant to harm, you

know. So, it's it's a little sampling of

the world.

>> And it's

for better or worse, it is like a fullon

social hierarchy. like there is like the

number of thumbs up you've gotten, you

know, cumulative lifetime is next to

your name. And when you're a person that

is representing another person's car, uh

if it's a car you're consigning, if it's

a car that's my customer's car that I'm

just presenting for them, um you you

can't you can't risk the risk being seen

as uncooperative because because then

it's like now you're because every every

listing is an audition for your next

listing. It's in this in this votable

social socially immobile sort of system.

>> Yeah, you hit the nail on the head

because it's you're you're only as good

as the last thing you sold, right? And

especially even the way Bring a Trailer

structures it. We'll use those them as

the as the example. You can only go back

so far in a portfolio to see what you've

sold. So, two weeks ago, I could have

sold, you know, a 300 SLR and set some

crazy record on it. And then if the next

week I've sold, you know, some

off-the-shelf car or whatever. Oh,

here's the history. Here's the cars. So,

it's not just the cars, but then the

content. So,

>> what have you sold for me lately?

>> Yeah. Exactly. And then how did that

auction go? And then if you carry in

that wrong enthusiasm, I've seen it

happen to people. They put a couple cars

for sale, one auction goes off the rails

a little bit, and they go in the next

auction, people go, "Well, look what

happened in his last car. Watch out."

And so, there's really a lot of thought

that goes into managing it the right

way. And going back to being the sole

voice of content,

>> I know every opinion I've ever written

on there because it's been my opinion

every single post ever on the trailers.

So, but I think it's important because

then there's no crossover. I can always

say, "Hey, in the past I used to feel

this way about this car, but now I've

changed my opinion."

Fine. We all do is we get exposed to

different cars. But now if I say, you

know, this car is the worst thing I've

ever driven in my entire life. Well,

guess what? It's it's still the same,

right? It's my voice. So

>> the So for me, when I'm, you know,

helping other people list their cars,

I'm able to be pretty dispassionate

about what the car, you know, is and

isn't. And I find that that to my

customer, that's an advantage. And I

find that to the buyer, that's probably

an advantage. But it but that may be

second tier strategy when it comes to

the content curation portion of the of

the listing, right? like you want it to

sort of be like a reality show

competition or like a murder mystery

show that sort of like builds tension to

that final 10 minutes of bidding where

you want to get the frenzy going, right?

Yeah.

>> And so it's it's like uh I found that

like one of your one of your moves

that's like real money is like why give

away what you can sell, which is my

favorite line from uh uh the great white

hype. Um, why put the service records in

the listing when you can put [laughter]

them in the comments?

>> We were talking about this last night.

>> That's dude, that's the move. I mean,

it's that's the really the move. That's

that because that when you put it in

when you put an image in the comments on

these auction sites, it [snorts] sends

an alert to all the watchers.

>> Yeah.

>> And so you can just repeatedly ping

these people throughout the week. It's a

very proactive thing you have to be

doing.

>> Yeah. Well, I mean, let's look at it

like anything else, right? The the the

more timely something is, the more

interest level there is, right? So, some

[snorts] of these premium auctions that

are almost two weeks long. You put

everything out there in two weeks. I I

don't remember what I did two days ago,

let alone two weeks ago. So, you forget

about cars or, oh, is that still live?

Oh, so getting getting people back into

an auction takes content. Takes people,

oh, what did he post? Oh, what's new?

What's fresh? And it keeps you have to

keep adding information. You have to

keep adding depth and and breadth to the

car and why you'd want to buy it.

Otherwise, it's just a static ad. And

it's almost no different than just a car

gurus or autotrader ad where it's just

content that's there and you can digest

it at any time.

>> Well, and sure. And like to be to be

fair, like if it's an if there's an

individual selling a car

>> or or a professional selling a car,

being honest and upfront and putting all

the information in the listing,

>> that's not the worst thing you could do.

>> I mean, that that that'll probably get

you 90 to 95% of the way to your goal.

It's just that you end up with that

flurry of activity on day one and then

you have nothing at all for 6 days and

then the flurry at the end. And so what

the what the the intent is is to manage

the flow of energy over the week so that

people are constantly reminded that this

thing is not only still there but ending

on this day and time

>> and and the information is always

growing. There's always a little bit

more to learn about the car. So, it for

for a private seller approaching it to

sell their car, I would say probably a

little bit better to approach it with a

much more holistic listing to begin

with. I'd say for people that have been

around the block a little bit, metering

that out and being able to navigate the

enthusiasm. Sometimes it's a way to

reset the tone on something, right?

Sometimes it's a way to hold back pieces

that can be important not only to for

add content, but maybe to redirect,

right? Maybe you've got a car that

doesn't have a ton of records to it and

people go, "Oh, where are the records?

Where are the records?" And then you can

introduce the records and be able to

start speaking, creating the dialogue

going forward to here's the records we

do have and here's what we've learned

about the car and the inspections and so

forth. You can redirect

>> tone as it can shift sometimes.

Sometimes the tone is just like, "Oh,

this is the best." And there's other

times where people are really trying to

chisel away. And I love both of them. I

think they're both fun for different

reasons, but you have to approach them

from a different perspective. And if

you've already given everyone

everything, then they are redirecting

and toning. You're just kind of having

to But no, no, no, but wait, no, but but

wait, hang on. Let me let me tell you a

little bit more about it. I think

there's a way to do it where you can be

a little bit more involving and add more

depth to the car.

>> How how much investment are you putting

into personally inspecting? Like, are

you are you doing the equivalent of that

$500 PPI on every single car so that you

would never be surprised by someone

else's PPI? Cuz like that that cuts into

your margin quite substantially. It

does. But what we're doing is we've got

a 172 point checklist that for all

intent and purposes is a you know

franchise dealer PPI checklist. We have

it. We record it for every car. I'm

always hesitant to post it because it's

a nonneutral PPI from a perspective of a

buyer, right? So, what we always say in

our auctions is everyone, please

schedule your PPIs, right? It's the only

real do.

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And now back to the show. I mean, no, my

answer is no.

>> It's, you know, the frustrating part is

that there's a [snorts] lot of people

that want to schedule things that are

not PPIs, that are very time consuming.

Um, oh, I want to look at the car, but

they don't know what they're looking at.

So, they come and they look at it and

they kind of walk around and go, "Wow,

this is cool." and there's an hour of

time spent just kind of circling around

the car, not really doing anything.

Whereas that time could have been spent

better with an actual PPI. And I think

some people are resistant to spending a

few hundred sometimes, especially

because what Bring a Trailer in

particular brought to the market was

this ease and access where you didn't

have to be local and you had this

different level of exposure and

different level of

>> you know think about I mean to their

credit you know think about what bring a

trailer requires versus what it took to

throw a car on Craigslist back in 05 you

know eight shitty [ __ ] pictures and

you know so so you do

I feel like you have enough information.

It's like it's like a Dunning Krueger.

You have just enough information to

think you have all the information.

>> Yeah. Yeah. 100%. 100%.

>> You [snorts] know, it's [ __ ] I'm just

going to vent about this one to you.

When someone

>> When you make it easy to do a PPI, you

you make the car available whenever.

Come do a PPI. Maybe you even recommend

a list of experts locally. Here's four

people. You you pick. One of them comes,

they find a couple of things wrong with

the car.

>> Someone who's been paid to find

something wrong with the car. Find

something wrong with the car.

>> You're a [ __ ] liar now, Rob.

>> That is the only time it's like, bro,

I've made it so easy for you to learn

everything. Like, I don't know

everything. Obviously, the mechanic had

to find this. I don't [ __ ] know.

>> And cars are subjective, too. Here's the

thing. There's certain things that are

objectively measurable, right? the brake

rotors are in this amount of spec or

not, right?

>> Cosmetic is unbelievably subjective. So,

our PPI could note minor stone chips on

the front of the car, right? To another

guy, that could be like serious things.

>> Insta repaint,

>> right? Exactly. Oh, there's stone chips.

Oh, this is the end of the world. So,

that's the biggest reason in my opinion

for PPI, not even the mechanical end.

The mechanical end is easy to quantify,

but now in this world of collectibility,

we're seeing so much focus on cosmetic,

cosmetic, cosmetic paint. Has there ever

been paint? God forbid the car ever got

scratched. Anything anything ever,

>> dude. I hate when a [ __ ] when people

just just dismiss a car cuz it's had the

bumper. Like, do you understand that

every car from 2002 to 2010 that came

with factory or dealer PPF needs a front

end repaint?

>> You cannot remove this [ __ ]

>> It is awful. [laughter] It is awful.

>> I bought my NSX mint 17,000 mi factory

[ __ ] PBF trying to upgrade it. It

peeled a third of the paint off the

bumper. What now? the talking about

conversations that I had to to really

capitulate on. PPF was one of them. On

Bring a Trail, I go, "Oh, God, please

don't pf your cars." And now we're

obviously in a different spot where, you

know,

>> new PPF is different.

>> Yeah, new PPF is great. I But like, oh

my god,

>> God help you. You call a a reputable

shop and you say, "I got to remove uh

factory PPF on a 997 Turbo," they're

going to go jump in a bath of cyanide.

>> It is. [laughter]

Well, you know, talking of the gripes

that are similar to to that would be um

you know, kind of our ongoing Carfax

gripes. And this is a dealerwide thing

where you know, damage, you know,

reported. We had a a funny conversation

the other day. We had a a Mercedes SLR

McLaren edition that we had live had a

damage report on. Now, it's a fully

restored factory car, right? This car

went back to McLaren where they

completely made the McLaren edition. I

don't care if that car was upside down

and on fire before, right? It's a

factory resto. been gone through by the

appropriate people,

>> right? So, but a damage report, okay,

damage reports are a little scratched,

something, you know, simple. So, in

talking to Carfax, we kind of said, you

know, we really got to get this off of

here. This is not the car was never, you

know, damaged in any meaningful way. We

knew all the history of it. There was

never any paintwork. There was never

anything. We knew the history of nothing

ever happened. And so, one of the

responses back to the damage report was

that a damage report can also mean that

the car had some restoration. And we're

like, wait, restoration is now damage.

So that's the next part of it is this

living and breathing off of not only

going back to

>> is there like an insurance scam where

you can you can use, you know, a little

bit of damage to get this spiraling

while you're in there,

>> I'm sure. Well, now there's another one

because of when Ferrari's system went

down a year ago or whatever it was, uh,

they weren't able to process cars that

were in service and cars that had been

there a long time. Some people had taken

advantage of it and then said, "Well,

the car has been there too long, so now

you can have to lemon law my car." And

they were getting out just because the

the their processing uh you know, system

was down. So there's always

>> Is that where all the SF90s came from?

>> Oh [laughter] god, the SF90s. The

neverending SF90s. Why is there so many?

>> It's the Volkswagen Beetle of

>> There are f I mean that's one of many

proofs of uh that being rich doesn't

mean being smart.

>> Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, look at look at how

the markets [snorts] reacted to it.

Especially now Ferrari announced, right,

there's 40% going 2030 they're going to

do 14 new models, right? 40% are going

to be hybrid, 40% are going to be gas,

and 20% electric. So 20% out the window,

right? So they're only making 80% of

what we care about. And then even the

hybrids, we know that's a little and the

market's reacted.

>> They don't want them. Nobody wants them.

>> Did you see Donnie 16M $830,000?

>> Uh yeah. No,

>> that's a hard pass for me. I've driven

one of those. That's a no.

>> But look at where that, you know, 16s.

Everybody wants the most, you know,

>> limited contemporary classics. Everyone

went Ferrari.

>> And that's where everybody wants uh, you

know, why is a is Koig making a

synthetic manual? Why does Pagani not

have screens and they have levers and

[ __ ] you know? Why does uh the the new

Bugatti Torbon has a [ __ ] you know,

watch movement for a gauge cluster? I

mean, they can't they can't run away

from screens and [ __ ] fast enough.

>> I know. It's incredible. Incredible.

Especially in all the touch surfaces and

everything. The the the feel of an

analog car, whatever. Even if it's your

your HVAC controls or your radio

controls.

>> You ever sit in Have you Do you do any

of the fancy schmancy [ __ ]

>> Yeah. I I like it like everybody else,

but I don't do a lot of it. Mostly

because, you know, we'll we'll run a

couple maybe three.

>> That's not what I meant. Sorry. Not sell

fancy cars. I know you sell some fancy

cars. Have you ever been Have you ever

like This is going to sound so Have you

ever sat in a T50 or been around a

Gordon? I've been in a T50.

>> So like T50s are special for like 10,000

different reasons, but one of them is

just the feel of the [ __ ] knobs for

like the windshield wipers is the

greatest most satis. It's every switch

is a Leica camera shutter in a T50.

>> It's one of the most [snorts] ignored

things in cars. And then if we want to

go back to SF90s where everything is

just pressing firm on a flat piece of

nothing and it's it's look, it's not a

bad car either. It's a fun good it's a

it's a good car,

>> but it's not an exciting car.

>> So here's an interesting conundrum then

>> and I'm about to maybe find this out for

myself because I'm about to drive a,000

miles this week in a 918. Okay,

Porsche's 918. So I'm doing an

interesting thing. I'm driving for 5

days, road tripping a new Panamera Turbo

SE hybrid.

>> Okay.

>> And then I give that back and then I do

five more days in a 918. Okay. A 10

years old Porsche hybrid.

>> Yep.

>> So 918s are a perfect example of a car

that should be worth less than its MSRP

despite its rarity

>> because because of what we're just

talking about hybrids and digitization.

And yet they seem to be worth not only

more than their MSRP, but they're

they've appreciated on a level above

some of their contemporaries, which is

wild. It's an interesting car. So I we

just sold two 918s uh this month. Right.

Okay. And so it's been a topic of

conversation, particularly as it

pertains to its relationship to the CR

GT. Right. Right. And so one of the

things that I've noticed the most, Have

you driven a 918?

>> Yes.

>> Okay. I've driven it briefly and I will

have a much more thorough report in two

weeks.

>> I would love to hear back because I love

the 918. I think it is a very seamless

integration of the hybrid system done in

a way that doesn't make you feel like

you're driving something that's being

supplemented too much. It's got one of

the best throttle notes with an exhaust

that's right behind your ear. And it's

it's a chainsaw sometimes, it's a growl

sometimes, it's a hum sometimes, and at

high RPM it's a GT3. It's got all the

right notes to it, especially mid

throttle, 4,000 RPM, it sounds like four

chainsaws all being started behind you.

[laughter] It's lovely.

>> With the CGT, lovely car. We There's no

argument. [snorts] I don't think it's a

good-look car. That's a personal thing.

From a drive perspective, it's

fantastic.

>> Yeah, I love I love the CGT so much.

>> Do you visually, too?

>> It's not It wouldn't make my list of

prettiest. I don't hate it. Uh I I

aesthetically give me a 911 GT1. Uh

please port but but driving it no notes.

Yeah. No notes. So

>> CGT I think will forever be one of these

cars that is damned similar to you know

any other you know the the little

bastard or you know it

>> even if it is a wonderful car to drive

you need to start exploring that car

higher up to be able to really enjoy it

and understand it. There's a lot of guys

that drive them. If they drive them,

maybe they're five, six tents and

they're always just holding back a

little bit. Whether it's the Paul Walker

effect, whether it's the journalistic

effect of these are hard to drive or

whatever the case, but I feel every

owner is always holding back on them a

little bit, particularly now. When they

were newer, it didn't seem that way.

>> Yeah. When when a car is worth [ __ ]

five times its original MSRP, it's it's

too valuable to rip on.

>> But go drive a 918. And that's where the

really big part comes cuz you can go

drive a 918 at 8/10 and go, I'm in total

control of this car and it's a dance and

it's rewarding and I'm not so sitting

there on the edge going, do I need to

worry about this car? Is it going to do

something that I'm not ready for?

>> This is why I always end up voting for

the second place finisher and

performance car of the year is cuz I I

want the psycho car and most people

don't actually want that.

>> Right. And the CGT is lovely, but I

think 918s particular, there's there's

nothing that's followed it, right? At

that trifecta time, it was P1, the La

Ferrari, and the 918, right? Ferrari's

released 75 other cars since. McLaren's

released 275,000 cars since. I don't

even know what McLaren's offering

anymore. And Porsche is still, even in

their advertisements now on their own

site are 918. That's it. That's the last

king of the hill.

>> It's probably the [ __ ] car I'm

driving. It's the blue one that they

still have. It was my car got used for

the Delta shuttle for for [laughter]

about 6 months. [clears throat] It was

pretty funny. Cars the cars put in work.

It's a real workhorse.

>> They are lovely cars and they make sense

why they're going up.

>> I guess when you consider that they are

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And now back to the show. uh that there

really hasn't been a successor whereas

both McLaren is now on its second if not

third or fourth really successor um

ultimate series car and uh and Ferrari

is now on certainly at least two down

the road kind of

>> um F8 is real ugly everything everything

they're making right now is ugly I'm

sorry to say

>> it's I think they're in a tough position

and and this is not a I don't like for I

Ferrari, but I think they're in a really

tough place going forward. And I don't

think people realize how bad it is until

we're going to look back and go, god,

because

>> actually I don't mean to be so harsh.

The 296 is is somewhat pretty. 296 is

all right.

>> 296 is pretty.

>> It's not a car I'd want, but it's it's

pretty.

>> I I'm I'm largely [snorts] agnostic to

it. I don't think any of them are. I

think the spec drives some of the

prettiness a little bit more than

others. I think an offtheshelf spec may

just not be as much pop than a car that

>> dude I think you know I think a lowspec

car in like a subtle color like a a

fairly basic 296 in a blue or a gray

without too much flash on it is like

super pretty actually.

>> Yeah, I think so too. I think the the

new 12cylinding is a pretty car too.

It's

>> in the right color. In the right color.

>> Got to be the right color. It's big. But

all this the special ones all that that

weird F40 thing that weird Tessterosa

thing what what are we doing over here

>> to follow up the [ __ ] SP3 with that

like one of the prettiest cars they've

ever made like damn it's it's it's

>> answering to the shareholder and it's

answering to uh you know kind of the

powers that be and and they have to

create volume now at this point and

they're not Porsche right Porsche is

being substantiated by Volkswagen so you

can have a Macan that lives in three

different iterations you have these cars

where you can spread some of the love

around, but Ferrari's stucker [laughter]

and they're a public company.

>> They can't Yeah. Like no current Ferrari

owner will accept them moving down

market.

>> No.

>> Right. Like or a 911 owner isn't

>> Well, I shouldn't say this. When the

When the Cayenne came out, people were

insulted for a minute and then they all

bought them to drive alongside their

911s. When the Macan came out, people

were like, "Will it be cheap?" And then,

you know, most people ended up being

like, "You know what? that doesn't

actually water the brand down that much.

I doubt Ferrari people would be so kind.

>> You can't do it. You can't do it. And so

that's their their their neverending

problem is that they're going to have to

answer to shareholders. They're going to

have to keep showing year-over-year

growth. And you can only show that by

increasing volume, increasing the amount

of models, and there's only so many ways

you can, you know, put your suit jacket

on as suit pants or put it on and put

your pants on as a shirt, you know. So,

I'm curious. I think they have a tough

road ahead of them. I think they need to

get back to the same roots of where they

used to be, which was a much more analog

experience. And I think they know this,

too, but I think it's a tough road.

>> Insane because you'd think the margins

would be there for them to do stick

shift cars.

>> I know.

>> Like you'd think like you have you guys

made the most legendary shifter in the

[ __ ] history of cars.

>> I know. Incredible, right? [laughter]

And then you look at Porsche. Well, now

their focus has been power, right?

Everything,000 horsepower. And you look

at Porsche who's just been middling

along with 500 something horsepower.

>> 12 years.

>> I know. [laughter] They've had the same

output for 12 years in these cars.

>> Unbelievable.

>> Essentially, they've added I'm sorry. If

you go uh if you go GT3 RS40 2011 to

current car, they've added uh I think

it's 42 horsepower.

>> Wow.

>> 42 in that car.

>> A couple Briggs and Stratton.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, having said

that, the new I just drove the new Turbo

S [ __ ] hybrid and it's, you know,

zillion horse. That's cool.

>> See, that's I I start losing it there.

I've driven stuff. I've driven

everything that's unbelievably fast. It

comes down to experience. It's

experiential.

>> No, there's no there actually So, the uh

I' I've said this in the last couple

shows, but just for you, the reason to

buy a Turbo S now is not for that speed

because it isn't [ __ ] usable versus

the next two or three fastest versions.

uh the 400volt hybrid system which you

can get in the G in the GTS also

>> unbelievable body control.

>> Really?

>> Yeah. Okay. So, if you actually wanted

to use one as a car a lot

>> in an area that had not great roads,

>> man, the the envelope of talent of that

suspension system.

>> Okay.

>> It's nice. It's nice. You can get it in

the GTS. You do not need the Turbo S

power. But, uh you know, if you got to

have it, you got to have it, you know.

Um, let's talk about you for a minute.

Okay.

>> So, you've been, you know, on the one

hand just a car dealer. On the other

hand, you have [ __ ] car. A used car

dealer. Good deal for you, my friend.

>> A used car dealer. Um, on, you know, on

the other hand, you've been at this. How

how when was the first listing on on an

online auction platform?

>> Well, with Bring a Trailer, God, I think

we were like auction 60 or something. I

always forget what it was, but it was

really early on. Like I remember Randy

and like Gentry like coming down and us

being like, "Hey, this is cool. like the

cars are selling.

>> Did you ever have a brick-andmortar

store?

>> No. I I wound up really growing my

business at the exact right time that

bring a trailer was growing because I

started this I my real quick background

was I was in finance. I was invest

banker and then [snorts] I quit. Nothing

lined up. I my life has always been in

cars. Investment banking was just

feeding racing addiction and all the

other things, right? So when I started

this, I had no clue what I was actually

really doing or what I wanted to do. I

just knew it was going to be in the car

world because it's what I grew up doing.

And [snorts] so I wound up actually uh

starting a I was flipping cars in the

driveway. I mean, had like 40 Range

Rovers at the house, like Range Rover

classics all in different states of

disrepair. And um eventually I got the

right routes to kind of think, hey, I'd

love to manage some car collections. I

think that'd be fun. and help guys out

who got a big significant collection.

And sure enough, I found a couple

people, met a couple people and started

doing some of that. And that started

gaining access to to some really special

cars. And then we started advertising

even in the eBay days where it's like,

who has an NSU Spider for sale? Oh, I

have one or who has some other obscure

car. And so at the time, I was able to

advertise these in places like, you

know, eBay or, you know, whatever other,

you know, facets we had then. So when

Bring a Trailer came around, uh, we

were, you know, they were just a a blog,

right? And it was like,

>> yeah, I started reading it when it was

just like [ __ ] they found on Craigslist.

>> Yeah, exactly. And the funny part,

that's actually where our where the the

WOB wob name actually came from just a

forum name because before they were

selling cars, it was a forum and that

was just a screen name I used for

everything. It's so funny people who

just like get stuck with their

usernames. Like you think [ __ ] Shmei

would want to be Shmei today and and I

like Tim, you know, he's a good guy. But

like if you knew that that username when

he was like 13.

>> Yeah, exactly. That's what this is

forever. [laughter] This was a little

girl who couldn't pronounce my name

correctly. It's the dumbest thing on

earth. Somewhere there's like a

40-year-old woman out there who's got a

whole business named after [laughter]

and she has got no clue. Oh, hey, you

don't know me.

>> See, bullying works now. So, so yeah, so

we started with them and uh I was

managing uh a collection uh Mike Malam.

You know Malmetu?

>> Yeah. So I was managing his collection,

helping him with all his sales and um

and doing just a bunch of stuff for the

collection and he I'm going to give him

credit even though he only I'm going to

give him like 50% credit here, but no,

he he was like, "Hey, uh you know, bring

a trailer. Maybe we should put a car." I

was like, "Yeah, let's do it." And and

so uh put a car on there and did really

well. And lather, rinse, repeat. It was

like going really well. And I remember

there was a week where there was like 14

cars live and that was at the time like

wow 14 cars I'm bring a trailer and we

were like seven of them and it was like

[laughter] all right well hope we're

putting the eggs in the right basket

[snorts] but um it was just a continued

you know reup of let's push the envelope

a little bit and usually pushing at

first didn't really work. you know, you

put a car that was like a little outside

of the buyer's perspective in there and

[snorts] and it wouldn't do well and

then you'd try it again maybe a little

bit later after somebody who was

searching for like, oh wow, they had

that, you know, pins gau. Oh, I was

looking for a pinsgower. And so it it

was one of those things where you push

the line and know that you're probably

not going to be the pioneer. You're

going to be the guy who just gets the

hour on his back and kind of

>> That's been me at every level of online

video production, by the way.

>> Good. First guy to try something, get

your ass kicked, next guy makes a

fortune.

>> Yeah. But but but that's the important

part. The important part is that you're

the [snorts] creativity still.

>> Yeah. Yeah. It's all right.

>> Because if if it's just about the view

or the the whatever, then the the the I

don't know. The important

>> It's about the money though.

>> Someone's got to fund this habit.

>> Yeah. [laughter]

So it it's it's uh we started early on

and we grew a lot with Bring a Trailer

as they grew and then COVID came around

and while obviously a really challenging

thing for a lot of people business got

lucky

>> businesswise [laughter]

it went [snorts] crazy.

>> That's [ __ ] nuts. the level at which

online shopping was extended to things

that cost $300,000,

[laughter]

>> right? Which paired so well, we talk

about the PPIs paired so well with like

I like it. Bid bid.

>> And you saw these crazy prices and you

saw and people were just like, I can't I

can't leave. I can't look at it. Okay.

Yeah.

>> And so it became part of our I think

reputation and transparency came through

a lot of that because we knew we were we

were having to cater to a crowd that

couldn't really see the cars. So we were

growing simultaneously as bring a

trailer was growing and I think it's

been a a really important part of it has

been this like

>> know that this is a new way of selling

cars and because of that we never

created a real I'm a brick and mortar.

from a California retail dealership, but

like I'm not the glass dealership by the

highway. I'm not the come on in

President's Day sale. I'm like a

windowless warehouse like go away, no

one's home.

>> But when you know what you're looking

for, this is the right place, right?

It's not, oh, I'm trying to decide if I

want one of these cars. You know what

you're looking for. Like, I've got an

Astera in right now. [laughter]

>> No one on earth is looking for an Astera

aside from like one or two people. If

you know this is the right place, but

you're not coming in like I think this

is the one, honey. You know, so yeah.

Yeah,

>> that well you got to get to that. So, I

mean I I have I have a few procedural

questions and then our patrons uh

through the Patreon, of course,

patreon.com/smokire

podcast have some really good questions

today and I'm going to hit refresh on

that one more time.

>> Um but okay, so

uh are there cars at at this point in

your in your career? You are no longer

seeking out cars to sell. They're

they're passively coming to you, Rob, I

would like you to sell my car. I would

say the overwhelming majority are coming

to me, but there's definitely still

stuff that you know is out there that

you're looking for. The stuff that you

know you're never going to find unless

you start, you know, cracking some

doors. But

>> But is so is it like when you when

that's you talk about a car like that,

is it I'd like to own that car or like

I'd like to consign that for somebody

just just to check it off a list. Like

can't there can't be that much thrill in

just consigning some bucket list car for

somebody, can there?

>> There for me there is. There is because

you know what? There there's a lot of

cars that you and I probably know very

well that like you really want to

experience and have a role in that car's

history and be able to really speak to

it in depth and there's no planet in

which you want to actually own it,

right? Like [snorts] an XJ220 is a

lovely experience to be able to go, God,

what a cool thing and now never touch it

again.

>> I mean, you know what? We I I I care for

other people's [ __ ] for a living and so

I get that taste that way, right?

[snorts]

>> Yeah. Yeah, I know what it's like to

maintain this thing and keep it alive

and keep it happy and [snorts]

>> and you're getting press cars and so you

get press cars are the ultimate,

>> right? Cuz you're just

>> you taste you taste. I got and I was

super spoiled for a while. I got press

watches. I mean, you want to talk about

>> It's a press watch.

>> It's exactly what it is. Exactly. Press.

Have you ever Have you never [ __ ]

read any like watch journalism? I know

about as much about watches as I do

about, you know,

>> you don't need to, but like if you go to

certain websites like Hodinki is the

biggest one. You've heard it. Okay.

>> If you want to [ __ ] have your mind

completely blown, consider the fact that

there are people in this country who

could comfortably write four to 5,000

words about a watch.

I mean, look, I

>> and I'm not saying I can enjoy consuming

that content, but I'm saying that

someone can find that much to say about

a [ __ ] watch. And to that end, watch

press watches are just like [ __ ]

press cards.

>> I appreciate the the the mechanics of

it, the machinery of it, the engineering

of it. It's beautiful. But holy cow, but

maybe maybe a watch guy from the same

perspective. How are you writing 5,000

words about a car? It's got wheels. It's

got a steering wheel.

>> There are deep nerds in every level of

everything. So yeah, press but you know

watches are a thing like cars.

>> I I can't tell you the number of watches

that look great on my my friend Carl

Ruiz uh rest in peace one of the

smartest people I've ever met. He told

me in in a right in 2019 2020 he goes

Matt a watch a house a car and your

building are all the same size on

Instagram and this greatly benefits

small things as opposed to big things.

It works against big things. And so many

people will buy a watch based on what

they see on Instagram, but you can [ __ ]

with a picture so bad on Instagram. And

a watch might look good like this and

horrible like this or be like topheavy

or whatever. Interesting. So anyway,

press watches have saved me tens of

thousands of dollars in not buying [ __ ]

I might have had to buy to learn, you

know? Same with cars. Okay. Consumer

advice.

>> Yes. Uh to what degree do you recommend

people repair [ __ ] on their car before

listing it for sale?

>> It's a balance. It's like anything,

right? It's uh the simple view of that

is spend 5,000 to make 10,000.

Otherwise, disclose, right? I mean,

there there's some people that go, I

don't care. I just want to be able to

offer the best product. And generally,

that's how we approach things, too. But

there's certainly going to be a time

where the return not only for it

financially, but the return for it

visually starts becoming a point where

you go, well, we're not going to make

the car 50, 100% better because we've

done this thing that's going to cost

$25,000.

It it's it's

>> money in, money out.

>> Yeah. I I think disclosure is important.

make the best possible product you can,

but there's also always going to be a

point where it's like, hey, there's a

chip in the hood, but or, you know, the

quarter panel. Let's use a quarter

panel. That's always a great one.

There's a chip in the quarter panel, but

that's going to be respraying both

quarter panels blending into the trunk

down the door. And is it really worth

it? No. I mean, there's a point where

you want to embrace what a car is.

There's a point in which you really need

to make sure the integrity and the

originality and all of that's there, and

you just close. But I I think there's

certainly pre-ervicing and making sure

it's ready to go. Making sure there's

nothing that's outstanding.

>> I think people really do want if if it's

a modern car, not some like 40s thing or

whatever. If it's a car from the last 15

years,

>> I think people want to be able to fly in

and drive it home. You at least have the

option.

>> They people say that and then they

don't. I've [laughter] the only like one

of the few times somebody ever did it,

the guy fell asleep at the wheel and I

was like never again or is anyone

picking up a car ever again. Wow. Um so

it's it's something we actually kind of

don't encourage. We're like ship the

car. It's cheap. Get to know it on your

own property in your own neighborhood.

Don't know it through the [snorts]

desert of New Mexico or something.

>> Funny. We've had a very high percentage

of people pick up the cars here.

>> Really? I I've Oh god. Just

>> in my own Bentley, my Turbo R. Picked it

up, drove it to Seattle. Oh god. Oh god.

Yeah.

>> Um the uh Okay. Cars got uh tasteful

mods, catback exhaust, wheels, things

like that. Return to stock or leave the

mods.

>> Depends on the car. You know, most of

the time if you're looking something

that's truly collectible, uh you're

talking about a car that's probably

better stock. But if it's a well-known,

we were talking about Dean cars and you

know, this is a different

>> I find that brand name packages are

okay. If it's an AMS Alpha 9 or a demand

motor. Yeah. Or, you know, even if it,

you know, Hennessy Venom 1000, if it's a

known quantity.

>> Yep.

>> You know, then it's probably okay.

>> Yeah. It really depends. It depends on

the car. It depends what you're looking

at. I've got a I've got a good conundrum

going on right now. I'll give you really

quickly. I've got a challenge 360

stradali in right now.

>> Six-speed conversion, gated conversion.

>> Awesome.

>> Now, as a car,

>> I love it. is just it's the best, you

know, it's like the mini F40. It's

fantastic, right?

>> As a collectible piece, it's in this

weird area because it's like, well, 360

stradales have gone through the roof,

but this car already was a six-speed

converted car, which is only

>> it was converted to Stradal or converted

to manual.

>> Converted to manual. So, it's like two

parts. There's nothing major here, but

the car was that. Do you kill value by

turning it back to stock?

I know. It's brilliant. It's brilliant.

someone because here's why somebody who

knows

>> what that would be like to drive will

want it for that

>> 100% 100%

>> like me

>> come [laughter] drive it come drive it

>> what do you what do you guess something

like that is worth

>> so this is the question everyone with

360 uh stries were all asking ourselves

the same question because the last one

on bat did like 605 or something like

that

>> can I also for the record say [ __ ]

hard pass at that

>> wow wow wow wow we wow Right. Crazy

crazy.

>> Get a [ __ ] Modina and put a [ __ ]

straight pipe on it for that $7,000

special going for crazy. I know.

>> But so crime is legal and money's fake.

[laughter]

>> Well, everyone's looking for the next

best stuff, right? It's it's no

different, right? It's it's the app of

uh

>> Okay. So So are you uh are you on the

over or the under? I think it's between.

It goes between what a great strradal

goes for and a great real manual Modina

goes for.

>> I'm I'm I'm between that bracket, but I

would say it's certainly closer to

>> I don't know, it's definitely closer to

the Stradali mark than the cuz 360

sticks have gone down. They've been

softer. Okay. So there was a

>> well the availability of manual swaps

had you know it's not the only way to

get one anymore. You you can get one for

cheap if you want and most of the swaps

are like

pretty much not discernible from the

factory cars.

>> Yeah. Yeah. So it's it depends on the

car. Get back to the car. It really

depends on the car and depends on the

goal and and some of them you just got

to embrace and some of them you may want

to you know if you put a set of wheels

on that's the big one. Wheels. If it's

just wheels take them off.

>> Call it the stock wheels take off.

because that's this the the it's like

the stuff in the title photo that's

important, right? So if it looks like

it's like on rims,

>> different story though actually the

speaking to that that 993S that we had

>> that was on rims. They were pretty cool.

It looked pretty cool actually. It did

look good. Did it come with the stock

wheels? I didn't see.

>> No, I only twist. Yeah.

>> So ours has the stock wheels on it, but

it comes with a set of speed lines.

>> Oh, I know the car.

>> The same color car, isn't it?

>> It's the same color. I know the car. So,

and it has a binder that is like

>> if this guy wasn't taking care of a car,

he'd be [ __ ] murdering people with us

or this crazy.

>> I know the car. I know the car.

>> It's beautiful.

>> Yeah, I agree.

>> I think the only reason we we were

talking about it, I think, with the

owner, but I said, I've got this other

one in and it was like, you're going to

have a wait here.

>> Yeah, maybe he just called us.

Meanwhile, he had to wait anyway.

>> I know. Great.

>> Um, okay. Uh, are there Well, uh, I want

to ask you fund [ __ ] but I also want to

ask consumer questions because I know

people want Okay. If it's if it's if

it's a if it's um an individual listing

a car, be be an individual for a minute,

what do you think is do you think they

should really try the trickle out the

stuff strategy or if you're an

individual coming out of nowhere, just

try the full-on honest approach?

>> I think an individual has a different

route than a dealer. I think the

individual becomes a lot more about the

story and the story is what your theme

is going to be as you post through. So

rather than posting out metering out

service records if [snorts] I were a

private individual I'd be metering out

my story and my experiences with it. I'd

be posting pictures. Here's me with the

car at Darian Gap and you know, here's

me and my wife and create the the story

that the next guy when he goes to Cars

and Coffee gets to regurgitate it and

go, you know, it was this guy and he

took it to the Gap and bl that's that's

the private individual theme. I think as

a dealer, it's a little bit different,

right? Our job is identifying value and

being able to present it transparently

and be able to show off an asset that we

believe is is a worthwhile asset for

people to to invest their money in,

right? Um, it can still run in the same

theme, right? Private versus dealer, but

I think it's different motivational

factors. I think there's less people

buying story a little bit from dealers.

Unless it's a storied car.

>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Unless that's the

whole thing.

>> Yeah. Because face it, I mean, I know

where most of my cars are coming from. I

know most of the stories because we

source cars differently. But if we're

going to apply an overall dealer metric,

most dealers out there are buying cars

at auction or they're getting them on

trades. They don't know about the car.

So, it's a little bit more of a a

different storyline that they have to

tell.

>> Sure. Um, let's see. I have one more uh

uh one more for me and then I have we're

going to let the people on our Patreon

ask their questions which are the real

consumer questions.

>> Um, if you're running the whole [ __ ]

over there, I mean, you you have must

have people helping with it, right? But

if you're if you're you told me today

that uh we had to do the show at this

time because you had four car cars

closing in a half hour this morning.

How many auctions are you capable of

running simultaneously by yourself

before you go start to go a little

insane?

>> We found that our cap is about 20 a week

before something starts losing attention

in a way that it shouldn't be.

>> Um it's tough at 20 at at our current

kind of way we manage things. Uh but the

more challenging part is particularly

the timing of them when they end

together. when they're all ending.

There's also a post uh like a timing cap

where you have to wait 10 seconds

between a post. So if you got four cars

ending, it's like, "All right, wait.

One, two, three, four."

>> Oh, wow.

>> Oh, go to the next auction.

>> That's So that's crazy. So they like

literally That's like when [ __ ] Delta

lets you book an unmakable connection.

>> You got [laughter] to You got to think,

can you I mean, you you at least must be

able to talk to someone at the team and

go, "Hey guys, listen. It's if if if

there's going to be this restriction,

>> I'm going to need I'm I'm going to need

a guaranteed spread on this.

>> After how many years of doing this, we

figured out how to work around it in a

large capacity and you kind of structure

it a little bit, but

>> can you have like WOB and WOB 2

commenting? We thought about doing a

like a W light or W project or W like to

try and kind of uh tear the branding a

little bit more to kind of go like hey

like there's cars that were like hey

this is doesn't cut the muster for what

we want to sell.

>> This is the equivalent of the second

YouTube channel.

>> Yeah, a little bit a little bit but then

it's it's a whole another rap.

>> No, I just meant so you could have

someone else logged into a different

account commenting. I mean it's not

trying to take advantage of the system.

It's working within limitations. Yeah.

>> Yeah. [laughter] I like it.

>> Yeah, exactly.

>> That's a good idea.

>> Um, all right. So, let's uh So, 20 a

week. Okay, cool.

>> That's That's about the cap. That's

>> And that's And do you keep all them cars

on site?

>> Yeah.

>> All right. Yeah.

>> Yeah. Everything's got to come to us.

>> You got Yeah, you got to have it.

>> I got to know. We do, too. You got to

have it. We We We're up to around four

or five a month, which which I'm very

happy with. We're not a dealer. We just

help people sell their cars privately,

and and we charge a flat fee, which is

different than other people do. Um, and

whether you know, however you want to do

it, works for us. And um um so we have

this ident we got a really nice 993 CQS

arrow kit coming.

>> And [snorts] speaking of stories, this

one's a little sad. We have uh a guy is

we're helping a guy sell his wife's car.

She unfortunately has dementia, but

she's had this Alpha Spider for like

it's I think it's a 90. It's an airbag

car, so it's that's sort of at the very

end. But wow, is this [ __ ] thing

mint. Uh when I went down to look at it,

it's at our other store and I went to

look at it. I thought the guys had

already detailed it and they're like,

"We haven't even touched it yet."

>> Red tan, but just lovely, lovely little

car. Uh, I'm going to Yeah. The [ __ ]

shifter on the dash. Fantastic. It's

like Rad Racer.

>> So much character for the money. There's

a lot of car that that gets, I think,

largely ignored in the market for, you

know, a lot of different reasons. But I

think it's a lot of car. A lot of car.

>> Yeah, they're really cool. So, I'm going

to do the driving video uh tomorrow.

Take a little spin.

>> Do you do the driving videos? I do all

the driving videos. That's awesome.

Yeah. So, I think that's

>> a little mini review out.

>> They get people like that. They get a

little some little odd comments from me

and

>> trash talk them ever. You ever like,

"Oh, that clunk."

>> No, but I I mean, no, but I point I mean

I do I I you know, we're honest. I I I I

point stuff out. Yeah. It's um so far I

haven't had any I haven't had any

mechanical issues.

>> Smells a little like fire in here, but

[laughter] you know, ships are good.

Stinkros are good.

>> Very lucky. Uh let's go to the Patreon

and uh let's see. Joe with a great

question. We've already kind of answered

it, but just to clarify, is there such a

thing as too many photos? There was

recently a CRXSI that had 800.

>> Holy hell.

>> I mean, I think like you said, the move

is to use them in the comments to remind

people that your car is there. Don't

overwhelm them in the listing.

>> I think there is a point in which it

depends on what the photos are of,

right? 800 photos could be there could

be 400 photos of unbelievable records

going back on some car there. You know,

think about it. Records, you got a

binder. People want to scan everything,

go here is everything.

>> But if you got 800 photos of the car,

>> I mean,

>> a small car.

>> Yeah. One of the biggest uh [snorts]

things that people do is, and and you're

going to agree with this because you're

you know, you know this uh is they they

go take photos of a car and they just go

shutter just complet [laughter]

D and there's just a regurgitation of

whatever they shot. Nothing's edited.

Half the stuff.

>> I don't need 40 41 42 43 44 degrees of

angle. I don't need a onederee spread

for a photo.

>> Yeah. What we try and do with our photos

is we'll have a high photo count, but

what we try and do is present in

different light. And I don't necessarily

just mean we do outdoor because everyone

thinks that outdoor is the only way you

can like gauge a car. But studio, as you

know, the lights will show the a speck

of dust. It's like hard to shoot in the

studio. Sun, you can hide almost

anything. But there's some colors you

really need to see them in the sun. So,

we show both.

>> But even in the studio, it's making sure

your lights are positioned different

places. So, I want to be able to look

down the car. I want to see how straight

it is, right? I want to see the car lit

up top. I want to see So, some of that

requires, you can't light the car

perfectly from every angle in every

time. So, some of that's just

repositioning the car and getting the

light right. So, somebody who's doing it

on their own as a private seller, you

may want to move the car around and

experiment. If you're outside,

experiment with the sun at different

angles on the car rather than just

walking around it and making sure that

you can capture like I want to see on is

there any dings? There's any dents, any

winess, how's the paint quality? Like,

some of that stuff's really important.

>> Paint meter photos matter if you get

>> paint photos matter. Yeah,

>> if you can get them.

>> They don't always It doesn't always

work, but they do. It does help.

>> And it doesn't always tell the right

story either, so you have to be

thoughtful about it, too. So, um Jeremy

Spokane, Washington State says, "Uh, how

much does seasonality

uh play into results? Are there better

or worse times to buy or sell?" Uh, I've

heard like time of day or day of week

can even matter. Please explain.

>> That's a really good question. So,

personally,

90 plus% of our cars I want ending

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Now, this

is just my own personal preference.

Bring a trailer when they started

>> because that's when you want to be there

monitoring the end of

>> part of that is true. Um but Bring a

Trailer originally started their

auctions ended Tuesday, Wednesday,

Thursday. That's what they had found or

thought would be the best days for it.

And then only over time did they add

Monday and Friday and then only over

time did they add weekends. I like the

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Number

one, Mondays can be overwhelming. Some

people aren't focused. Some people are

just not there or you know they're

dealing with stuff. Fridays people

leaving early. Whatever the case,

weekends 50/50. Now, it doesn't mean you

can't have a great auction that ends any

of those days. I I try and buy cars. I

can't buy stuff any of those days

necessarily either, right? So, there's

times where it makes sense. There's

times it doesn't. I like a little bit of

it on my own for those days. I don't

think there's a wrong answer. I I don't,

you know, I've seen strong results on

weekends. I've seen strong results on

weekdays and and vice versa.

>> Seasons, you know, there's this idea

that in spring, uh, I should wait till

spring to sell. Well, you and the other

200 million people think the same thing.

So, even if there is more buyers in the

market because it's spring, there's also

a lot more supply. It's because everyone

else had the same idea, too. So, you've

just matched supply and demand is all

you've done. So, my suggestion is I like

to generally give a little buffer around

major holidays. Like, I don't really

want to end on like the 24th, 25th, or

26th in December or something like that.

But, I've had good results before

Christmas and right after Christmas. But

like a little bust,

>> get it in time [clears throat] for

Christmas isn't the worst thought.

>> No, I had some good I had some world

records in in December, like a week

before uh Christmas. So I I think give a

little buffer to the major stuff, but I

don't think there's a real seasonality.

Even this summer was like for us a lot

quieter than our our past summers,

whereas fall, which typically September,

October a little quieter, were a lot

busier. So there there's a little push

and pull to it and you don't really know

what you're getting. So, I wouldn't hold

back. I I I was an economics major. For

me, it was, you know, the the market I

know is better than the market I don't,

which is I know the market right now. I

can speak to it right now. Well, if uh

if there's uh a better market down the

road, I won't know. Maybe it's worse.

Just embrace what you have. Yeah.

>> Uh John Hennis, see you next Tuesday.

[laughter]

What cars have the most annoying biders

and commenters?

>> Oh, this is the easiest question. Oh, I

love this question.

>> Ferraris.

>> Ferraris aren't so bad. Okay. 560SL.

>> I'd rather pull out my own fingernail.

>> No way.

>> Uh C2 Corvettes.

>> Uhhuh.

>> Uh they're pretty painful. Um there's a

certain era of BMW that can be a little

painful, but not terrible.

>> Why the 560S?

>> I have no clue. I don't know if it's the

buyers or the the passion for them or

because they made so many of them. And I

loathe selling like Dean Lombok, uh, you

know, shout out to Dean because I I love

him. He's a he's a very nice person. He

sells a lot of Mercedes out in uh

classic Mercedes in in New Jersey and

this is what he focuses on. And I'm

like, you have the worst job on earth. I

I they're And I like 560L. They're cool

cars, but man, they're they're they're

painful to to and C2 Corvettes. Oh, that

that Philips screw was March of 63. The

car was made in April of 63. This car is

not a good asset.

>> Sure. Uh in that uh in that vein, Johnny

Slasher says, "Uh, how do you engage

with the peanut gallery on bat? Some

commenters are helpful and insightful,

others not so much. What is the balance

between being engaged and helpful as a

seller without being drawn in by the

trolls?" That is the biggest thing. As a

seller, if you're a private seller, do

not engage with it. Be diplomatic. Yeah,

>> diplomacy is going to get you a lot

further. And you can also just wind up

really squashing something kind of

quickly with most people, which you can

just wind up saying, "I disagree with

you." And that's okay. We can both have

different opinions about this, and I

encourage you to come get a PPI, inspect

the car. Heck, come out. Let's get lunch

together. Let's talk about the car. I

encourage you get a firsthand opinion

rather than just speculating on what you

think you see. If they have a point,

then embrace it. Hey, you got a point

there. Yeah, I didn't see that scratch

there. And getting into an argument is

going to kill the auction, kill the

value, kill everything. So be

diplomatic, be patient, and know, yes,

some people are trying to grenade stuff

purposefully. Some people just don't

know any better, right? It's some people

like, you know, give it the old Countach

thing where it's the worst driving car

on Earth. It's no different driving than

any other ' 80s Ferrari, but the the

journalists at the time made it sound

like it's the worst driving thing. And

you go into a Countach auction, everyone

goes, "Well, it's a shame these drive so

bad." And like it's just the same thing.

So yeah, some of it's just not, you

know, it's just ignorance and some of

it's people being intentionally

intentionally.

>> Dude, my I mean my experience was

admittedly a lot less than yours is if

someone is being like a shitty

commenter.

>> Look at their comment and bidding

history before bothering [snorts] to

respond to them.

>> A lot of these people are just shitty

commenters. They're not there to buy.

They're not serious. They're there to

just

try and show off how much they know

about whatever and like a nonresponse to

that is okay.

>> Yeah. And sometimes it doesn't require a

response. Exactly. Right. There's no

requirement that bring a trailer says

that you need to respond to everything

that somebody says.

>> Well, you know, you the the fear is to

get I mean, once you're doing it as long

as you have, that fear is probably gone.

But when you're small or just started or

an individual, you don't want to get

branded an uncooperative seller because

it is a social hierarchy system. So the

temptation is, well, if I don't respond,

I'm uncooperative, even if this person

is asking in total bad faith.

>> Yep.

>> I at one time got an email that arrived

an hour prior to somebody making a post

saying, "The seller is a uh a seller

who's not shown up. He's nonresponsive

and buyer beware." And we just got your

email an hour ago. Like we get hundreds

of emails on a car, a little patience.

>> We had we've had someone comment that

with 20 minutes or so to go in the

auction saying requesting paint meter

readings.

>> Yeah. Like dude,

>> and it's like, man, where where have you

been for seven days, bro? Like, and it's

the kind of thing where like I we would

do it like no problem. Paint me. Okay.

Hey meter readings, no problem. But

like, can I have like, you know,

any time at all to do this for you?

>> Um, let's see. Uh, Hila Monster Greg,

what's the worst personal car you've

ever bought at an online auction?

>> Oh god, at an online auction. Oh man, I

don't even know. I've just I I fall into

the group of people that that I loathe

as I don't say loathe, that's the wrong

word, but you know, I buy so blindly. I

don't PPI anything. I'm like sitting

here going, "You should PPI everything."

I don't PPI anything. Uh, so there's all

types of stuff, but you know, there's

there's two types of buyers, right?

seasoned buyers where you have a pretty

darn good idea of what you're buying or

you're not buying it. Uh or you're

somebody who just doesn't really know

any better and you may wind up with

something that's not so great. So,

there's not a specific car that

necessarily comes to mind uh that was

particularly bad. Oh, there was a pretty

bad 911 I bought where I went against my

rule. I have a rule I'd never buy from

Florida.

>> Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a very good

>> Oh, it's like rule number one of the

car.

>> All cars that go to Florida should stay

there until they go to the ocean.

>> 100%. And I went against a rule and it

came in and I was like, geez,

like just stuff that was pigeon weld

together and like and it was

mechanically sound, but the whole car

was

>> I bought my Ferrari 328 from Augusta,

Georgia, and it was definitely driven

there from Florida. [laughter]

>> Makes sense. Uh, Street Parked says,

"For an individual seller, what quality

makes a car for ID uh, ideal for an

auction sale instead of an asking price

sale and vice [snorts] versa?"

>> That's a really good question.

>> I think it's more the person than the

car.

>> I think it's person, but I also think

it's desiraability of the car. And I

also think particularly, again, we're

going to go back to something like bring

a trailer. Um, it's it's how easily

accessible is this car, right? Is this a

2025 911 Carrera like that anyone can

just go into any dealer and buy or or is

it a car that's just an off-the-shelf

car? [snorts] There's no you're not

going to have really that fight. And

that's what you want at an auction. And

I don't mean that in a negative tone. I

want you want passion. You want people

excited about like, wow, I really want

to buy this car. I bit up a Buick uh

estate wagon, a 1990 Buick estate wagon

yesterday to $25,000.

And I comment I'm like to the other guy

where I'm like how far are we going to

bid this $10,000 wagon [laughter]

and like it's

>> why did you want it?

>> Cuz it's awesome. Cuz it's because it's

passion, right? And so that's what's

great about auction. So offtheshelf

stuff, there's not going to be passion.

It's going to be oh it's a cool car I

can find another. But rarity,

desiraability, hard to find spec, that

that's a good reason to send a car to

auction.

>> Sure. Um, and also like a reason to not

is like if you I mean I hate to say

this, but like if you have something to

hide.

>> Yeah.

>> If you have something to hide, one

person at a time seeing your listing and

asking about the car and you only need

to justify whatever the [ __ ] they're

asking you versus open forum, anyone can

notice anything in any photo or any

service record and bring that to

everyone else's attention.

>> 100%. So, you know, not that I suggest

selling a car with dirty laundry, but

like if you're [ __ ] jammed up, you

know what I mean? Like,

>> well, you know what? One of the things

that I think people really appreciate on

online auctions is is obviously

transparency, but project cars do well.

>> Don't be afraid to embrace what you

have. This is a project. It needs a

whole bunch of stuff done to it. And you

know what? People love the dream.

[snorts]

>> Sure. Ted Striker says, "What are some

of the more common irrational fears and

misconceptions that people have about

selling or buying a car from an auction

site? And what would you tell them to

give them more peace of mind?"

>> Well, I think people always are

concerned about who are they buying

from, right? That's that's the first

one, especially when you're talking

about a private seller who's maybe got

no history on there. Well, am I going to

send them the money? Am I not going to

get it back? Or, you know, where am I

going to get the car? And so forth. I I

would say uh bring a trailer. Again,

we're going to use them uh as an

example, but I think Cars and Bids and

some of the other ones have put in place

basically escro services for money. And

so, I think that's a good thing. I would

say you [snorts] can alleviate so much.

Again, PPI, inspect the car, put eyes on

it, and not like, oh, my buddy Jim lives

close by. He'll come look at it and he's

just going to walk around it for an hour

and go, "Yeah, it looks cool." So, I I

think get a mechanic to look at. It

doesn't cost much money, especially if

you're serious in the car, right? I I

certainly recognize that if you're

looking at a cheaper car, $300 or

whatever it costs for your PPI could be

an expensive guess at the car.

>> Simultaneously on that cheaper car, if

you have a $1,000 repair on it,

>> that's a material number.

>> Spending a couple hundred bucks to not

buy a total [ __ ] box is money well spent

>> for sure.

>> Um, Rob D's nuts, expert guidance,

reserve versus no reserve. And I have my

own opinion on this, but but you as a

dealer, I'm interested in what you have

to say.

>> Uh, depends on the car as always. Um,

I'd say no reserves sets the emotion

much different. Much much different.

People know it's selling. Um, it tends

to keep bidding lower for longer, which

is good. Same thing. We want that return

viewership, right? So, you have people

are going, "Well, why is this only a 25

grand? This is $100,000 car." And they

revis revisit and revisit and revisit

and they look at the pictures. What am I

missing? I must be missing something.

Maybe everybody else is missing

something and they've sold them sold

themselves on that car. So when it gets

down to the end, they're have this idea

that man, this is a car I wanted. I

looked at it. I looked through all the

pictures. I did all the homework. Why

was it so cheap? I think it's right.

>> That emotion is there and it's not like

a psychological trick. What you've

always what you've done is got them

invested in a car that now they actually

understand where they've looked at it

and they feel comfortable with the car

in order to bid. That said, no reserve

can go the other way too sometimes where

you just don't have where people kind of

go, well, are they just selling it to

sell it or whatever the case? I think

quality of the car needs to be there and

transparent as everything. Um, I like no

reserve. I generally sell my own car as

no reserve. I think the market is

smarter, the aggregated market is

smarter than me or you or any

individual, right? They'll tell you what

it's worth. It may be that that day it

was worth less and the next day it's

worth more or it may be the other way

around. Uh, I would say

newer sellers should probably think

about approaching sales with a reserve

as the first or second auction they've

ever done. Go into it. Don't go into the

kind of the big boy arena knowing that,

you know, you could sell the car for a

lot less. But also, don't be afraid to

approach No Reserve knowing that, you

know, Breaking Trail's got like 2

million registered biders or something

like there's no deal. Like I I've sold

what uh I don't know how many cars.

>> 1911. So, 1911 cars we've sold on on

bring a trailer. I probably bought 30

and of those 30 I was probably buying

for half of them were probably for

clients and then the other half I was

probably buying at full retail. Like

there's not a lot of deals, but what

you're getting is transparency. You're

getting you know what you're buying and

that's more important than the deal.

>> I like sell. So, the way I decide

reserve versus no reserve,

>> my my cars personally, if I'm selling my

car, mentally, it's gone. And I know

that for better or worse with my social

media reach and and the auctions and

whatever, whatever market price is that

day, I'll get it. Whatever market price

is better, under whatever it is, that's

what it's going to be. And I try to tell

everyone else that we are capable of

putting enough eyeballs on your car that

you'll get price whether or not that's

what you think it is.

>> So I tell people I say look if this

auction ends and you're and you go

through this and you still own the car

but you haven't taken a lower number are

you happy that you didn't take this

lower number or are you annoyed that you

still have a car that you wanted gone?

>> Right? So, if you want the car gone,

[ __ ] let's send it. Yep. And you're

going to get what you're going to get.

I'm gonna do my best.

>> And your perception of value is

immaterial to the buying public. They

could care less what you think it's

valued at. They They're going to value

it.

>> Yeah.

>> Uh, Super Burrito uh says, "I see a

bunch of complaints on Reddit about

buyers and sellers not following through

with deals at the end of auctions. Have

you had this happen? Uh, and and have

the auction sites been helpful about it

andor what do you do? So, it happens

from time to time, right? This is a

business.

>> I had this happen once. It was nuts.

>> Yeah. And and you know, again, what

almost 2,000 cars. I don't know. Maybe

we've had a 100 cars out of 2,000, 50

cars out of 2,000. Um, generally you go

to the next guy in line. Yeah. Sometimes

you put some together there, sometimes

you don't,

>> you know, and worst case scenario, you

may have to relist the car.

>> Some of those relistings don't do as

well. Some of them actually do about the

same. Some even may do a little bit

better. We had a Ford GT that the guy

didn't pay, a carbon GT, and we relisted

the car. It actually did better. All

right. Well, hey, that worked out. So,

um, it's [snorts] it's just part of it.

You can't plan for it. So, don't go into

it thinking that way. It's a it's a very

immaterial percentage of auctions that

actually end that way. So, I would say

don't don't hold your breath and just

>> It's weird. It is weird. I found that a

a few times someone bids on a car and

wins and they don't really seem to

understand that they then have to send a

[ __ ] wire to somebody to to pay for

that car. Like,

>> wait, wait. I have to I Who is I'm

sending it to a stranger? No, you're

sending it to the person you just bought

the car from. Like, what do what did you

think was going to happen here? Exactly.

And and then the only one where the they

actually refused to pay was real crazy.

>> Go. It [snorts] was not even an

expensive car. It was a Mini. And uh you

know auction concludes. Okay. And and

they then came to to to send the money

and they go this I I Google I looked you

up on Google Earth. And this was when we

had just opened our other store

>> and you're in a dirt lot.

>> GOOGLE EARTH HADN'T CAUGHT UP YET.

Google Earth shows a construction site.

I just looked up on Google Earth. You're

you're not even a real business. You're

a constru. I'm like, "Oh, whoa, whoa,

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is I'm not

sending money through this. This is this

is all crazy." And and I sent the emails

to bring a trailer. And the next bidder

in line, would Matt, would you take $200

less? Yes, I would. Click. You know,

game over. And it was [ __ ] crazy,

though.

>> The only good side of when a car does

when somebody doesn't pay for a car is

some of the times just a ghost. You

never hear from them. But a lot of times

you get these unbelievable stories,

>> lunatics. They're the best stories

[laughter] ever, ever, ever, ever. Like

like fairy tale kind of stuff. So, at

least you get a good story out of it.

[snorts]

>> Um, okay. The the big question. Slow-mo

in DFW. It was asked a few times. uh

cars and bids versus bring a trailer.

Why would I send a car to one versus the

other?

>> There's different markets. They both do

things very well. Um I don't know Doug

that well. I know him a bit. We've

spoken a couple times. He's done really,

really, really well. Cars and Biz is a

legitimately viable and good platform

with a lot of tech that

>> I actually like their software better as

a seller. It's like a nicer piece of

software to use.

>> I would agree. And I think Bring a

Trailer realized, I'm not saying

anything that's like, oh, hush hush. You

know, Bring a Trailer has been had this

massive growth on a website that was

effectively a WordPress site that's h

[laughter] been having to like

continually band-aid a site that really

needs a complete redo. Now, it's a very

good functional site, but yeah, Cars and

Biz was able to come out a little bit

later and make it a little bit more

functional. So, but there's definitely

different audiences there and and what

Cars and Bids did that uh that Bring a

Trailer did and that's the thing that a

lot of these co copycat sites are

missing is that they had organ organic

audiences, right? And Doug brought his

organic audience with him, which is a

huge part of his success.

>> Bring a trailer had first mover. Doug

had a huge core audience to jumpstart

the business.

>> What does anybody else have?

>> Right. Exactly. And so what what Doug

has though is his audience is a little

bit different of of a of a sector of

audience, right? Different different

dynamic, different people, different

buyers, different cars. So, um I think

modified cars seem to do pretty well on

there. The kind of more 2000e forward

cars seem to do well on there. Um I

think he's geared a lot towards people

that aren't necessarily collectors who

just want to drive and enjoy their cars

and screw around and have a light heart

about some of it. Whereas Bring a

Trailer certainly has that, but there's

certainly a much bigger population of

diehard collectors who want everything

exactly the way it left the factory. It

can't be any different.

>> So, if I had, you know, like a modified

EC E63 or something like that, I'd

probably send it to Doug. That's

probably the right place for it. But if

I had like a, you know, the, you know, a

really really tight and right, you know,

or 918 or something, you know, whatever,

that's going to go to bring a trailer.

But, um, it doesn't take away from

Doug's platform at all. I think he's got

a great thing going and I think he'll

continue to build it and I'd love to

keep giving him business and we do give

him business. Um, but I think it's just

different collector bases. So, it would

depend on what car you have and what

you're looking to market.

>> Mhm. Uh, two more username says, "I'm a

small independent dealer selling 5 to

35year-old enthusiast cars, some online,

and despite doing a full inspection,

full service, addressing possible

mechanical issues, road testing them

myself, I still have vehicles that sell,

get shipped across the country, and

arrive off the truck with random issues

that never happened while the car was

here. Do you experience similar

anomalies, and how do you deal with it?"

>> That is the the neverending

uh thorn in my side. We always joke that

cars know when they're changing hands.

Like they it doesn't matter what it is.

I had an XK that I was driving myself

for a long time. I drove it everywhere.

Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. This just

happened the other day. Perfect car. And

I told the guy and I we've done business

before and and I said, "I've driven it

everywhere. I was actually going to

drive it to Pebble Beach. It's been

lovely. Enjoy the car." He made it like

10 miles and broke down. Oh my god. And

but you can't plan for it. It's you have

to do everything the right way. My

[snorts] my suggestion would be like

anything is document everything. Be

transparent and and be forthright. Hey,

here's everything. Here's our

documentation. I tend to really lean

into, hey, it broke. Hey, let me help

you out. Keep me posted. Like, I can't

plan for all this stuff simultaneously.

There's there's a no warranty warranty

in my opinion, right? You buy the car,

something happens.

>> Something happens right away.

>> Yeah, let me help you out. But, you

know, two weeks down the road, I I can't

plan for some electrical component

failing. We can't sit there and test

every relay or what? You just It's

impossible, right?

>> I'm real. All I need in my whole [ __ ]

life is someone to go on [ __ ] Reddit

and go on a rant that Matt Ferris sold

him a piece of [ __ ] and wasn't honest

about it. Yeah,

>> you're in a really tricky position

because I I I am so I I I'm not I refuse

to lend my reputation to anything but my

business's honesty. And so I'm really

honest about stuff that sometimes maybe

my customer wouldn't like, you know. Did

you have to tell him that there was a

stain on the

>> Oh, I've had that conversation.

>> Yeah, I did, man. Cuz I'm not [ __ ]

dying on this hill for your stained

carpet.

>> Yep. Exactly. My reputation is worth

more than making you an extra two grand

because somebody thinks Yeah.

>> So yeah. Um uh for We have never had a

problem where we've sent a car across

the country and something happened, but

I could totally see it.

>> You will eventually and you work through

it because it's their cars. They're

living breathing things, you know.

>> And also like man, if you've had it,

like

>> the guy, the person you sell it to, they

drive different from you. The car

respond. They don't% Oh, the car was

fine. Well, this guy doesn't know how to

[ __ ] heel toe and he's blow he blows

the clutch. You know, your fault.

>> Uh, last one. Matt and Zach, romance

fanfic, author. Is there such a thing as

too much attention for a listing such as

bringing too many uninformed eyes to the

conversation or is all publicity good

publicity?

>> I would actually say largely the latter.

I think you even if the conversation is

contentious, even if people are saying

you're right, you're wrong and and

there's a lot of post, as long as you

did your due diligence going into it and

you know what you have and you embrace

it and you do well with it, right? This

is what I have. This is what we know and

everyone can, you know, poke around and

suggest whatever they want to do and and

let them have the conversation.

Sometimes the the post that I just make

is I love watching this conversation,

guys. Keep it going because have your

opinions. here's what we believe and we

encourage people to do their independent

research and we'll present every bit of

fact that we have. But again, they're

cars. There's always going to be nuance

to them. There's going to be little

things. Well, why are your paint meter

at seven or eight mil? These cars are

usually five or six mil. Well, maybe

this color was a little thicker. Have

you paint metered this there? I love the

conversation. It's what makes us

enjoyable because if this was just

cookie cutter, every sale was the same.

It wouldn't be fun. So, embracing it is

is I think part of it. So, I think all

press is good press in large part,

unless you have people nefariously

trying to grenade an auction. I had a

car

>> Well, that's So, when someone talks [ __ ]

specifically to drive the price down so

they could maybe get it for cheaper,

right, that's mega shitty.

>> Yeah, 100%. We had a car that was it was

um who was it? Bobby Ray Hall's car,

whoever's it was. and we bought it from

him and somebody went this wasn't his

car and I'm his best friend and he never

owned this with like 30 seconds left in

the auction and we're like what we

literally like bought it from him like

[laughter] it was on his showroom floor

like it was it was something ridiculous

and and I'm kind of piecing it together.

>> No what I earlier when I the story about

the guy who came to do a PPI and the PPI

found something and then the guy called

me a liar. That guy then was [ __ ]

battling to the end with somebody to buy

the car.

>> Yeah.

>> And that that car incidentally set did

set a record. It was the highest uh for

a a paddle shifted Ferrari 612. And even

the other guy who called me a liar as

the losing bidder bid more than anyone

had ever bid for a Ferrari 612 before.

>> It's sometimes it's transparent. [ __ ]

that guy.

>> But here's the thing too. I mean all of

our like [snorts] chromoginly gripes

about all this, the fact remains is that

we've got this platform and whether

bring a trailer cars, whoever it is, uh

but we've got this platform that is

completely different than selling cars

in the past that is so unbelievably

inclusive both nationally,

internationally, whatever you're looking

for, it's unbelievable. So to somebody

who's trying to think about approaching

selling a car online and all these are

great, hey, I'm either putting a foot in

the water, I'm trying it, or I'm trying

to figure out my way, it I'd say without

a shadow of a doubt, it's the way

forward. I think brickandmortar dealers

are going to slowly become kind of the

dinosaurs. I think they're still

necessary. Um, and they're still guys

are going to do great business, but we

still we see this shift of these guys

who are the brick and mortars selling on

bring a trailer

>> that well that for sure. Shout out to my

boy Doug at Switch Cars in Ohio. But but

uh and we but we need we I don't want to

be in a world where every new car is

being sold like this either. Like

>> that would just be [ __ ] horrible.

>> Agreed. And there's no point in that.

That's that's a different story.

>> Like I and I a couple of times you you

know you've seen a dealer [ __ ]

selling a brand new you know when the

GT3 first comes out. some dealer is just

going straight to this and you go,

"Guys,

even if it only goes to your best

clients, like, come on. I I don't I

don't like I don't like I don't like

where this is going." [snorts]

>> Yeah. And we're we're part of that

problem, but in in a way that I think is

also important. And I think being able

to see these cars as they transact in a

public manner is important. On a dealer

end, we're pitched cars constantly and

people don't realize how many of certain

cars are out there. um particular I

won't name them specific because I know

people who own these kind of cars.

>> They're well well you know you could

name that that's a good one because now

that it's settled down a little bit but

>> everybody in LA got their all their STS

were on the same boat. So in in one week

out of nowhere there was about 35 911

STS that fell on Los Angeles

>> and every single one of them if if I

pitch something to somebody in the

dealer world I promise you it will go to

900,000 people by the end of the day. So

much so that a lot of times you get your

own cars pitched back to you and

everyone's trying to get involved in it

and take their piece.

>> Everybody needs to middle of the world.

>> So what I love about putting those cars

up is, okay, great. Maybe they're over

MSRP. Maybe it's not a car that, you

know, oh, how dare this guy flip this

car. I'm not I mean, look, flipping

flipping sucks. I'm not talking about

flipping. I'm talking about just like

new new

>> new this [ __ ] This car is on MSO.

It's never been titled. It's never been

sold. I feel differently. I like seeing

those get exposed because it allows the

market to actually consume what's going

on instead of speculating and because

take a GT3 auction, especially with the

new twos that just came out, right?

Everyone, oh well, my friend can get

them for this. Well, I know you can get

them for this. Well, my dealer will sell

them for this. Well, here you go. Guess

what? Here's an auction. And now you

know what it actually

>> What did it go for? Have you done?

>> We did three tourings. I think we're the

only one that's put any two tourings on

BAT. Uh, one was R&M. We sold it

afterwards. is if I'm not going to

disclose a number, but it was it was a

healthy number. Uh the second one I

think we sold for

>> like aren't like somebody was somebody

was reaching it didn't meet reserve but

it stopped at a number you were happy

with.

>> Yeah. Well well it stopped at a number

that we weren't going to sell it. We

sold it afterwards and and it did well.

There was an excited buyer on the other

side and it was the first one publicly

available really in in any capacity. The

second one we sold I think it did I

don't know 80 or 100 over maybe

somewhere in there. I don't remember off

hand 90 over and I think the third one

was something similar to maybe

afterwards. So that market I think has

established itself in a place that's a

little bit softer than the one market

right now for more uh desirable specs

of.1. I think people are looking to see

what settles down with tariffs and so

forth before they really know. But now

here's a concrete example whether I like

it or not whether my clients like it or

not the greater market here is this is

the market right now. Here it is. And

the first car we went was interesting

because it was an R&M car, but we had

some other, you know, stuff in the

background and we knew that there was a

little bit more meat on it and you got

to operate in your best financial

interest. You're you're, you know, a

business and you're working for your

clients in a lot of point. So,

>> um, but I like those cars being able to

be publicly consumed. I think it's

important that they are because

otherwise it's all speculation and

speculation leads to a really stagnant

market because then everyone thinks,

well, he bought it for this and I heard

this. So, I I do have my qualms about I

I don't like how they are immediately

back on market from a buyer from an

enthusiast perspective, but from

[snorts] a hey, we're part of a greater

market here, I think it's important.

>> Sure. Okay. I I'll I'll I'll take that.

Uh you got what do you got? Four cars up

right now.

>> I got a quiet week right now.

>> You got a quiet We got a We got on on on

bring a trailer for Wob. We've got an

Aston One DB4. We've got a a 24,000 mi

Bentley GT. We've got some cab chassis

[ __ ]

>> That thing's awesome truck.

>> It's so cool.

>> Uh, and we've got a 33,000 mi E320 cab

in Imperial Red over tan

>> mile.

>> Well, I just got one of these.

>> Did you? They're great.

>> I got one for free uh as a as a project

from my wife's uncle.

>> Okay.

>> 60,000 mi, but it's been parked outside

in Long Island for 2 years. So, it's

very scruffy. So, we're taking it up the

road to CMS Motorsports and we are

turning it into the E500 Cabriolet that

Mercedes never built.

>> And you don't want to make that a

monoposto slammed on the ground.

[laughter]

>> Yeah.

>> Just go all the way off the deep end.

>> Yeah. We'll make it look like an SLR.

No, actually, one one thing we have

discussed

>> is doing a rear tano speedster style

cover like a like a '9s saline Mustang

with that [ __ ] roll bar. in

>> I think I we were we were both at

Radwood and we were like and he's like

what if we do the [ __ ] styling bar

[laughter]

>> in

>> I was like that's great until you roll

the car he's like oh it'll crush like

tissue paper [laughter]

>> instant death

>> that was great Rob thank you for coming

down appreciate your time uh and your

insights um

>> selfish a little bit for me because I

wanted to pick your brain on on some

strategy stuff but also I hope the

audience uh learned something. Thank you

to our uh patrons for such good

questions uh today. We certainly

appreciate you. I'm sorry you're not

catching it live, but without a Zach, I

simply cannot manage that. It is too

much for my little [ __ ] monkey brain

to handle. I can only do a couple things

at once and and managing a live stream

while having a good conversation is not

one of them. Uh wobcars.com

if you uh want to see what they've got

coming up on the auction sites. Uh, and

if you'd rather pay uh uh cash instead

of commission for your listings, we're

here for you at Westside Collector Car

Storage 7 days a week. See you guys next

time. Thanks very much.

How Rob Dietz sold $175M of Cars on BaT

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