Cars & Bids double booking

[gsxr]

Two nearly identical R129 V8's listed on C&B today, within hours of each other... just different colors.

Both are private party sellers. I'd be pretty irate with D&B if either of those were my car.

1993, Black, 90kmi, GA:

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/rkPMVmzl/1993-mercedes-benz-500sl

1994, Green, 111kmi, CA:

https://carsandbids.com/auctions/9e6kGAqo/1994-mercedes-benz-sl500

 

[maw1124]

Gotta get while the getting is good.

maw

 

[Nashvegas]

I see your point (and have sold cars on C&B and BaT myself) but they are actually pretty different vehicles -- one a black tricked out slightly breathed upon AMG spoiler-y up one, and the other a bone stocker green one. So maybe it was a strategy to have both listed up, as the curb appeal is quite different.

One thing I have heard in podcasts from the guys that own Bring a Trailer and C&B is that the editorializing of when listings go live is essentially only applicable to the high dollar cars. For the rest, they just list them. The one site that still really carefully rolls out and thinks about timing, from what I can tell, is collecting cars (the British site that rivals Bring a Trailer)

 

[gsxr]

The thing is... C&B has had a total of five R129's since Jan-1, 2024. Barely more than one per month. IMO, listing two cars this similar within hours of each other is inexcusable. Flat lazy at a minimum. It's not like the two are early (119.960) or late (119.982, or M113) powertrains. This 119.972 was used for 3 years only (93-95 in USA) and these 2 cars have much more in common than they have differentiating. Yes, curb appeal is slightly different, but c'mon... this is just bad form by C&B.

Collecting Cars is a separate discussion. I don't know anything about them, but the past half-dozen or so 124.036's they've had listed were total POS (uh, Pile Of Scrap), some with questionable descriptions. Maybe those were anomalies. It reflected poorly on CC. One example is here with a very obvious odometer rollback.

For the record, I quit commenting on C&B listings towards the end of 2023 due to repeated, unwarranted censorship of comments. I once tried to sell a unicorn AMG there (5 years ago?) and Doug insisted on an embarrassingly low reserve, to guarantee a sale. I politely refused and sold the privately. I can't fault the guy for getting rich by successfully implementing his vision, but I'd never sell there, won't comment there, and wouldn't buy there either unless it was some insanely unusual deal.

 

[Harv]

Things aren't great over there. Their CEO just left/was asked to leave along with other employees. Welcome to getting acquired by PE. My guess is Doug fades off once his required service time is met.

State Of The Market Update Q1 - The Daily Vroom

The Daily Vroom Good morning, Vroomers! Today's edition of The Daily Vroom takes a unique ... Read More

thedailyvroom.com

However, since their acquisition by The Chernin Group over a year ago, there hasn’t been a noticeable positive shift in sales. This year, they've made a clear push towards the upper echelons of the market, aiming for higher-priced listings, but the success rate there has been lackluster. Recently, their CEO Ro Choy, along with a significant number of staff, has departed. This scenario is a classic private equity strategy—fuel the engine aggressively and hope for a boom, then try to exit before the momentum wanes. If the expected explosion doesn’t occur, they cut losses and pivot, which seems to be the current state of play at Cars & Bids.

 

[gsxr]

Black sold for $12,100 despite some peanut gallerist attempts to imply the AMG badge was fake/wrong/whatever. The car just had an AMG ducktail and wheels, post-sale dealer accessories... it wasn't advertised as a factory AMG. Sheesh.

Green sold for $7,600.

At least 2 different people bid on both cars. Both were No Reserve listings (likely coerced by C&B, not the seller's choice).