Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Alton
There are lots of turds sold on BAT, that otherwise look nice in the pictures... We serviced a 77 3.0 Turbo bought on there that was advertised as excellent and the pics looked good. When the new owner brought us the car it was in need of a complete restoration... It didn't sell for restored money, but it wasn't cheap either....
We have also seen a couple of cars on BAT that we have had in our shop for minor issues.... What I can tell you is buyer beware on BAT. I guess the same goes for any other auction site, but BAT passes itself off as having unique good cars.
Cheers
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Quote:
Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy
To me that’s the greatest farce of BaT. People think the comments on BaT are a form of vetting, which is sorta true, but it’s all based on pictures and description. Pictures can hide a lot and pictures don’t give you any realistic perspective on the mechanical condition. You are basically paying top dollar for a car sight unseen. Buyer beware.
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Without a doubt, some edgy cars make it onto BaT. Usually, you can smell them through your screen but not always. As far as having to rely on photos and description, how is that different than any other sales site online?
The only difference between BaT and other common sites is the quality of the merchandise and the quality of the photos, plus the fact that you WILL have 7 days or more to arrange a PPI, go see the vehicle or have someone do it for you, ask difficult questions, look at records, etc. You WILL also have an opportunity to buy the vehicle at a specific time but the price will be determined by a fair auction, (no sniping possible). The buyer's fee sucks but it's also the only way to keep zit-faced clowns in their mother's basement from ruining every auction, like on eBay 50% of the time. I sold a car on BaT a while ago and it was the easiest transaction of my car buying or selling life but then I've only done it about 200 times.
If you win an auction, the car is yours. No ghosting by the seller because someone offline offered him $500 more, seller changed his mind, etc... Show me another place where 300SL Mercedes and Ferrari Daytonas are constantly for sale, as well as E55 AMG w211 wagons, early 911s, 996 turbos w low miles, (a constant trickle of those), pristine BMW M-cars not owned by teenagers, etc., etc...
The imaginary site doesn't exist. There is eBay and auto trader where you can look at a couple or few thumbnail photos that are often the size of my thumbnail, no engagement from seller, if something looks like a half-way decent car or deal on CL these days, it was usually sold a month ago or it's a scam, I could go on and on. BaT is far from perfect and I complain about it all the time in their comment threads but it's by far the best site I've ever seen and I've been obsessively hunting down cars online since the internet was invented. If there is a better site, please share it here.
