BAT lists a car with altered VIN
 

Okay, I can be tolerant of a lot of things in the Porsche world, but for someone to put a 75 Targa up for sale with a 1968 912 VIN...? Nope.

BAT allowed it, and allowed it with no photos of the chassis VIN stamping, nor engine number "said to be a 3.0."

Based on my experience in bringing 911s in from other states, CA impounds the car to check the VIN in many instances. I imagine there are other states where this would happen as well. So what happens if someone buys the BAT car and their state siezes it after uncovering the production number or other indicator pointing to the original chassis VIN?

Quite likely the original VIN is in a database of stolen cars.

Just seems like really poor decision-making.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1975-porsche-911s-30/

curious to see how long this one stays live, lots of folks chiming in on the VIN already.

bill, can't believe the seller thought you were being "harsh".

jeez...

Ha. Yeah, if they think I'm harsh, imagine how they'd describe impounding by law enforcement...

BaT takes no responsibility and makes no guarantees about the cars sold via their auctions. I often wonder if bidders realize this.

Has there been any auctions that have been legit fraud on the part of the seller?

I don’t think you could get it past the Washington State Patrol inspection for out of state vehicles.

and poof, it's gone

I think the seller was being disingenuous. He/she owns that car forever. As a car.

As parts, it may work out. But reluctance to show the engine number is highly suspicious.

It's a shame that BaT only does the right thing after others call the seller and BaT out on it. They have more than enough info prior to listing an auction to see that there are major red flags with it, yet they turn a blind eye until the community calls them and the seller out on it. Like I said...what a shame. This is just more proof for me that this is a seller's only marketplace, there's far too much risk buying under these circumstances, at least for me anyways.

Probably bought it for next to nothing due to the VIN issue thinking it would never be worth anything then prices started to rise and got stuck with a hot potato.

Hope everyone here is smart enough not to buy on BAT ...

Perhaps a thread on RL would be helpful as well to warn the crowd there.

Interesting thought....

I would buy with strong due diligence, it is a sales medium with known risk......... should be handled as in any purchase..... all sellers aren't honest shame on you if you do not understand that......

Noodler,

It's a sales medium with additional risk for the buyer.

BAT is hands off after the auction is over.

I've bought on BaT and had a wonderful experience. I have sold on BaT as well and will likely sell something again shortly.

Porsche's SmileWavy

Haven't read about anyone here talk about their BAT p-car steal ...

That's because that's not what an auction is for.

An auction is for buyers who are glad to pay a premium
for the convenience of clicking a button
and having a car delivered to them like a pizza.

You want a deal?

Start by spending an hour a day trolling through for sale ads.
Then take some 4 hour road trips and dealing with delusional sellers
and sifting through misrepresented turds
and a year or two of your life chasing that deal.

Deals and auctions serve very different markets.

I'll leave it to others to give an opinion on whether it's a steal, but I paid under $17k for my SC Targa in 2015 and I'm happy as hell with it. I've put 18k on it and my biggest expense to date has been a new set of tires.

If you are shopping for a driver-quality car with an emphasis on fun over "correctness" or whatever, or are generally shopping on the inexpensive end of the market for whatever, there are some nice finds there for the right buyer.

IME, anyway - 2 for 2 so far.

The middle ground is where I personally am finding it challenging.

I've made market value offers on nice cars, and the seller has responded with "well, on BaT..."...

Patience is a virtue.

Not implying BAT p-car buyers are not satisfied with their cars but more about the marketplace dollars and sense part of it. 2015 was a different era where deals can still be found everywhere. In that context, your purchase price was not a steal in any way.

BAT doesn't even do that for a buyer. You get a phone number.

I'd buy a Porsche on BaT as long as I was able to see the car in person and it was priced within my spending threshold.

I bought my G-Body in 2012, when the market started to gather traction but wasn't the insane hotness it was in 2017. It took my nearly 6 months to buy my car, and that was after contacting numerous sellers and seeing 4 - 5 cars. It was hard, scheduling time to see the car, especially with other interested buyers, or just finding super flaky sellers who would ignore your inquiries altogether, or finding cars that were misrepresented (usually corrosion or undisclosed but very visible paint/body repair from accident damage).

I know Porsche made a lot of 911s and 356s but finding nice ones can still be a chore and I wouldn't dismiss BaT if I found the right car at the right price.

But yeah, it isn't just click button, buy perfect car. I'm not sure it's that anywhere.