This is exactly the sort of result that makes people go back and check the old sale.

This 1994 Bugatti EB110 GT factory prototype sold at RM Sotheby’s in March 2022 for $2.1m. The other day, it sold on duPont REGISTRY Live for $3.625m.

That is a $1.525m jump in a little over four years.

And that is before you even get to the buyer’s fee. At 5%, that adds roughly $181k on top. So the total amount paid by the buyer was just over $3.8m. Not bad work, assuming of course the underlying numbers are anything like what the public record suggests.

That is the important caveat. duPont was shown as the seller, but I do not know whether they owned the car outright, represented the owner, had a guarantee structure, or something else in the background. So I am not going to pretend I know the exact profit.

But what we can say is this: the car went from a public sale at $2.1m in 2022 to a public result at $3.625m in 2026. However it was held, structured, or consigned in between, somebody was sitting on a very nice piece of inventory.

And the car itself is a serious thing. This is not just a normal EB110 GT. It is a factory prototype, finished in Bugatti Blu, with a quad-turbocharged V12, six-speed manual gearbox, and all-wheel drive. The listing shows engine number 0041 and just 712 miles. Back in 2022, RM listed it at 680 miles, so it has barely moved.

That matters. A lot. The EB110 has always had the ingredients collectors eventually come around to. Tiny production, manual gearbox, carbon fiber, four turbos, all-wheel drive, and the whole Romano Artioli Bugatti revival story. For years, it felt like one of those cars everyone respected but not everyone fully priced correctly.

That gap may be closing. The prototype status is the part that really changes the conversation here. Plenty of low-mileage supercars are valuable because they were barely used. This one is more interesting because it sits inside the development and promotional history of the model itself. It is not just “an EB110.” It is part of the EB110 story.

That is why the $3.625m result feels less like a random spike and more like the market finally catching up to what the car is.

For a car that many people still think of as the forgotten modern Bugatti, it is becoming very hard to forget.

Over the last month or so I’ve had more emails than usual from frustrated buyers, and it is probably one of the few topics where I find myself agreeing with both sides.

The stories generally fall into one of two camps. Either the buyer wins the auction and the seller decides they no longer want to sell the car, or the buyer turns up and finds the car is not quite as described in the listing. Let me say from the outset that this is not a regular occurrence. The overwhelming majority of transactions on Bring a Trailer, Cars & Bids, PCarMarket, Collecting Cars and the other platforms go through exactly as they should. But when things do go wrong, it is understandably frustrating for everyone involved.

The obvious reaction is to say, “The platform should force the seller to complete the sale.” On the face of it, that sounds perfectly reasonable, but I actually think the reality is much more complicated. With the exception of businesses like duPont REGISTRY Live, where the cars are physically in their possession, the vast majority of auction platforms are marketplaces. They introduce buyers and sellers. They do not own the vehicles, they do not hold the titles, and regardless of whatever the terms and conditions might say, it is incredibly difficult to physically force someone to hand over a car once they have decided they are not going to.

The platform rarely knows exactly what has happened either. Has the seller genuinely changed their mind? Did the buyer discover something that was not disclosed? Has one side simply become unreasonable? Or is somebody trying their luck? From the outside it is very easy to point fingers. From the platform’s perspective, I imagine it is often far less clear.

Personally, I think the bigger lesson starts long before the auction ever goes live. I always tell people the same thing. If a platform suggests a reserve you are uncomfortable with, walk away. Nobody is forcing you to sell your car on that website, or any website for that matter. There are plenty of auction platforms, marketplaces and classified sites out there, and not every car belongs in an auction. More importantly, not every seller is suited to one either.

I think some sellers use auctions as a way of testing the market. They like the idea of the exposure, the excitement and the possibility of a bidding war, but deep down they have not accepted that the car might actually sell for the reserve they agreed to. If that is how you feel, I would genuinely wait. Ask for a higher reserve, try another platform, use a classified site, or simply keep the car. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those options. There is something wrong with changing your mind after somebody has won.

There is another version of this, and it is when a seller assumes the platform will do all the work for them. “Put it on BaT, it’ll bring big money” is probably true often enough that people believe it. But it is not a strategy. The platform can bring the audience. The seller still has to build the confidence.

A current example is the 13k mile 2018 Porsche 911 GT3 BaT. On paper, it is exactly the sort of car that should get people excited. Green 991.2 GT3, 13k miles, carbon buckets, ceramics, PDK, and real money at stake. But the presentation is doing the car no favors. There are only 38 photos, the color is listed simply as “green,” and the Carfax shows accident history with disabling damage to the rear left corner. The seller has said the title is clean and that they were told it was a fender bender with the rear bumper replaced, but for a modern GT3, that is not enough detail. Buyers are already asking for accident photos, repair information, service records and better documentation.

And to be clear, I am not saying the car is bad. That is not the point. The point is that a car like this needs more help, not less. If you have accident history, a valuable color, a first time seller and a serious car, then the story has to be told properly. Better photos. A proper detail. Paint confirmation. Service history. Repair records. Damage photos if they exist. Clear answers in the comments. All of it matters.

This is where I think platforms could be more direct. Maybe they were in this case, I have no idea. But with certain cars, I think the advice should be very clear: we strongly recommend you use a good powerseller. Not because every seller needs one, and not because the platform cannot sell the car without one, but because some sellers are simply not helping themselves. A good powerseller does not just upload photos and hope. They know what buyers are going to ask before they ask it, and they prepare the auction with every detail covered.

The good news is there is still time for this seller to turn it around. Add the records. Add the photos. Confirm the color. Explain the accident properly. Get into the comments and answer the awkward questions before bidders have to keep dragging the story out. The car may still do well because GT3s are GT3s and BaT has the audience, but doing well is not the same as getting top money.

The other complaint I hear from time to time is that the car was not as described. That can and does happen, but it is also why every auction platform encourages buyers to carry out their own due diligence. If you are spending serious money, get a pre purchase inspection. Ask for a FaceTime walkaround. Request extra photos and videos. Ask the awkward questions before bidding rather than after you have won. Auction listings are a fantastic starting point, but they should never replace doing your own homework.

The more I have thought about it, the more I have come back to one conclusion. An auction is not there to tell you what your car is worth. It is there to sell your car. If you are still trying to work out whether you are actually prepared to part with it, you are probably not ready to list it.

Buyers deserve sellers who are committed to selling. Sellers deserve buyers who have done their homework. And the platforms will never completely eliminate the occasional dispute because they are marketplaces, not dealers with every car sitting in their showroom.

None of that makes these situations any less frustrating when they happen, but I do think a lot of them could be avoided before the first photograph is even uploaded.

Auctions do not reward hope. They reward confidence.

Every now and then I come across a car auction site I have never heard of.

Most of the time that is not a problem. New platforms are fine. Small platforms are fine. Weird platforms can even be interesting. Every auction site started with zero sales at some point.

But sometimes you land on a website and your spidey sense goes up almost immediately. That happened to me this week with a site called Vehicle and Bids.

The name was the first clue. Vehicle and Bids is not exactly a name that fell out of the sky. That alone does not prove anything, but it did make me start clicking around.

And once I did, the rest of the site did not exactly calm me down.

I am not here to declare exactly what Vehicle and Bids is or is not. I do not know who runs it. I do not know whether it was once a real attempt to get into the auction market, whether it is abandoned, whether it is half built, or whether there is some other explanation. But I do know that when I looked around, enough things did not add up that I would not be rushing to bid, wire money, or take anything at face value.

The past results page showed completed sales, but some of the main images were not even cars. Some appeared to be a photo of a person where the vehicle photo should have been. That is a pretty strange look for a car auction site!

Then there were the comments. On a number of auctions that are ending soon, the comments were from four or five months ago. Some of them also had that oddly generic feel, like someone had been asked to imagine what car auction comments are supposed to sound like. “The bidding is heating up.” “Seems like a great deal at the current bid.” That sort of thing.

Again, maybe there is an innocent explanation. But if I am looking at a car auction site and the cars, comments, photos, timing and company information are all making me pause, I am not bidding first and asking questions later.

That is really the point. We have all seen versions of this before. Fake Craigslist ads. Too good to be true Facebook Marketplace listings. Dealer websites that disappear. Cars priced just low enough to make someone excited, usually with a story attached. The internet has made it easier than ever to find interesting cars, but it has also made it easier for something to look more legitimate than it really is.

And with auction sites, trust matters more than almost anything.

Before you bid on a platform you do not know, do the boring checks. Is there a real contact page? Can you see who owns or operates the site? Are the terms clear? Are the fees clear? Are the payment instructions clear? Are the past results believable? Do the photos match the cars? Do the comments look like real auction activity? Can you verify the listings anywhere else?

If the answer to a few of those questions is no, slow down. That does not mean every unfamiliar platform is bad. I actually like seeing new entrants in the space, and I think smaller platforms deserve more attention when they are doing things properly. But trust has to be earned. A nice layout and a familiar sounding name are not enough.

The established auction platforms are not perfect, and I write about their problems all the time. But at least with the serious players, there is a track record, visible staff, clear terms, real transaction history and some level of accountability.

With a site you have never heard of, you do not get to skip the homework.

New platforms are welcome. Competition is good. More places to buy and sell interesting cars should be a positive thing. But if you want people to bid, send money, or trust your results, the basics matter. Show who you are. Show real cars. Show believable history. Make the terms obvious. Have a contact page. Do not make buyers feel like they need a detective board and red string just to work out whether the site is real.

And if you are ever unsure, send it over. I am always happy to give my two cents. I would much rather someone email me before they bid than after they have sent money into a black hole.

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