I don't know about you, but I never read the Terms of Use when I sign up for something. I tick the box and move on.

And I suspect most of us only ever go back and read them when something has gone wrong.

So I'm not entirely sure what made me look this time, but I noticed that Bring a Trailer updated its U.S. terms on July 22, and then Cars & Bids updated theirs on August 14.

Two of the biggest online auction platforms changing their terms within a few weeks of each other was enough to make me curious. So, for probably the first time in my life, I actually read them.

Before getting into what I found, I think it's worth saying that these platforms absolutely need to protect themselves.

Just imagine some of what must go on behind the scenes. Hundreds of auctions running at any one time, buyers who don't pay, sellers who change their minds, cars that aren't quite as expected, title issues, payment issues and probably plenty of disagreements that we never hear anything about.

We normally only see the auction. There's obviously a lot more going on behind it. But there were a few things in the latest terms that I thought were worth knowing, particularly if you're buying or selling a car.

This was the part that interested me most. BaT already had arbitration in its terms, so that's nothing new. What has changed is what you have to do before you get there.

Previously, if your claim was $10,000 or less, BaT's terms generally provided for the arbitration to be dealt with through written submissions, without anyone having to appear in person unless both sides agreed otherwise.

The new terms are quite different. If you have a dispute with BaT, you now first have to send them a formal Notice of Dispute explaining what happened, what you want them to do about it and, if you're claiming money, how you've calculated that amount.

Then there's a 60-day period for you and BaT to try to sort things out. Either side can also ask for an individual phone or video settlement conference, which you personally have to attend.

If none of that works and you eventually get to arbitration, the new terms also go into considerably more detail about things like appearances, discovery and even depositions.

Cars & Bids has gone down a similar road, although its process is slightly different.

Its latest terms also have a 60-day period where both sides have to try to resolve the dispute. If that doesn't work, either side can then ask for mediation through JAMS. That mediation has to happen before you can move on to arbitration, and if there's still no agreement within 90 days after the demand for mediation, you can finally head to arbitration.

It sounds like a lot, and it is. But I can also see why it's there. If there is a genuine problem, surely everyone is better off having several opportunities to sort it out before lawyers, arbitrators and a lot more money become involved.

There was one part of the C&B terms I thought was particularly worth pointing out.

You can actually opt out of their arbitration agreement.

You have 30 days after first accepting the terms to tell C&B in writing that you want to opt out. That's not actually something they've just introduced. It was in their older terms too, but I'd be surprised if many people knew it existed.

I certainly didn't. C&B has also put a one-year time limit on bringing most claims, although the clock pauses while you're going through the required negotiation and mediation process.

Again, it's the sort of thing you probably don't care about until the day you suddenly do.

This is probably more relevant to most of us than any of the arbitration language. Both platforms make it pretty clear where their responsibility ends and yours begins.

Cars & Bids says the actual contract to buy the car is directly between the seller and the winning bidder.

BaT takes essentially the same position. Its terms say the agreement between you and BaT doesn't govern the actual transaction between buyer and seller.

And I think that's something worth remembering. We put a lot of trust in these platforms, partly because they do a very good job of bringing everything together. The listing, photos, comments, bidding and community all sit in one place, so it's easy to feel like the platform is part of the actual transaction.

Legally, though, you're still buying the car from the seller. That's why all the things we talk about regularly still matter. Ask questions. Look through the photos properly. Read the comments. Get a PPI when you think you need one. And if you're spending serious money, make sure you're comfortable with exactly what you're buying and who you're buying it from.

The platform can give you the marketplace. It can't remove all the risk of buying a car from someone you've probably never met.

A big fat no!

If anything, after reading through all of this, I'm probably more surprised by the scale of what these companies have to deal with behind the scenes. We see the nice bit. A car goes live, everyone discusses it, the clock runs down, someone wins and another auction starts.

They have to deal with everything that happens when it doesn't go like that.

So I don't look at tougher or more detailed terms and immediately think something bad is going on. As these platforms have become bigger and the value of the cars being sold has grown, it makes sense that the rules sitting underneath everything have become more detailed as well.

But there is a lesson in it for us. We all spend a lot of time looking at the car, the bids and the final price. Very few of us spend any time looking at the agreement we've entered into with the platform facilitating all of it.

I'm still not going to start reading every Terms of Use before I click I Agree.

But if I'm buying or selling a six-figure car online, maybe knowing where I stand if something goes wrong isn't such a bad idea after all.

You all know I have a soft spot for a fast wagon, so a manual 2004 Volvo V70R with the Spaceball six-speed, 300hp and AWD was always going to get my attention. Even with 169,000 miles.

But it's actually the seller I love here.

He's a Mercedes guy who bought the car on eBay for $2,700 thinking he'd "stolen" it, only for it to arrive with bad tires, a cracked windshield, the wrong struts with the 4C wiring cut, a destroyed clutch and, as he later remembered, a bad transfer case. His summary: "I thought I was winning but that's never the case lol."

And he just keeps sharing. Ask about the clutch and he'll tell you exactly how it was failing. Ask about the flywheel and he'll call the transmission shop to find out. Want more headliner photos? He takes them. Driving video? Done. Questions about the 4C suspension? He explains what was replaced and repaired. At one point he admits he'd forgotten about the transfer case because "This car hurt me bad I guess my subconscious is trying to forget lol."

I absolutely love it. Is this how a professional seller would present a car? Probably not. But there's something incredibly authentic about watching someone admit they bought a cheap V70R, discovered they'd bought considerably more problems than expected, fixed a load of them and then threw it onto Cars & Bids at no reserve.

And underneath all of that is still a manual V70R wagon, which I personally think is very cool.

With less than a day left it's at $9,850, and I'm intrigued to see where it ends. If nothing else, I'd much rather buy a 169,000-mile Volvo from someone who tells me too much than someone who tells me too little.

I don't think I need to come up with some clever reason for featuring this one. I just love it.

A 1988 Rolls-Royce Corniche II Convertible in Vermilion over Parchment leather, red piping, burgundy carpets and acres of burr walnut. It's wonderfully over the top, incredibly English and somehow manages to look classy while being bright red. I'm not sure many cars could pull that off.

And then there's the history, which makes me like it even more. It's showing just over 16k miles and has effectively been in the same family since 1991, when they bought it with around 2,700 miles. It went from the current owner's mother, to his brother and then eventually to him. So while technically it's had six keepers, that doesn't really tell the story.

It's certainly not perfect. There are stone chips, some crazing in the paint, a few ripples in the passenger door and some wear inside, but I'm absolutely fine with that. I'd much rather see those things pointed out than have someone try to convince me a nearly 40-year-old Rolls-Royce is flawless. The hydraulic suspension also came up in the comments and the seller says it was repaired around a year ago and is now working properly.

But really, I'm featuring it because just look at the thing.

This is proper English gentleman motoring. Roof down, enormous 6.75-litre V8 up front, three-speed automatic, a drinks compartment in the passenger door and absolutely no reason whatsoever to be in a hurry.

After some of the rather serious money we've been looking at recently, and all that money at Monterey last week, here's something completely different.

This is a 1983 BMW 528e. It's done 222,000 miles, has a hole in the driver's seat, a chipped windscreen, a broken antenna and various scratches and marks. It's also currently sitting at just $2,100.

And I really like it :)

Not necessarily because it's a 528e, although the five-speed manual certainly helps, but because the seller bought this car new in 1984 and has owned it for the last 42 years. How often do we actually see that?

More importantly, it looks like he actually used the thing. This isn't one of those "one owner" cars that's spent four decades sitting under a cover. There are 222,000 miles on it and a service ledger documenting a pretty extraordinary amount of work over the years, including an engine overhaul, clutch, driveshaft, air conditioning, suspension and plenty more.

It's certainly not perfect and nobody is pretending otherwise. But there's something I really like about seeing a car reach this point with the person who bought it new still being the one to finally put it up for sale.