This auction platform allows dealers two hours to bid for your vehicle.

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      Selling a car can be quite frustrating. If you opt to sell privately, you have to deal with strangers and unreliable buyers. When trading it in at a dealership, you face off against a skilled negotiator in a stressful situation. Bidbus aims to simplify this process by allowing sellers to list their vehicles in a private auction format where dealers and wholesale buyers compete for the highest bid.

      Founded in 2022 by former auto dealers, brokers, and wholesalers, as noted in a press release, Bidbus has recently gained attention due to a significant private equity investment aimed at enhancing its features.

      The main idea behind Bidbus is practical: Sellers can easily create a listing with basic vehicle details, set a reserve price (the minimum amount they're willing to accept), and then the car gets placed in a dealer-only marketplace where dealers have a two-hour period to place bids. If the car sells, a $300 fee is taken from the selling price, and the seller receives payment. I checked my F31 BMW 3 Series’s VIN through its initial listing process and received an estimated sale price of around $17,000, which aligns with my expectations for a wholesale dealer auction. I would prefer to get more by selling privately, but that would also involve the considerable hassle of managing inquiries and test drives from various potential buyers.

      The user interface could use some improvement—not sure why “4D Sport Wagon” is labeled as the “Drive,” while the model name is categorized as the “Transmission.”

      In theory, Bidbus should streamline the process compared to contacting multiple dealers or visiting the websites of companies like Carvana and CarMax individually. It appears to be an interesting concept.

      Currently, however, it operates only in Southern California. According to the public relations firm promoting it, today's investment will enable Bidbus to “expand to other locations” soon. The platform essentially markets itself as offering “fast selling” for car owners and “a large inventory to choose from” for dealers.

      Bidbus also shared a statement from Kraig Coomber, dealer owner and Bidbus CFO and co-founder: “Traditional auctions may feature thousands of vehicles from rental agencies and leases, but only a small fraction are worth purchasing. Our team developed Bidbus after years of dealing with the challenges of sourcing inventory as dealers. We created a platform where quality is a given and every car deserves a bid.”

      Having experience in the automotive wholesale industry, I can understand Coomber's perspective and why dealers might favor this model.

      Typically, when you trade in your car at a dealership for a new one, they do not resell it directly. Instead, they send it to a large private auction system that is restricted to licensed dealers. In the U.S., the two main auction platforms are Manheim and ADESA, both of which operate similarly.

      This represents just a small portion of the vehicles that pass through a typical wholesale auto auction every week.

      While prestigious auction houses like RM Sotheby’s or Barrett-Jackson treat cars like fine art, sales at Manheim or ADESA resemble livestock auctions. Numerous cars (good, bad, and mediocre) are auctioned simultaneously, with dealers placing bids in person and online via webcam. This comparison to livestock is not meant to be derogatory; it simply reflects that acquiring used cars for resale is viewed as a commodity transaction rather than an exhilarating purchase.

      As a buyer, you must act quickly, evaluating and valuing a car in mere minutes to determine your maximum bid. There are also intricate social dynamics to navigate in a chaotic environment, but that's a topic for another discussion.

      Ultimately, this creates a tiered system. Mid-level dealers purchase quality off-lease vehicles from reputable dealerships, smaller dealers obtain inventory from the mid-level retailers, and budget-conscious buyers receive what remains. Direct bidding from consumers reduces much of this hierarchy, and a two-hour bidding window is a significant improvement over the usual practices.

      I remain cautious about anything that claims to be “AI-powered” or “AI-assisted,” as Bidbus suggests it is. Nevertheless, at the very least, buyers could probably set up criteria like year, make, model, and mileage to receive alerts when suitable cars become available. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine a system capable of placing bids for you based on historical sales data of various vehicles.

      In theory, this seems like a beneficial approach that could assist used car dealers in sourcing inventory and allow consumers to sell their used cars effortlessly. It's been a while since I was racing around Manheim facilities in Massachusetts trying to acquire numerous vehicles simultaneously, and I certainly do not miss that experience.

      Have you had any memorable or challenging trade-in experiences? Share your stories at [email protected]