Automotive auction platform Bring A Trailer has surpassed one billion dollars in sales for three consecutive years, and 2024 marks the site’s biggest sales year ever with over $1.5 billion worth of units moved, and I was one of them. Not only has the average transaction price gone up on the site, but the site is seeing more listings than ever before. In calendar year 2024 the site saw nearly 45,000 listings hit the market, sometimes seeing as many as 1,000 new listings in a week.
“BaT continued evolving as a business in 2024 – both as an organization and as a leader in the market,” said Randy Nonnenberg, co-founder and president of Bring a Trailer. “This marked another banner year as we continued to grow while maintaining our overarching goals of bringing transparent auctions to enthusiasts and giving our community the opportunity to interact with special cars, their owners and subject matter experts.”
Part of the brand’s success in 2024 was found by streamlining internal systems and hiring more staff to handle the increased demand. Just a few years ago submitting your listing to BaT would come with a multi-week wait to get through approval and listing creation before it could go live. “Now, a well-prepared seller can have their car online in just a few days in many cases,” assures Nonnenberg.
While the big-dollar auctions are still led by the blue chip classics like 300SL Gullwings and Nazi-era 500K Roadsters, as well as the high-dollar collectible hypercars, BaT says the majority of its volume comes from enthusiast cars at the tail end of the analog driving era. The most popular model year sold on BaT in 2024 was from 2006 (followed closely by 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2005 in that order).
BaT is looking to expand its operations in Europe for 2025 in order to keep the growth alive.
The company doesn’t divulge all of its data, but if we assume around 44,500 listings hit the site in 2024, the company’s 77 percent sell-through rate tells us that it closed sales on around 34,250 units. $1.5 billion in sales means that the average BaT sale falls around $43,780. That falls a bit short of the average new car transaction price in 2024, which was about $49,740.