Bring A Trailer took the automotive world by storm the last five years. The automotive auction site became the place to be to buy things that were rare and unique. But then things just started to get out of hand when people with more money than sense started paying stupid prices for things that weren’t that special. Like $67,000 for a Ford Excursion, or nearly $30,000 for a 2008 Subaru Forester XT that someone else modded.
While this period of not special cars going for wild prices seems to be cooling off, we’ve now entered a ridiculous phase of BaT that sees the site turning into a used car lot with listings people think are special that aren’t. Take this latest listing that seems to be listed by dealer rather than an individual.
As of this writing, there’s currently a 2008 Honda CR-V listed with a price currently sitting at $7,850. What’s special about this CR-V you may ask? Well, it’s bone stock and clean. It also has low-ish miles: 35,000. What stands out the most, though, is that it’s a spec that would appeal to enthusiasts. This CR-V is equipped with four-wheel drive and a five-speed manual transmission. Is that cool?
Sure, it’s a spec that was probably pretty rare. I couldn’t find hard numbers on just how many second-generation CR-Vs came equipped like this, but I doubt many did. But is it special enough for a no-reserve auction on-site that’s supposed to be for vintage and classic vehicles? Probably not.
Some pointed this out on Twitter, mentioning common irks about listings like this, such as how this CR-V isn’t unique enough to warrant its own listing, and how a classic label is being thrown on anything with low miles now. This could also point to a slowdown in the site itself. Bring A Trailer sales hit $1.4 billion in 2023. During the crazy years that were the early pandemic, the site had over 11,000 listings, 70 percent of which sold. But with interest rates high, and car inventories pretty much back to normal, listings like these seem like cars are being thrown on the site to see what sticks. Let’s hope that this doesn’t become too big of a trend or it’ll just end up hurting the car market and Bring A Trailer itself in the long run.