Auction Sites ‘Bring A Trailer’ and ‘Cars And Bids’ Rejected My Land Rover And I Don’t Blame Them

Last week, I told you all I was selling my Land Rover Discovery, for obvious reasons. I was flooded with supportive comments and a few from you overseas folks saying “Well my Range Rover has never left me stranded.” Okay, well your Range Rover was probably kissed by Queen Lizzie herself to ensure a life of longevity. Mine was cursed by a guy named George as he frantically tried screwing the thing together at the plant in Solihull.

I decided that I would submit my Discovery to Bring A Trailer and Cars and Bids, just to see. It’s a unique and classic vehicle, right? You don’t see many of them around anymore and someone would be happy to have it. Well, I guess there’s a reason why you don’t see many of them up for sale on those sites. It’s simply a liability.

Listing a car at the auction house is a detailed, time-intensive procedure. I am not surprised that these two major auction houses rejected my car. They both have rather intricate application processes, but in their own unique ways. Cars and Bids has a simpler, less rigorous application compared to Bring A Trailer. There are two steps for submitting your vehicle on C&B.

Cars and Bids Application Process

They first questions ask for general information like the vehicle’s VIN, make, model, noteworthy features, mileage, and location. Simple enough, right?

I figured my Discovery would be able to pass this part at least. No mechanical flaws, at the moment. A+.

The second part asks for pictures, title status, and if you’d like to place a reserve on the vehicle. When submitting, I opted for no-reserve. Risky, but if someone were to win my Discovery for $500, I’d shrug my shoulders and wish them luck in further maintenance.

Cars and Bids, replied almost instantly to my application within two days. Perhaps Doug didn’t pity my ownership as a young Land Rover owner? So my Disco did not pass Cars and Bid’s application; did I expect it to get accepted at Bring A Trailer? No. Did I still submit it? Absolutely. Their process was a bit more strict and tedious, take a look at some of the differences.

Bring A Trailer Application

Bring A Trailer required additional information about engine replacements, bodywork, and rust, something that Cars and Bids did not ask or require to be shared in the application. I particularly like the line “Be thorough- you don’t want commenters to do this for you.” These folks are the heroes of any auction. They expose the truth about a potentially lying seller. Good job BAT for recognizing this. They’d probably find out my Disco was used in a murder car chase through Manhattan back in 2005.

After inputting this information, it took about a week to hear back from BAT. I suspect they were speculating on whether or not they should pity this kid and his old Land Rover. Eventually, they must have all laughed, said the hell with it, and sent me that letter they had on standby.

Anyway, why do I speculate the auction houses rejected my Discovery?

Why Did They Reject Me?

An old 165,000 mile Land Rover on an enthusiast website? Sure that’s typical, but a Discovery? Yikes. I bet the liability of taking perhaps the worst Land Rover in terms of reliability onto an auction site is greater than the $2 profit an auction house would get out of it. These cars aren’t worth a lot in this condition for a reason.

It also doesn’t help that I am the fourth owner. The first owner had it as a company vehicle for two years. The second owner had it for the longest, from 2003-2021, when he must’ve sent it to the auction once he got sick of it. The third owner, whom I purchased from, had it for only a few months, if that. I, the fourth owner, swooped in July 2022 and have had it ever since. It’s been tossed around like a hot potato. I wonder why!

Then there are cosmetic issues , which typically don’t bother me. The headliner is sagging, the front bumper is cracked, and it’s covered in dings and scratches. It was a New York City truck, after all. I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point someone took a whiz on it while parked on 34th Street. Someone even scratched their name into the paint. It looks like George. Why, George, just why?