How to Sell a Car at Auction: Exotic Car Auctions Compared

There are three kinds of auction for an exotic or luxury car: online auction sites, big live auctions, and the high-end catalog houses. They charge very differently, they draw different bidders, and they suit different cars.

This guide compares them from the seller's side: what each one costs you, what the buyer pays on top, and how to tell which one fits your car.

Key numbers

Three kinds of auction: Online auction sites, big live auctions, and high-end catalog houses.
Lowest seller fees: Online sites. Cars & Bids and Hagerty Marketplace are free to list on. Bring a Trailer and PCARMARKET start at $99.
Live auction costs: Mecum is reported to charge sellers 6% with no reserve or 10% with a reserve, plus an entry fee.
Which gets higher bids?: Nobody publishes a fair comparison. Check recent results for cars like yours.

The three kinds of car auction

Type	Examples	How it works	Suits
Online auction sites	Bring a Trailer, Cars & Bids, PCARMARKET, Hagerty Marketplace	The car stays with you. A listing usually runs for about a week, and bidders compete online.	Enthusiast cars with good photos and records, at almost any price.
Big live auctions	Mecum, Barrett-Jackson	You take the car to a multi-day event, and it crosses the block in front of a crowd.	Cars with broad crowd appeal: American muscle, Corvettes, customs and well-known supercars.
Catalog houses	RM Sotheby's, Gooding Christie's, Broad Arrow	A specialist accepts the car, researches it and presents it in the catalog for a flagship sale.	Rare, historically significant and very valuable cars.

The lines blur a little. Catalog houses such as Gooding Christie's also run online-only sales, and the live auctions take bids online and by phone. But the three types still work, and charge, in clearly different ways.

What each auction charges

Auction	Seller pays	Buyer pays on top of the bid
Cars & Bids	Nothing	5%, minimum $250, maximum $7,500
Hagerty Marketplace	Nothing	7%, minimum $500
Bring a Trailer	Listing fee from $99. No commission.	5%, minimum $250, maximum $7,500
PCARMARKET	$99 listing fee. No commission.	5%, minimum $500, maximum $7,500
Mecum	Entry fee of $350 to $1,000, plus 6% with no reserve or 10% with a reserve	10% in person, 12% online or by phone
Barrett-Jackson	Entry fee plus a commission on the hammer price (8%, according to Classic.com)	10% on site (12% for absentee bidders, according to Classic.com)
RM Sotheby's	Marketing fee plus a commission, both set case by case	12% on the first $250,000, 10% above that
Gooding Christie's	Agreed with a specialist	12% on the first $250,000, 10% above that. 10% flat at its online-only sales.
Broad Arrow	Marketing fee plus a commission agreed with its team	12% on the first $250,000, 10% above that (according to Classic.com)

Cars & Bids, Hagerty, PCARMARKET, Barrett-Jackson, RM Sotheby's (its 2026 Monterey sale), Gooding Christie's and Broad Arrow details are from their own sites unless marked. We weren't able to read Mecum's own fee page, so its fees are as reported by Motorious in September 2026 and by Classic.com. Bring a Trailer's are as reported by Axis Auto. Checked October 2026. Live-auction terms are set sale by sale, so get the fees in writing before you consign.

The pattern is clear. Online sites charge the seller little or nothing, and they cap the buyer's fee. Live auctions charge both sides a percentage, with no cap.

What you keep on a $150,000 sale

Here is the same $150,000 winning bid at each auction, using the fees above.

Auction	Seller's fees	Seller receives	Buyer pays in total
Cars & Bids	None	$150,000	$157,500
Hagerty Marketplace	None	$150,000	$160,500
Bring a Trailer	$99 listing	$149,901	$157,500
PCARMARKET	$99 listing	$149,901	$157,500
Mecum, no reserve	6% plus a half-price entry fee	$140,500 to $140,825	$165,000 in person
Barrett-Jackson	8% plus an entry fee	$138,000, less the entry fee	$165,000 on site
Mecum, with a reserve	10% plus a $350 to $1,000 entry fee	$134,000 to $134,650	$165,000 in person
RM Sotheby's, Gooding Christie's, Broad Arrow	Negotiated	Depends on your agreement	$168,000

Our arithmetic, from the fees in the table above. The Barrett-Jackson row uses the 8% commission listed by Classic.com, which Barrett-Jackson doesn't publish itself.

Don't read this as "online always wins". The table assumes the car sells for the same bid everywhere, and it won't. A live auction's fees pay for the venue, the marketing and a room full of registered bidders, and for the right car that crowd can push the price well past what it would reach online.

What the table does show is how much harder a live auction has to work. At Mecum with a reserve, the car would need to hammer for roughly $167,000 to $168,000 to pay you what a $150,000 sale pays on a free-to-list site.

The buyer's side matters too. A bidder with $165,000 to spend can bid $157,500 on Bring a Trailer, but only $150,000 in the room at Mecum, because the premium comes out of the same budget.

Try your own number in our auction fee calculator.

Online auctions: Bring a Trailer and sites like it

Bring a Trailer. The best-known site, with cars from every era. Sellers pay a flat listing fee and no commission. See Bring a Trailer's fees.
Cars & Bids. Built for enthusiast cars from the 1980s on, and free for sellers. See Cars & Bids' fees and how the two compare.
PCARMARKET. It began as a Porsche marketplace and now lists other enthusiast cars as well. Sellers pay $99 for a reserve or no-reserve auction. The buyer's fee has a higher minimum than the two sites above, at $500.
Hagerty Marketplace. Run by the classic car insurer. Hagerty says auctions are free to list and sellers keep the full sale price. The buyer pays 7%, and unlike the sites above, we found no maximum.
Hemmings Auctions. From the long-running classic car marketplace, and aimed mainly at classics. We couldn't confirm its current fees, so check its site.

All of these review submissions and turn some cars down. All of them ask you to supply photos and records and to answer bidders' questions while the auction runs.

Big live auctions: Mecum and Barrett-Jackson

Mecum. Large live auctions around the country through the year, with its January sale in Kissimmee, Florida, the biggest. You can sell with a reserve or without one, and the reported commission is lower without. See Mecum's fees.
Barrett-Jackson. Best known for its Scottsdale auction each January. Most cars sell at no reserve, and Barrett-Jackson offers a reserve on select cars only. See Barrett-Jackson's fees.

A live auction asks more of you than an online one:

You pay an entry fee up front. Mecum's isn't refunded if the car doesn't sell, according to Motorious.
You get the car to the event, and home again if it doesn't sell.
Your day and time slot matter. Barrett-Jackson says its entry fee depends on when your car is scheduled to cross the block.
The sale takes a few minutes, not a week. There's no time for a hesitant bidder to do more research.

Catalog houses: RM Sotheby's, Gooding Christie's and Broad Arrow

These houses sell the most valuable cars in the world, at flagship sales such as the ones held during Monterey Car Week each August. You don't simply enter a car. You talk to a specialist, who decides whether it fits a sale and agrees an estimate and a reserve with you.

None of the three publishes a seller's fee schedule. RM Sotheby's says a consignor pays a marketing fee and a seller's commission, and that both depend on the route to sale. Broad Arrow says its commission is set with its team, based on the venue, the car's estimated value and the reserve you want. Gooding Christie's asks sellers to contact a specialist.

That means the fee is negotiable, and the more desirable your car, the more room you have. Ask for the commission, the marketing fee, and any charges for transport, photography or storage, all in writing.

A regular-production modern Ferrari or Lamborghini is usually a better fit for an online site or a specialist buyer. Limited-production, historically important and collector-grade cars are what these catalogs are built around.

How to choose the right auction

Look up recent results for your exact model at each auction. Where did similar cars draw the most bidders?
Check what the published price means. According to Classic.com, results from Barrett-Jackson, RM Sotheby's, Gooding and Broad Arrow include the buyer's premium, while Mecum, Bring a Trailer and Cars & Bids show the bid alone.
Work out what you'd keep after fees and transport, not the hammer price.
Decide how you feel about no reserve before you pick a venue.
Get the fees in writing, including what you owe if the car doesn't sell.

New to the vocabulary? Buyer's premium, reserve and no reserve explained covers the terms.

When an auction isn't the right route

Auctions reward cars that get enthusiasts competing: rare specifications, low miles, unusual colors and complete records. They are less kind to an ordinary specification, and they are never quick or certain.

If you need a firm number and a fast sale, or you have a loan to pay off, a specialist buyer or dealer is usually the easier route. How selling works compares all five ways to sell.

Common questions

What is the best auction site to sell an exotic car?

It depends on the car. Online sites such as Bring a Trailer and Cars & Bids suit most modern exotics and cost the seller least. Mecum and Barrett-Jackson suit cars with broad crowd appeal. Catalog houses such as RM Sotheby's suit rare and very valuable cars.

Which car auction gets the highest prices?

Nobody publishes a fair comparison, because no two cars are the same. Compare recent results for your own model at each auction, and compare what you'd keep after fees.

How much does it cost to sell a car at auction?

On online sites, from nothing to a listing fee of about $99. At Mecum, an entry fee of $350 to $1,000 plus 6% or 10% of the hammer price, as reported by Motorious. Catalog houses negotiate their fees case by case.

What are the alternatives to Bring a Trailer?

Cars & Bids, PCARMARKET and Hagerty Marketplace are the closest. Cars & Bids and Hagerty Marketplace are free to list on, and PCARMARKET charges sellers $99.

Is it better to sell at auction or to a dealer?

An auction can pay more for a car that enthusiasts compete for, but it takes weeks and the result isn't certain. A specialist buyer or dealer is quicker and more certain, usually for a lower price.

Sources

Figures were checked against these sources in October 2026. Prices change, so confirm before relying on them.

Selling a car at auction: exotic and luxury car auctions compared