Why Sell Your Special Car at Auction?

The differences at a glance

Comparison of auctioning via Octane with Other channels, per aspect
Aspect	Auction via Octane	Other channels
Pricing	Several buyers bid against each other	You guess an asking price and hope someone agrees
Urgency	Fixed end date: buyers have to decide now	A listing can run for months
Competition	Buyers compete for your car	One buyer negotiates the price down
Transparency	All bids visible	Negotiations behind closed doors
Reach	Buyers in 12 Western European countries, alerted per auction	Waiting for whoever happens to find your listing
Dynamics	Bidding until the last minute, especially in the final hours	Drawn-out negotiating without an end point
Presentation	Editorial text and structured specifications; photos per the photo guide or via a photographer from our network	Your own photos and text of varying quality
Price protection	Confidential reserve as a safety net	No safety net: you hope for the best offer
Convenience	Supply photos and answer questions; we do the rest	Everything yourself: listing, viewings, negotiating

Pricing
Auction via Octane
Several buyers bid against each other
Other channels
You guess an asking price and hope someone agrees
Urgency
Auction via Octane
Fixed end date: buyers have to decide now
Other channels
A listing can run for months
Competition
Auction via Octane
Buyers compete for your car
Other channels
One buyer negotiates the price down
Transparency
Auction via Octane
All bids visible
Other channels
Negotiations behind closed doors
Reach
Auction via Octane
Buyers in 12 Western European countries, alerted per auction
Other channels

In short

Another route suits you if:

your car is a common used car without enthusiast appeal
you want to sell within days, whatever the price
you already have a buyer offering a good price

An auction suits you if:

your car has market potential: service history, rare specification, a story or low mileage
you are willing to let the market decide, with a reserve as your safety net
you would rather have buyers compete than negotiate yourself

Who Each Option Suits

Auctions work best for cars with clear market potential and for sellers willing to let the market decide. That may sound exciting, but with a confidential reserve agreed with our team beforehand you have a safety net: you combine the upside of competitive bidding with the certainty of a minimum price.

The format is ideal for enthusiast cars because these cars have an emotional component that is often lost in a traditional sale. A dealer looks at book value, a classifieds buyer looks at price. At auction come buyers who recognise and appreciate what is special about your car, and are willing to pay for it.

Particularly suitable are cars with a devoted service history, rare specifications or editions, an interesting story or provenance, low mileage for the year, or a brand with an active enthusiast community. If you want to see all selling channels side by side, read the best way to sell your collector car.

Why an auction via Octane

Octane combines the proven auction model with an online platform built specifically for enthusiast cars. The right cars for the right audience: that is the core of what we do.

Where traditional auction houses organise physical events, with transport, viewing days and often hefty seller fees, at Octane your car simply stays at home. We write the text and structure the specifications, you supply the photos per the photo guide or via a photographer from our network, and around the auction we alert buyers in twelve Western European countries. As the seller you pay no commission.

The result is a sales process that delivers the fairest price for most special cars. Not because we set the price, but because we reach the right audience and the auction format lets buyers show their true valuation. Curious how Octane compares with Collecting Cars, Catawiki or other auction houses? See the comparisons.

How the reserve works

In an Octane auction you can set a reserve: a minimum price below which your car will not be sold. Three things to know:

Confidential

Bidders can see that there is a reserve, but not how high. They bid on what the car is worth to them, not on your floor.

Agreed together

You set the reserve with our team before the auction, based on comparable auction results. A dealer’s offer or a trade-in value can be a good starting point.

Not met? No obligation

If the highest bid stays below the reserve, the car is not sold and you are not bound to anything. We then look with you and the highest bidder at whether a deal is still possible.

Prefer to auction without a reserve? That is possible too; discuss it with our team.

Frequently Asked Questions

With a confidential reserve agreed with our team beforehand you have a safety net: if the highest bid stays below it, the car is not sold and you are not bound to anything.

More reach (buyers in twelve countries instead of one room), a longer bidding period (seven days instead of minutes), and your car stays at home: no transport and no viewing days. The core is the same: buyers bid against each other and so determine the market value.

Around every auction we run a targeted campaign to reach the right buyers. If there turns out to be less interest in your car than expected, the reserve protects you against a disappointing result.

Bids are visible to everyone and bidders are verified via a card reservation or identity check. The reserve is confidential: bidders can see that there is a reserve, but not how high it is.

You sell to the highest bidder if the reserve is met. Every bidder is verified and the audience consists of enthusiasts; the chances are good that your car ends up with a good new owner.

No. Auctions work well for all special cars, regardless of price range. A well-maintained Mazda MX-5 can be just as suitable as a Ferrari. It is about the special character, not the price tag.

Seven days. That fixed period creates urgency; the final hours often see the most bidding.

Discuss any doubts with our team before the auction is created. Once your auction has been created, our terms do not allow you to withdraw it free of charge: withdrawing incurs a fee of 3% of the highest bid, with a minimum of €350 and a maximum of €3,600. During the auction you also offer the car exclusively through Octane.

As the seller you pay no commission. The buyer pays a 3% buyer fee including VAT, with a minimum of €350 and a maximum of €3,600. You supply the photos yourself per the photo guide, or pay a photographer from our network directly.