Recently, a sale on the enthusiast auction site Bring A Trailer raised a few eyebrows - namely, almost the entire internet. A high sale price on the digital auction platform is not all that unusual; after all, Bring A Trailer has a long waiting list because of the above-market numbers cars routinely hit. But sometimes, a number is so batshit crazy that it causes every armchair quarterback to hold onto their La-Z-Boy armrest for dear life.
Money laundering. Shill bidding. Fake bidders. The accusations ran long and hot when a very clean (but certainly not showroom condition) MK2 Volkswagen GTI 16-valve sold for a ridiculous $87,000. No MK2 VW in recent memory - or possibly, ever - has hammered home for that kind of price. It simply doesn't happen, with top-shelf examples barely cracking $50,000 for the time being.
The internet has been ablaze with comments about this car, ranging from keyboard warriors defending the mega-rich ("Money is no object, the price paid is nothing to them") to seemingly low-rent private eyes who have spent years studying how the car hobby is a den of thieves looking to wash dirty money. Now, there is precedent for this, as you don't have to Google too hard to find evidence of car dealerships being fairly popular targets for money-washing operations.
But the question remains: is that what happened here?
The simple math says it makes no logical sense why the bidding went the way it did, especially since either buyer could have likely bought the car for less had it been allowed to end up as a no-sale given there was certainly a reserve on it. Let's say the reserve was $40,000 and they both sat on their hands; could it have been bought for $45,000, post-auction?
The other part of this is the uncomfortable one for a lot of people, which is that some folks - and good for them - simply have enough money to burn that "wasting" it on a dream car is fairly meaningless. I do not live in that world, nor do most of my car-loving friends. But the last few years have been wonky, with everything from BitCoin millionaires to suburban housewives starting a COVID-19 testing clinic and raking in millions in government contracts. If anything, it shows us that there are seemingly myriad ways to earn a buck, and in this case, several bucks.
And bottom line: if this was a shill operation, we'll never know. Bring A Trailer is extremely protective of its reputation, especially given the company it now keeps with high-dollar clientele. From where I'm sitting, $87K buys several other vehicles I'd rather own.