[TouringM3]

Hey Pals –

I have the beginning of an idea I want to run by y'all, and ask a few questions.

When i'm not going over-my-head in a "DIY" frankenstein fast wagon project, i'm a startup founder and tech consultant, so this shit happens a lot and about 99 times out of 100 it's a dogshit concept. ;P

Your experience?
Have you ever wanted to find that *chef's kiss* iconic spec E30 M3, Henna Red w/ Black interior? What about a 2009 or 2010 E61 535xi M-Sport 6MT with black interior?

Do you have a super hard to find specified car, maybe a S54 Z3 M-Coupe? E36 M3LTW? M635csi with the houndstooth interior? SHAWINGGGG baybee.

On the other end of the spectrum, maybe you want to build a super cheap rally car and you want a beat-to-shit, but oh so delightfully 4G63 equipped Mitsubishi Galant VR4, or your kid is about to turn 15 and you want the little punk of joy to learn stick, so of course you need a Volvo 240 or 850, and make it a wagon thank you very much.

"Lots of typing here, get to the point!

The idea
A "make me sell" & "let me buy" platform for cars.

What if you, as an owner of an oh-so-perfectly built and maintained car could keep a listing of your vehicle, so WHEN people really want to buy it, they could make you an offer.

On the flip-side, if you want to find a truly babied Porsche 993 targa with the photochromic roof, you can talk to Beatrice in Scottsdale and pitch her a figure and automotive love-note worthy of calling you back after her tennis lesson.

Let me know what you all think, and if it already exists, or if i'm a fucking idiot on this one.

~David

[m630]

Im not sure someone who has no interest in selling their car would ever participate, but, ....Already plenty of similar sites-auction type sites out. Someone i know started pcarmarket focusing on porsche. After less than 2 years they blew up and now accept any type of car. After the auction if car doesnt sell u can keep on the site indefinitely with a buy now price or to allow offers to continue.

[chassis]

Cargurus
Carsandbids
Bringatrailer
Hemmings
Cars.com
Craigslist
Sotheby’s


Are these sites missing a meaningful portion of the market?

[Darth One]

So this is a site for the people who post "FEELER" for sale threads hoping to get blown away with an offer they can't refuse?

Those people are annoying.

[Vivek.]

Originally Posted by Darth One

So this is a site for the people who post "FEELER" for sale threads hoping to get blown away with an offer they can't refuse?

Those people are annoying.

They're annoying because 99% of the time they have some clapped out unfinished project that no one else would want.

OP's idea is more of a place to showcase rare/unique vehicles and give prospective buyers the opportunity to make an above-market offer on a car they REALLY want. The main issue I see here is that your TAM could be small since you'll have to get sellers on the platform with the promise of an offer that'll blow them away and be able to back that up with buyers that are willing to pay more than market value to get exactly what they want.

It's almost like the forums, in a sense, since I could find cars that I like and PM the owner asking what'll it take for their car to be mine. My general rule on cars that I own that aren't for sale is if I'm offered more than I have into it, I'll take it and get something new to play with. The problem is that 99% of the time enthusiast cars aren't worth what we put into them so we need a strong following of buyers who are willing to make objectively foolish buying decisions driven by emotion. Bit of a tough sell if I'm honest.

[R N M]

Call it blowmeawaywithanoffer.com

You need motivated seller for a sale to happen. It would be nice to have a list of potential unicorns out there in the world, but would owners of those cars want to share their info if they are not looking to sell...

[spazzyfry123]

Didn’t Zillow do something similar for real estate? I think it was called “Make Me Move” or something to that effect.

[TouringM3]

Originally Posted by Vivek.

They're annoying because 99% of the time they have some clapped out unfinished project that no one else would want.

OP's idea is more of a place to showcase rare/unique vehicles and give prospective buyers the opportunity to make an above-market offer on a car they REALLY want. The main issue I see here is that your TAM could be small since you'll have to get sellers on the platform with the promise of an offer that'll blow them away and be able to back that up with buyers that are willing to pay more than market value to get exactly what they want.

It's almost like the forums, in a sense, since I could find cars that I like and PM the owner asking what'll it take for their car to be mine. My general rule on cars that I own that aren't for sale is if I'm offered more than I have into it, I'll take it and get something new to play with. The problem is that 99% of the time enthusiast cars aren't worth what we put into them so we need a strong following of buyers who are willing to make objectively foolish buying decisions driven by emotion. Bit of a tough sell if I'm honest.

This really is the crux of the issue, that in order for it to be effective and compelling, you really need a HEAP of people on the platform.

To be honest it's the kind of thing i just assumed VinWiki was doing because I see their ads everywhere, but it is entirely different, and i still don't get it 🤷*♀️ .

[GOLFFRR]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

Didn’t Zillow do something similar for real estate? I think it was called “Make Me Move” or something to that effect.

that was the first thing I thought of when I started reading this also. I think you are right, I remember something like this as well.

[Humdizzle]

it doesn't cost much to list something on autotrader for a year. You can update the listing as much as you like. Anyone who is serious about finding a rare will be checking there along with bringatrailer / ebay / autotempest everyday anyway.

selling cars or keeping them listed is a painful experience though. nobody wants to have a car listed longer than they need to.