When a classic car owner wants to sell his car at a car auction, the first step he needs to get through is to find a good auction house. He then applies to the auction company of his choice to consign his car. Not all auction companies accept all cars. Each auction has its own specifications according to which they operate. Some have specialities like hot rods, muscle cars, classic European cars and so on.

If the seller’s car makes it through all the criteria of the auction company, then the car will be put under the auctioneer’s hammer. The buyer on the other hand in order to be able to bid, will be required to pay a bidding fee which can be as much as $1000. This is done for two purposes- one, to cover the price of listing the car in the auction catalogue and the other is to ensure that the seller is legit. One can only hope that the car and the seller are legit as all the auction houses around have seen their share of ginned-up rare cars and in spite of all the precautions taken by the auction house to catch these ginned-up cars, sometimes they just slip right through. It results in big lawsuits filed by the buyer when he realises that he just paid top dollars in order to own a fake car. That just doesn’t sit well with both the buyer and the auction house. Hence the auction companies are extra careful of the sellers and the quality of the cars that they have up on their auction catalogue.

Some auction companies don’t sell cars with the reserve which is the minimum price that the seller is willing to accept for the vehicle. Hence once the car is sent for consignment, the seller just has to wait and see how much money he gets for the car.