Cars & Bids

What Cars & Bids does

Cars & Bids is an online auction marketplace founded by Doug DeMuro in June 2020 and headquartered in San Diego, California, that connects individual and professional sellers of modern enthusiast vehicles with a community of informed buyers across the United States and Canada. The platform runs a 7-day timed auction format with both reserve and no-reserve options and has cumulatively completed more than 36,000 auctions representing over $800 million in vehicle value, serving a registered member base of 1.1 million-plus users with an 80%+ sell-through rate. Sellers do not pay listing fees; revenue is generated via a commission taken on successful transactions, with the company explicitly retaining zero upfront seller cost and sellers receiving 100% of the headline sale price before the commission deduction.

The product stack centers on the core web and mobile auction experience (iOS and Android apps) supported by a proprietary SafePay payment and escrow layer, professional listing creation services, paid photo shoots priced at $199-$329, shipping coordination, and third-party financing partnerships. Around the marketplace, Cars & Bids has built a content and community ecosystem — Doug DeMuro's YouTube channel, the This Car Pod podcast, the Key YouTube channel, and built-in forums with a seller/buyer leaderboard — that drives top-of-funnel acquisition at near-zero marketing cost relative to traditional paid channels. GTM partnerships (Mothers as Official Car Care Partner, KeySavvy for transaction processing, Velocity Invitational for live on-site auctions, and Petersen Automotive Museum for high-end consignments) extend the brand into physical events, payments, and museum-grade inventory.

The business has raised approximately $92.5 million across two disclosed rounds ($37M in January 2023 led by TCG with Trousdale Ventures, and $55.5M in March 2026 from undisclosed investors), operates with 11-50 employees, and is led by founder Doug DeMuro, co-founder Blake Machado, and CEO Rogelio Choy. The company is privately held as Cars and Bids LLC, has no parent company or public listing, and is currently reinvesting in technology and service expansion funded by the 2026 round.

Name

Cars & Bids

Legal name

Cars and Bids LLC

Website

https://carsandbids.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cars & Bids is an online auction marketplace where individual sellers list modern enthusiast vehicles for 7-day timed auctions, connecting them to a community of informed buyers. Founded by Doug DeMuro in 2020, it earns commission on successful sales with no listing fees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Vehicle Auctions

NAICS

Used Car Dealers (44112)

SIC

Retail-Auto Dealers & Gasoline Stations (5500)

akta.pro primary industry

Wholesale Vehicle Auctions (Physical & Online) (TLABAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Automotive Vehicles & Parts C2C (CRAFAKAE)

Keywords

• Online car auctions
• Enthusiast vehicle marketplace
• Automotive auction platform
• Collector car auctions
• Used car marketplace

Headquarters

HQ city

San Diego

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Auction Commission: Cars & Bids charges a commission on successful sales. Sellers pay nothing upfront and keep 100% of the proceeds from their sale, with Cars & Bids taking a percentage as their fee.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Cars & Bids operates an online auction marketplace where individual sellers and dealers list enthusiast-oriented vehicles (sports cars, classic cars, trucks, SUVs) for 7-day competitive bidding. The platform provides professional listing creation, paid photo shoots, a SafePay secure payment processing system, nationwide shipping coordination, financing referrals, and iOS/Android mobile apps, while generating revenue through commissions on successful sales rather than upfront listing fees.

Product overview

Cars & Bids is an online enthusiast-vehicle auction marketplace founded by Doug DeMuro, operating as a single unified platform with multiple integrated modules and sub-brands. The core product is the Cars & Bids Core Auction Platform, a 7-day online auction marketplace for cool cars, trucks, and SUVs with both reserve and no-reserve listing options, supported by SafePay for secure payment processing. The platform is complemented by a suite of seller services including Professional Listing Creation, Photo Shoots, Shipping coordination, and Financing partnerships. Cars & Bids extends its ecosystem through content sub-brands — the This Car Pod podcast and the Key YouTube channel — and a Community Forums module with leaderboards. A mobile app (iOS/Android) extends platform access to mobile users.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cars & Bids Core Auction Platform
• Professional Listing Creation
• Cars & Bids Photo Shoots
• Cars & Bids Shipping
• Cars & Bids Financing
• Cars & Bids Mobile App

Quantifiable outcome

• Sellers report getting thousands more than trade-in offers
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Velocity InvitationalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 May 2026Velocity Invitational, a motorsport and car culture festival at Sonoma Raceway, announced a new partnership with Cars & Bids to host an on-site auction during the May 2026 event. The auction will feature rare vehicles including a 1964 Alfa Romeo Guilia TZ and 1972 March 721G Formula 1 racer. The collaboration aims to blend digital car culture discovery with physical automotive experiences.
• MothersminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 23 April 2026Mothers was named the Official Car Care Partner of Cars & Bids. The partnership integrates Mothers products and branding across Doug DeMuro's YouTube reviews, the This Car Pod podcast, the newly launched Key channel, and various co-branded initiatives including sweepstakes, merchandise, and curated product bundles. This alignment targets the highly engaged automotive enthusiast community.
• Petersen Automotive MuseumminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 April 2026The Petersen Automotive Museum committed several classic vehicles to the Velocity Invitational auction hosted by Cars & Bids, including a rare 1964 Alfa Romeo Guilia TZ. This partnership brings museum-quality vehicles to the auction platform and enhances the event's credibility.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Cars.com: Cars.com is a large-scale online automotive marketplace serving both consumers and dealers. It is comparable as a vehicle search and discovery destination but lacks the curated enthusiast focus and auction format that differentiates Cars & Bids.
• eBay Motors: eBay Motors is a broad automotive marketplace offering both auction and fixed-price listings for enthusiast and consumer vehicles. It overlaps with Cars & Bids in the auction format and enthusiast segment, but operates at vastly greater scale and breadth.
• AutoTrader: AutoTrader is a major online used-vehicle marketplace. While it primarily serves the broader consumer market rather than the enthusiast niche, it overlaps in facilitating used vehicle transactions and competes indirectly for dealer and private-party listings.
• DuPont Registry: DuPont Registry is an established luxury and exotic vehicle marketplace, originally print-based. It overlaps with Cars & Bids at the high-end of the enthusiast market, particularly for exotics and collectibles, though it has historically skewed toward fixed-price listings.
• Hagerty: Hagerty is a leading collector-car media, insurance, and marketplace platform. It is comparable through its enthusiast audience, media-driven content model, and adjacent services (insurance, valuation, listings) that mirror the monetization layers Cars & Bids is building.
• Hemmings: Hemmings is an established classic and collector car marketplace and media brand. It overlaps with Cars & Bids in enthusiast vehicle transactions and content, but skews older/collectible rather than modern enthusiast vehicles, and has integrated with Cars & Bids-adjacent services like KeySavvy.

Direct peers

• Bring a Trailer: Bring a Trailer is the closest direct competitor, operating an online enthusiast-vehicle auction marketplace with the same 7-day listing format and bidder pool. Both platforms compete for the same consignor and bidder community of modern enthusiast vehicles.

Others

• AutoCheck: AutoCheck by Experian is a vehicle history and data provider that has partnered with Cars & Bids. It is not a direct competitor but represents an adjacent data and trust infrastructure provider in the private-party vehicle transaction ecosystem.

Regional players

• Collecting Cars: Collecting Cars is an online enthusiast and collector car auction platform operating primarily in the UK and Europe. It mirrors Cars & Bids' auction model and enthusiast focus but does not directly compete in the North American market, making it a relevant regional comparable.

Emerging players

• PCarMarket: PCarMarket is an emerging online auction platform focused specifically on Porsche and modern enthusiast vehicles. It overlaps with Cars & Bids in the modern enthusiast segment and auction format but operates at smaller scale with a narrower brand focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/carsandbids
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@carsandbids
• Facebookfacebook.com/CarsAndBids
• Instagraminstagram.com/carsandbids
• TikToktiktok.com/@cars_and_bids

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cars & Bids