Auction Buying Tips from a Concours Judge

The judging mindset

A concours judge walks up to a car with a scoring sheet, a fixed sequence, and no interest in the owner's story. The car is assessed against a standard — what it was when it left the factory, or the class criteria — and every deviation is recorded. Enthusiasm is not on the sheet.

That is precisely the discipline an auction buyer needs, because everything about an auction is built to generate enthusiasm: the lighting, the catalogue prose, the announcer, the competition from the next bidder. Mike has judged at concours events and trains show judges, and the methodical, point-by-point approach used on the judging field is the best defence a bidder has.

Before the auction: the catalogue

Read the description twice. The first time for what it says; the second for what it does not.

• "Numbers-matching" without saying what was verified, or by whom, is a claim. Look for documentation: build sheet, factory records, marque-registry certificate.
• "Restored" without a date, a shop name, or photographs is an unknown quantity. "Older restoration" usually means the paint is tired and the mechanicals need attention.
• "Believed to be", "reportedly", "said to be" — these phrases exist to describe things the house could not confirm.
• Mileage described as "indicated" or "showing" is the odometer reading, not a verified figure.
• Silence about the engine, the drivetrain, or the history is itself information.

Note what documentation is listed as accompanying the car, and plan to examine it on preview day. Check the house's terms: the buyer's premium, taxes, payment deadlines, and the inspection and dispute policy. Most collector car auctions sell as-is, where-is, with no recourse.

Research the model before you go: known problem areas, correct components, which variants carry a premium and how to tell them apart, and recent comparable sales in each condition grade. Walk in knowing what a good one, a fair one, and a wrong one look like.

Preview day: inspect like a judge

Preview is the only time you will have with the car. Use it the way a judge uses the judging field — methodically, in sequence, with a notebook and a camera. The inspection guide on this site sets out the full sequence; the auction version compresses it.

Identification first. Find the VIN plate and body tags. Check they are undisturbed and consistent with the catalogue and with each other. If the model has a known VIN or tag format that identifies the desirable variant, check it. A car that fails here is a car you do not bid on, whatever else it offers.

Walk the body in good light. Panel gaps, paint match between panels, ripples along the sides at a low angle, evidence of filler at the lower edges and arches. Bring a small magnet and, if you have one, a paint depth gauge; many houses permit them.

Open everything. Doors, hood, trunk. Look at the jambs, the hinges, the inner fenders, the trunk floor, the spare-tyre well. Original paint and factory markings in these areas on a car described as original are good signs; fresh paint in them on a car described as original is not.

Engine bay. Cleanliness is presentation, not condition. Look for correctness against your research, for leaks at the usual places, for modern wiring and components, and at the stamping pad if the model has one and it is visible.

Underneath, as far as you can. Many previews put the car on a flat floor; a torch and a willingness to get on the ground will still show the floors, the frame rails, the sills, and whether the undercoating is fresh.

Interior. Correctness of materials, wear consistent with the claimed mileage, function of gauges and switches where the car can be powered up.

Ask for a start. Many houses will start a car for a serious bidder. Listen cold, watch for smoke, look under the car afterward.

Examine the documentation. Open the folder. Match the paperwork to the car and the catalogue claims. A thick folder of unrelated receipts is not provenance; a thin folder with a build sheet and a continuous ownership chain is.

Score it. Decide which grade the car is, honestly, against the standard you researched. That is the car you are bidding on, not the one in the catalogue photographs.

Set the number before the lot comes up

Your maximum is a landed cost, not a hammer price. Work backward:

1. What is a car of this model, in the grade you assigned, worth on recent comparable evidence?
2. Subtract the buyer's premium, sales tax where applicable, title and registration, transport home, and any immediate work the inspection showed is needed.
3. The result is your maximum hammer bid.

Write it down. Then bid up to it and not past it. The car that got away at the next bid is not a loss; the car that cost more than it is worth is.

In the room

Register early and understand the bidding increments. Position yourself where the auctioneer and spotters can see you. Bid clearly and only when you intend to. Do not bid against a reserve you can see is far above your number — a lot that is "on the money" or "selling" has met reserve; one that is not may be passed even if you are the high bidder.

Watch for the signals that the house is talking the bid: the auctioneer taking bids from the chandelier, or from the phones, at a pace that does not slow. You are under no obligation to follow.

If the car passes unsold at a figure near your maximum, ask about a post-sale offer. Many houses broker deals on passed lots at or near the high bid.

Online auctions

Online collector car auctions have made the market broader and faster. They have not changed the fundamentals. The listing is the catalogue, the photographs and video are the preview, and the comments section is a mix of useful expertise and noise.

• Read every photograph. Look at the ones the seller did not frame carefully — the undercarriage shots, the engine-bay corners, the door jambs.
• Ask questions early, in public, and read the answers for evasion.
• Arrange an inspection. A pre-purchase appraisal at the seller's location, by an independent appraiser, is the single most valuable thing a remote buyer can do. Mike provides pre-purchase appraisals and can advise on options for a car in another state.
• Account for the fee structure, transport, and the sight-unseen risk in your maximum, and allow for the fact that the car will arrive needing something the listing did not mention.
• Do not bid in the last minute as a strategy. Set the number, place it, and let it stand.

The mistakes that cost the most

• Bidding on a car you did not inspect because it looked good from the rope.
• Trusting "numbers-matching" and "restored" without verification.
• Forgetting the premium and tax, and discovering the real cost at the cashier.
• Letting another bidder set your price.
• Buying the story — the celebrity owner, the barn, the one-of-few — without the documentation that makes it true.
• Confusing a clean car with a correct one.

A judge scores the car in front of them. A buyer should pay for the car in front of them. Everything else is presentation.