Somebody had a fun time on Bring a Trailer at the weekend

[Britishvillaininatl]

Firstly this Mercedes 300TD brought for $152,607

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1995-mercedes-benz-e300-diesel-31/

The same buyer also picked up this (admittedly rather lovely) Jaguar Super V8 Portfolio for $156,000

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2009-jaguar-xj-super-v8-portfolio/

Okay both cars are super low mileage and might well be the best examples of their type that you can buy but really?

Having said that BaT has another Super V8 Portfolio currently bid to $101,000 with 4 days to go so maybe I'm missing something on that, or the hysteria on the first one has bumped this one up?

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2009-jaguar-xj-portfolio-4/

[Bandit]

@Britishvillaininatl Money doesn't launder itself!

[Mr.Ontop]

@Britishvillaininatl Yeah... there's no way this isn't involved as something shady.

[ForSweden]

@Britishvillaininatl said in Somebody had a fun time on Bring a Trailer at the weekend:

this Mercedes 300TD

That's a sedan tho

[Krusty Walnut]

@Britishvillaininatl He has some interesting purchases. Spyker, Sterling, Alfa, and a XJS. Strange... They've also won every auction they've bid on.

[ItalianJobR53]

@Britishvillaininatl aaah money laundering

[Britishvillaininatl]

@Bandit I did wonder if the buyer/ seller was a Marty Bird from the Ozark region He did need to replace that Honda Odessey after it was rolled in the series finale!!

Clip is a bit NSFW

[Qaaaaa]

@Mr-Ontop They may have had a couple beers

[ItalianJobR53]

@Britishvillaininatl when the BaT bruhs start questioning their existence, you know somethings fishy af

[ForSweden]

Conspiracy time: this is Doug making huge bids to drive buyers to Quirks & Features

[Britishvillaininatl]

@ItalianJobR53 Derek Tam Scott of Carmudegeon show fame's comment on the Merc made me literally LOL

[Krusty Walnut]

@Bandit I don't know how money laundering would work with this unless the seller was involved. There is no way the buyer would ever recover his investment in this. I can think of so many better cars to launder money with. Maybe insurance scam? Plus, who is the other person that's bidding this up? They must be in on it as well. I'm thinking crypto investor who bailed at the right time, someone with a big retirement, or lottery winner.

[Roadkilled]

@Britishvillaininatl

My first guess is an Arab Sheikh building a car collection. There is so much oil money concentrated among a few people. A Saudi prince who wants a car collection doesn't have to think too much about what they pay. Saudi Aramco just reported $161 Billion in profit.

[Britishvillaininatl]

@Krusty-Walnut perhaps not money laundering per se but this would be a way to disguise a transaction involving the acquisition of less legal items. It would only require the buyer, seller and underbidder (who could be a friend of one or both parties) to be in on it.

[ItalianJobR53]

@ForSweden ya from that sweet sweet monies he made from selling ½ of dougsnbids
Genius

[AkioOhtori]

@Britishvillaininatl said in Somebody had a fun time on Bring a Trailer at the weekend:

or the hysteria on the first one has bumped this one up

Wasn't there one of these specifically exposed recently. Like a desirable BMW that sold for insane money but the title was never transferred and there was no indication the buyer ever took possession. Then the seller just happened to have two others that sold for much stronger money than they otherwise would have based on the strength of that BaT sale?

EDIT: my google-fu is weak today, but I wonder how these dealerships would feel knowing they're on the first page for this search...

[Plymouth Superbird 2nd]

@Britishvillaininatl honestly what’s the point of paying that much when you can get one for a lot cheaper

[Ad absurdum per aspera]

@Krusty-Walnut said in Somebody had a fun time on Bring a Trailer at the weekend:

I don't know how money laundering would work with this unless the seller was involved. There is no way the buyer would ever recover his investment in this.

My (mis)understanding is that transforming shady assets into legitimate ones often involves taking a haircut on face value. I have no firsthand knowledge of the aspects of life that actually require money laundering, mind you, but this bit of received wisdom jibes with the laws of thermodynamics.

That said, making it look at least somewhat plausible would seem important. Things whose value can be objectively benchmarked, public forums for buying and selling stuff, and large disparities between value and expenditure might be at least one thing too many at one time.

[Krusty Walnut]

@Ad-absurdum-per-aspera The buyer would be taking at huge haircut though. I mean, that car is maybe worth 40k tops. Paying 170k after fees and then only collecting 40k of it seems a bit much to me.

[ranwhenparked]

@Britishvillaininatl could just be one of those rich YouTube celebrities buying new material

[Britishvillaininatl]

So lightning does strike twice. The second Jag Super V8 Portfolio sold for $170k seemingly to the underbidder on the one last week.

A bit of research says the Portfolio spec Super V8 is pretty rare with only 70 being sold in the States. Even so these are huge premiums over a regular XJ or XJR of this era and the price is probably around MSRP once adjusted for inflation to today’s money.

BaT has just launched the sale of a third low mileage example

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2009-jaguar-xj-portfolio-5/