Doug DeMuro is arguably the most influential automotive media personality of the recent decade. From launching Autotrader Oversteer to starting a YouTube channel accumulating north of 1.6 billion total views, Doug DeMuro's name escorts modern car culture. But for DeMuro, managing one of the most popular automotive YouTube channels was just a catalyst for a project he's dreamed of pursuing.
Like many content creators, DeMuro acknowledges that YouTube is just a platform, something that he doesn't own or control. "Anybody who works on YouTube has to know that you don't want to be beholden to the algorithm for your whole life— you want to take your audience and try to do something a little bit more with it," DeMuro said. However, DeMuro's 'little bit more' ended up being a 'whole lot more.'
His dream project has been creating a car auctioning website, but one built from the ground up with a focus on the interests of enthusiasts. However, developing a new car purchasing site is a massive undertaking, especially in a world with many popular and established ones. So DeMuro consulted with his industry friends on developing a plan to enter the used car sales market with a new website called 'Cars & Bids.'
Cars & Bids: The Framework
After settling on a relatively straightforward name, DeMuro and his team began to bring the concept to fruition. Unlike some bidding websites, Cars & Bids wanted to stand out by offering a simple yet intuitive layout and a focus on the likings of enthusiasts. "{Cars and Bids lists} basically anything interesting, anything that you would approach at a cars and coffee: anything cool, special, or exciting," DeMuro said. While there wouldn't be any particular guidelines for what gets accepted for bidding, Cars & Bids primarily wants modern enthusiast vehicles.
"My expertise in my interest has always been in more modern cars from the '80s and up, and it has come clear to me that the audience I have cultivated has the same basic interest," DeMuro told HotCars. He says that the reason he would ban classic vehicles is due to vehicle history reports. "The other factor is that in 1981 they implemented the 17 digit VIN for cars, and so you could provide a history report for all cars, and that was something {to consider} — I wanted to be able to provide that history report on all vehicles, which we do."
The Launch
Once all the plans became final, the team prepared the launch. "I think we started on it in the summer of '19 and it took us a year to build it," DeMuro said. "We were originally planning the launch in April '20, but then Covid hit, so we pushed it a little bit {to June 2020}." Today, the site has been running for over two years and Cars & Bids says that it has ushered 9,000 auctions valuing over 180 million dollars.
On the homefront, Cars & Bids has substantially grown, too. "We have 13 employees now, and we're running between 20 and 25 auctions every day, and we also have some freelance writers who we employ to write our auction listings, and I think we have ten or so of them, so it's like a whole real business now," DeMuro told Hotcars.
As a business, Cars & Bids touts simplicity for both buyers and sellers. Buyers pay a 4.5% fee on the purchase price, with a $225 minimum and a $4,500 maximum. Sellers, on the other hand, pay nothing and can set a reserve price. The only thing buyers need to do once winning is pay for the vehicle within a week and arrange for transportation.
With a team growing larger and larger, DeMuro's car site is now able to deal with a larger volume of cars going through. Plus, as more consumers begin seeing the benefits of bidding through a site like Cars & Bids, the inventory sellers bring to market also improves.
Doug's Picks
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For most of the vehicles coming through, Doug DeMuro is the one signing them off. "I do a lot of the intakes, so for a lot of the people who submit cars, I'm often the one who is actually doing the assessment of them," he said. "My taste is largely related to more unusual cars, weird Japanese imports, and things like that. I've driven all the regular available cars, so I now trend towards the more unusual."
"I like the weirder stuff; I really like the Hummer EV, which we sell a lot of now— I'm obsessed with that car," DeMuro added. "I like the Hummer because it does it all. I love convertibles. I live in Southern California; it's the land of convertibles. So I like being around the sun, and having a convertible is crucial, so I love that aspect of that car. Plus, it has a zillion horsepower, it's incredibly fast, it's an off roader, it can Crabwalk, it has amazing tech— I think the {Hummer EV} is the best electric car on the market, even though I know it is too heavy and inefficient."
"I would never buy one because I cannot pull off the look; I'm not the type of guy who would drive such a vehicle," DeMuro said. But for Doug, it's not only the techy new EVs that spark his interest. "I love wagons. My very favorite cars we've sold included the blue Audi RS4 Avant from 2001. I really regret not buying that car— the engine was built by Cosworth, and the car just drives incredibly well."
While Cars & Bids marks another chapter in DeMuro's automotive career, it's also something so much more. Not only is it a secure enclave for DeMuro's content, but it's also a car sales website based solely on the interests of modern car enthusiasts.