I concur, I no longer watch BJ Auction, it's a joke. The bidders are foolish and the "pump up" techniques are insulting. BTW, if the auction is on TV, the car usually will fetch 20% more than if it's sold during the non-Televised portions of the auction.
A friend went every year, up until 2 years ago. He was a traveling vendor and hit all the car shows, auctions etc. He said it was common for a TV winning bidder to bring that car back to BJ the following year with the intentions of getting his money back. If the car didn't make it to the televised auction and the bidding was low with no reserve, then the owner would usually bid on his own car and win the auction. He would then have to pay BJ their required pecentage based on the winning bid but obviously he didn't have to pay himself. The owner did this so he wouldn't have to sell the car for a loss. My friend told me of a specific 1956 Buick that a bidder purchased for $58,000. The following year, during a non-televised auction, the highest bid was $20,500.
I remember seeing a trophy wife who looked to be between 30 and 33 years old hanging on the arm of a grey hair man who looked to be in his mid to upper 60's, she was flashing her diamonds and made her husband win the bid for Don Johnson's "Nash Bridges" FAKE Hemi Cuda. (It appeared to be a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda convertible with Hemi markings, it had a 340 CID engine)
The car was probably worth 20K but was sold for 140K because she had to have it and the shill's that work for BJ were doing their thing.
