YouTuber develops auction site for cars

Making the most important pitch of his career, Doug DeMuro stood in cargo shorts in front of a camera, unwavering in his giddy demeanor. He was about to unveil his new car auction website to his 3.7 million YouTube subscribers. The site would feature cars “that I like most,” he said.

DeMuro had dreamed up his perfect car auction website during a flight without Wi- Fi in spring last year. It would feature cars from the 1980s on up, such as a pristine 1984 Honda CRX or a manual transmission 1991 BMW 325i. And it would have integrated chat.

Leading up to the introduction in June, DeMuro, 32, from San Diego, was hoping for 100 submissions from sellers in the first week. He played down his optimism, telling his team that they might see around 30 cars.

Cars & Bids received 720 submissions on the first day.

“There’s two bad things that can happen when you launch a business,” DeMuro said. “The first is that no one cares and it fails. But the other one that people don’t think about all that much is that it’s more successful than you

Anyone “who is a YouTuber, who is smart, is thinking, ‘ How can I leverage this platform for something that’s a little bit more permanent?’ ” said Doug DeMuro, who recently branched out into Cars & Bids, an auction website. who is a YouTuber, who is smart, is thinking, ‘ How can I leverage this platform for something that’s a little bit more permanent?’ ”

For car fans, it’s hard to imagine YouTube without DeMuro. His deep knowledge and genuine enthusiasm have made him one of the most popular car reviewers on the platform. He’s edging out channels such as Jay Leno’s Garage by a good 700,000 subscribers.

“I would say that he’s more powerful than a guy on Instagram with 20 million followers,” said Joe Gagliese, a co- founder and the chief executive of Viral Nation, an influencer marketing and talent agency.

“Sometimes it’s not about the numbers — it’s about the engagement,” Gagliese added. “There’s guys on YouTube with 3.7 million followers that get 100,000 to 300,000 views, whereas he’s averaging anywhere from 700,000 to one and a half million. That’s over 35% of his audience.”

That audience helped propel the introduction of Cars & Bids.

With the sudden flood of submissions, DeMuro quickly got to work on his backyard patio with his co- founder, Blake Machado, and the four other members of the team, dealing with the onslaught while trying to socially distance.

Even with the team working frantically, as soon as it would decide on a reserve price for one car, five other submissions would arrive.

DeMuro has built this audience with a personal touch. He comes off like a buddy telling you about a cool car. He rarely advertises products, and avoids gimmicks. For a half- hour at a time, he’s digging deep on all of a car’s quirks and features.

Bring a Trailer is Cars & Bids’ closest competition. Both sites mix online auctioning with a Facebook comments section. Sellers, buyers and onlookers will often have vibrant discussions for each car, which adds to the fun of seeing bids scuttle upward.

That community, transparency and dialogue around cars helped push Bring a Trailer’s sales to $ 230 million in 2019. And of the roughly 335 cars listed weekly, 80% sell.

Since its introduction in June, Cars & Bids has sold 450 cars, bringing in $ 8.5 million in sales, with a 75% sell- through pace.

But behind this simplicity is DeMuro’s obsession with making things perfect. And if Cars & Bids holds firm, it may be his least stressful project to date.