Curated auctions › How bidding works
Curated auctions
How bidding works
Only qualified bidders take part. You register once, place a refundable hold for each coach you want to bid on, and deal with the seller directly when you win, with the concierge beside you the whole way.
Registration opens with the first sale. Tell me when it opens
Who pays whom
Step by step
Register once
Sign in with your .direct account, confirm a mobile number with a text code, and accept the terms of the sale. The concierge approves each bidder.
Qualify for a coach
Place the refundable $10,000 hold for each coach you want to bid on. It goes on your card when bidding opens, through the seller's own payment account, so your statement shows the seller's business name, never Motorcoach.direct. We release it within a day of the close if you don't win; your bank may take a few days to show it. If your card can't carry it, the deposit can be sent by bank wire to an escrow account instead, and it is returned if you don't win.
Look closely first
Read the inspection and the records, ask the concierge anything (every answer is shown to all bidders), and book a viewing, or send your own inspector at your own cost.
Bid
Enter the most you would pay. The site bids for you in steps, only when someone bids against you, and never above your maximum. The page says "Reserve met" once the bidding reaches the seller's secret reserve. Bidders are shown by number, never by name.
The soft close
Each coach has its own closing time. A bid in the last 2 minutes puts 2 minutes back on the clock, so the coach goes to whoever is willing to pay most, not whoever bids last.
If you win
Within a day the concierge sends the bill of sale and the seller's payment instructions. Your hold becomes part of the payment. You pay the balance to the seller within 3 business days, by bank wire, or through Escrow.com if you and the seller choose it. There is no buyer's fee: the winning bid is the price.
Pickup or delivery
Collect the coach where it sits within 14 days, with a walk-through by the seller, or the concierge arranges a professional coach driver or transport company, whom you pay directly. The title passes once the seller has been paid in full, or as the Escrow.com terms say if you use it.
Bid steps
| Current bid | The next bid is at least |
|---|---|
| Under $100,000 | $1,000 more |
| $100,000 up to $500,000 | $2,500 more |
| $500,000 and up | $5,000 more |
If a winner doesn't pay
The coach is offered to the next-highest bidder at their own last bid, and the bidder who did not pay cannot bid again. What happens to their hold is set out in the terms of the sale, which every bidder accepts before bidding. The terms will be published here before the first sale opens.
Payment and escrow
Motorcoach.direct never holds the money. The winner pays the seller directly, by bank wire, or, if the buyer and the seller both want it, through Escrow.com, an independent licensed escrow company. Either side may ask for it; both must agree.
How a sale through Escrow.com works
The buyer and the seller open one transaction at Escrow.com with the agreed price, the number of inspection days, and how the coach will be collected or delivered.
The buyer pays Escrow.com, usually by bank wire, and Escrow.com confirms the money has arrived.
The seller hands over the coach, the keys and the signed title, as agreed.
The buyer inspects the coach within the agreed days and accepts it.
Escrow.com pays the seller.
Fees. Escrow.com charges its own fees, on its own published schedule. Who pays them (the buyer, the seller, or half each) is agreed between the buyer and the seller. Motorcoach.direct takes no part of that fee.
Escrow.com is a separate company. Using it is between the buyer, the seller and Escrow.com; Motorcoach.direct is not a party to that transaction. The concierge can help both sides set it up.
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