Bidbus
Online marketplace where dealerships bid in live auctions on used cars sourced directly from consumers.
Founded
2022Online marketplace where dealerships bid in live auctions on used cars sourced directly from consumers.
Bidbus operates an online marketplace where more than 1,000 certified dealerships compete in live, time-boxed auctions to buy used cars directly from consumers. Sellers list a vehicle in under ten minutes, receive a market valuation, and set a reserve price before dealers submit competing bids over a roughly two-hour window.
The winning dealer pays the seller directly and arranges vehicle pickup, while Bidbus charges a one percent success fee only when a sale closes. The platform uses AI-assisted infrastructure to guide listings, verify vehicle history, predict dealer demand, and recommend reserve prices aligned with real dealer buying behavior.
Nearly 39 million used cars are sold in the United States every year, yet selling a vehicle remains one of the most frustrating parts of car ownership for consumers. Bidbus targets this gap by turning a fragmented, dealer-by-dealer process into a single competitive auction that surfaces real market price discovery.
The company raised a $15 million Series A in July 2026 to scale beyond its initial California and Texas markets, signaling investor confidence in a nationwide expansion across major regional dealership networks. As dealers increasingly shift wholesale sourcing to digital channels, the consumer-to-dealer auction model addresses both seller-side frustration and dealer inventory shortages.
Bidbus pits multiple dealers against each other in a transparent live auction, producing average offers roughly $2,000 to $3,000 higher than instant-buy services like Carvana. The competitive multi-bid framework gives consumers meaningful price discovery that fixed-offer platforms structurally cannot provide.
Vehicles sold through Bidbus turn in an average of about 20 days compared to 90 days or more through traditional wholesale channels, letting dealers redeploy capital efficiently. The company says dealer partners now source between 45 percent and 90 percent of their inventory through the platform, reducing reliance on traditional wholesale auctions.
Bidbus does not charge consumers to list a vehicle and collects a one percent success fee only when a sale closes, aligning its revenue with completed transactions rather than listing volume. Sellers face no upfront cost, no credit card requirement, and no obligation to sell if bidding fails to reach their reserve price.
The dealer that wins the auction pays the seller directly and arranges pickup, keeping Bidbus out of the transaction flow itself. This model lets the platform monetize the spread between instant-buy offers and competitive dealer payouts without taking inventory risk or holding vehicles.