How to Buy a Car at Barrett-Jackson or Mecum: Bidding, Fees and Paying

January puts two of the largest collector car sales in the country back to back. Mecum sells 4,500 listed vehicles at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee from 5 to 17 January 2027. Barrett-Jackson follows at WestWorld of Scottsdale from 23 to 31 January 2027. Anyone can bid at either one. Barrett-Jackson says so in as many words: anyone may buy a ticket, register to bid or consign a car.

A spectator ticket does not let you bid. Mecum is explicit that bidding takes a separate registration, a signed bidder’s agreement and a registration fee. This guide covers the buyer’s side: registering, proving you can pay, what the buyer’s premium adds, what as-is means, and how you pay and get the car home. For gate times, tickets and parking, the event pages for Mecum Kissimmee 2027 and Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2027 have the visitor details.

Registering to bid at Barrett-Jackson

Barrett-Jackson publishes three registration levels for Scottsdale 2027. Absentee is $100 and covers online bidding, phone bidding and bidding through a Barrett-Jackson representative. Select is $400 and gives you a bidder badge, a guest pass and a parking pass. Premium is $550 and adds eight drink tokens on each credential and an invitation for two to the Opening Night Gala on Friday 22 January, the night before the sale opens. The Select and Premium prices are early registration prices, and Barrett-Jackson lists 8 December 2026 as the date they end.

Every level lets you bid on cars and on automobilia, the signs and memorabilia. The in-person levels include admission for you and a guest on every day of the event, bidder seating and the bidder bar. The Muscle Lounge skybox above the block is an extra charge added during registration, and Barrett-Jackson warns that it sells out. New for 2027, a Hammer High Top table costs $7,000 for four people or $14,000 for eight, with dedicated beverage service, booked by phone.

The registration fee is not refundable. Register by the early deadline and you can have your credentials mailed before the auction, so you skip the pickup line on the day. You can register online, by phone on (480) 421-6694, or at the auction office on site.

Registering to bid at Mecum

Mecum keeps registration open for the whole auction, online, by phone and on site, so there is no deadline. It still recommends registering early, because larger budgets need financial verification approved first. Register at least two weeks before the auction starts and Mecum mails your credentials. For Kissimmee, which opens on 5 January, that means by 22 December 2026. Anyone later collects credentials at bidder registration by the entrance.

An in-person registration includes one bidder badge and one guest pass, both good for every auction day, and you can buy more guest passes. Mecum’s FAQ says only that the fee varies by bidding method and package, and it gives no figure, so ask when you register on (262) 275-5050.

Proving you can pay

Mecum asks for financial verification from any bidder who intends to spend over $50,000, and it must be approved before your registration is. You need only one of five options:

• an ACH profile set up between your bank and Mecum, so it can collect the balance at settlement;
• a bank letter of guarantee stating the funds available;
• approved financing through Mecum Financial Services;
• a $5,000 deposit, applied to what you owe at settlement and returned if unused. Cash, a personal or company check, certified funds and wire transfer all work. A credit card works too, with a 3% processing fee that is not refunded;
• a blank check made out to Mecum Auction, Inc., completed at settlement.

Barrett-Jackson’s bidder page lists three ways to cover a car purchase: a letter from your financial institution, bidding collateral by cashier’s check or wire, or a pre-approval from Woodside Credit, its financing partner. It posts example bank letters, and each one is written for the dates of one auction, so a letter for an earlier sale does not carry over. If your bank will not issue a letter of guarantee, Bidder Services has other options.

The minimums are not on the current bidder page. Barrett-Jackson’s own bidding guide, published in August 2022, set them: a bank letter, wire guaranty or Woodside pre-approval of at least $30,000, or a deposit of 10% of the bid limit you want, with a $9,000 minimum for a $90,000 limit. That guide also asked for proof of insurance. Those are the latest figures Barrett-Jackson has published, so confirm them with Bidder Services before you send anything.

Bidding for a dealership needs the dealer license, a resale certificate and, if your name is not on the license, Barrett-Jackson’s verification of dealer ownership or its authorization form for a non-principal bidding for the dealer.

What the buyer’s premium adds

The hammer price is where the bidding stops. It is not what you pay. Both houses add a buyer’s premium, a percentage of the hammer price, and then any fees and taxes on top.

Mecum publishes its rates. On a collector car or motorcycle the premium is 10% if you bid in person and 12% if you bid by phone or online. The minimum is $1,000 on a car and $500 on a motorcycle. Road Art, Mecum’s memorabilia sale, runs 20% in person and 22% by phone or online.

Barrett-Jackson’s bidding guide gives an on-site premium of 10%, added to the hammer price with any fees and taxes. The pages read for this guide do not give its rate for online, phone or proxy bids, so ask Bidder Services before you bid remotely.

The car is sold as-is, where-is

Neither house owns the cars it sells. Barrett-Jackson is plain about it: the consignor owns the car, Barrett-Jackson makes no representations or warranties about it, and when the hammer falls the car belongs to the winning bidder, as-is and where-is. Mecum says the same: no warranties on any car, every one sold as-is, where-is, and it recommends inspecting before you bid.

So the inspection is yours to do, in the days before your car crosses. At Barrett-Jackson the description you are reading is the consignor’s, on the online docket and on the card in the car’s window. Daily lists of the cars crossing are handed out each morning. Cars are parked on site by several factors, not by lot number, so use the docket or the Barrett-Jackson app’s map to find the one you want. Bring the same checklist you would take to any enthusiast car: the guide to checking a used enthusiast car covers what to look at and what paperwork to ask for.

Know how the reserve works before you bid. At Mecum, a reserve is the lowest price the seller will take, and Mecum does not make it public. A car offered at no reserve sells to the highest bid, whatever it is. Both houses let you bid before the sale online and set a maximum proxy bid that the system places for you.

On the day

Barrett-Jackson usually starts the block at 10am local time and runs until every car scheduled that day has crossed. The venue stays open for one hour after the last one. Lots cross in number order, the docket shows which day each lot runs, and the morning run sheets give an estimated time. When you want to bid, make yourself known to the bidder assistants, who relay bids to the auctioneer. You can bid from your seat or follow the car from the staging lanes to the block. Stay seated when you are not bidding, and keep the front of the block clear for the seated bidders, the television cameras and the livestream.

At Kissimmee, the cars cross after Road Art, the memorabilia, each morning, and the start time moves on a few days; the Mecum Kissimmee 2027 page has the day-by-day times. Mecum asks you to check the daily schedule, because times change during the sale. Questions on site go to the Mecum Service Station, its help desk for bidding and consignment.

If you cannot stay, both houses take bids remotely. Barrett-Jackson offers online bidding in real time on its livestream, phone bidding with a staff member relaying your bids, and proxy bidding, where a representative bids for you up to the maximum you set. Mecum offers in-person, telephone and internet bidding. Remember that a remote bid at Mecum carries the 12% premium.

When the car you wanted does not sell

A car that fails to meet its reserve is not necessarily gone. Mecum keeps selling unsold cars to registered bidders for at least 21 days after the auction through The Bid Goes On, its post-sale program. If a car you were bidding on goes unsold, you can still try to make a deal on it through Mecum after the sale.

Paying for the car

At Barrett-Jackson you sign a ticket confirming the sale when the hammer falls, then go to the auction office. Its staff handle the title, the assignments and authorizations, the payment and the shipping. Barrett-Jackson advises doing the paperwork as soon as you can after the sale so nothing delays delivery. Woodside Credit has a booth at the auction office if you want to finance, or you can get pre-approved before you go.

Mecum takes cash, personal or company checks, certified funds and wire transfers for a car. Credit and debit cards are accepted only for Road Art. Mecum Financial Services lends before or during the auction.

Both houses add applicable taxes, and what you owe depends on where you will register the car. Ask the auction office how tax is collected for a buyer from your state before you bid, not after. If you are deciding between paying cash and borrowing, the cash or finance tool runs both against your own numbers.

Insurance and getting it home

The car is yours the moment the hammer falls, so it needs cover before it moves. Barrett-Jackson offers its endorsed insurance at the auction office when you settle up. Whoever you use, call your own insurer before the sale with the cars you plan to bid on, so a binder is one phone call away. Insurance is the second payment explains what drives the premium on a car like this.

Barrett-Jackson’s official transport companies work on site and take responsibility for the car once they load it, including shipping overseas. Its recommended carrier is Reliable Carriers. Barrett-Jackson asks you to book transport at least three weeks ahead, to allow extra time for customs on an international move, to photograph the car and note the exact mileage and any cosmetic damage before pickup, and to be there to sign for it at pickup and delivery. Mecum offers its own auto transport service. If the car will not go straight into your garage, what car storage costs sets out the options.

How a collector policy values the car, and why stated value is not the same as agreed value, is in Agreed value car insurance.

If the car is leaving the country, CBP wants the title and an export filing 72 hours before it goes: Exporting a car from the US.

A buyer’s calendar for January 2027

• 8 December 2026: Barrett-Jackson’s early registration prices end for Scottsdale.
• 22 December 2026: register with Mecum by about this date to have Kissimmee credentials mailed, two weeks before the 5 January start. Send financial verification at the same time if you plan to spend over $50,000.
• 4 January 2027: last day for Mecum’s 25% advance discount on spectator tickets, for anyone in your group who is not on your badge.
• 5 to 17 January 2027: Mecum Kissimmee, Osceola Heritage Park.
• 22 January 2027: Barrett-Jackson Opening Night Gala, for Premium bidders.
• 23 to 31 January 2027: Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale, WestWorld of Scottsdale.
• Three weeks before you need the car moved: book transport.

Fees and terms change from one sale to the next. Every figure above was read on the auction houses’ own pages on 8 November 2026, and both houses’ bidder services teams are the final word before you register.

Buying online instead? How to buy a car on Bring a Trailer covers its buyer’s fee, the card hold and paying a private seller.

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Mario Bailey

Founder, Driven Life

Mario Bailey founded Driven Life, which is published by Revlent LLC. He is a U.S. Air Force veteran and a tech founder, and has worked as a software engineer for more than ten years. He edits the site and is responsible for every page on it: the meet, club and rally guides, the metro and state hubs, the car and tool pages, and the magazine.