Octane and Car & Classic both auction special cars online, and on both the car stays with you during the auction. Car & Classic is a British marketplace for classics, with listings, auctions and Make an Offer side by side and local sites across Europe. Octane is an auction platform for enthusiast cars, focused on Western Europe, with its own campaign around every car. So the question is not just who has the largest audience. What matters more is who within that audience is looking at your car, what the sale costs on both sides, and how long it takes from submission to money in your account.
On paper the auctions look alike: online, the car stays with the seller, the platform writes the copy and bidders ask their questions in the public comments. The differences sit in who pays, in the audience and in the settlement. Car & Classic is a British marketplace for classic and special vehicles, with listings, auctions and Make an Offer side by side and local sites across much of Europe. At auction you pay a 6% seller commission with a €600 minimum, excluding VAT, and the buyer pays a service fee that scales with the value of the car. The purchase price runs through an escrow account and the auction is preceded by a pre-live phase. Octane does one thing: auctioning special cars for an enthusiast audience in Western Europe. You pay nothing, the buyer pays 3% including VAT with a €3,600 maximum, and around every accepted car we build a separate campaign to bring new buyers to the auction, at our cost on regular auctions. After seven days the auction is done and buyer and seller complete the transaction directly with each other.
You submit your car, we assess whether it fits and agree a realistic reserve together. We then write the listing copy and structure the specifications and history. For the photos we match you with a photographer from our network, whom you pay directly, or you take them yourself following our photo guide. The car is usually live within days. Then the real work starts: we build a campaign around the car to bring new buyers to the auction, usually at our cost. The auction takes seven days; you answer bidder questions yourself in the comments.
You submit the car and the auction team assesses whether it suits an auction; otherwise they advise a listing. Their writers and vehicle experts create the auction copy based on your information and send you a draft for approval. You supply the photos yourself to their quality standards, or choose a paid package with professional photography, video and editing, price on request. The auction starts with a pre-live phase of five or seven days in which bidding is already possible, followed by an equally long live phase. Bidders ask questions in the public comments and can request a viewing, which you arrange with them yourself. If the reserve is not met, Car & Classic tries to find a buyer for another fourteen days.
Up to and including the copy, both platforms work in a comparable way. After that it differs: at Car & Classic an auction of ten to fourteen days including pre-live, with a commission for you and a service fee for the buyer; at Octane seven days, without commission, with a dedicated campaign around the car.
| Sale price | Octane | Car & Classic | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| €15,000 | €0 | €900 | +€900 |
| €25,000 | €0 | €1,500 | +€1,500 |
| €75,000 | €0 | €4,500 | +€4,500 |
| €150,000 | €0 | €9,000 | +€9,000 |
Octane's amounts include VAT.
Car & Classic publishes its seller commission excluding VAT; the applicable VAT rate is not published, so the amounts are shown excluding VAT.
Car & Classic’s seller commission is 6% of the sale price with a €600 minimum, excluding VAT and only due on a sale; which VAT rate applies to a seller in the Netherlands they do not publish. The buyer’s service fee scales with the value of the car, from €300 up to a maximum of €5,000 including VAT, and is shown before you bid; a percentage is not published. Paid packages with photography, video and editing are optional, price on request.
At Car & Classic you pay a seller commission of 6% of the sale price with a €600 minimum, excluding VAT and only due if the car sells. Which VAT rate is added for a seller in the Netherlands they do not publish. At Octane you pay nothing as the seller: you receive the full winning bid. The buyer at Car & Classic pays a service fee that scales with the value of the car, from €300 up to a maximum of €5,000 including VAT; they see the amount before bidding, but a percentage is not published. At Octane it is 3% including VAT, minimum €350 and maximum €3,600, the same everywhere. Because a buyer looks at their total purchase price, those fees weigh on what they can bid on the car itself. On a €25,000 car you therefore pay €1,500 commission excluding VAT at Car & Classic and nothing at Octane; at €75,000 it is €4,500 versus nothing. What the buyer pays at Car & Classic depends on the value; at Octane it is €750 and €2,250 respectively.
Car & Classic calls itself Europe’s classic car marketplace and speaks of millions of visitors per month: a large, generalist classics audience that comes for listings, auctions, motorcycles, American cars and campers, with local sites across much of Europe and British roots. For a classic with a broad collector market that is a strong channel, and the pre-live phase and themed auction evenings give a car extra time to be seen. Octane chooses a specialist audience of car enthusiasts in Western Europe, and a campaign per car to reach buyers beyond our own user base as well. No listings marketplace around it: every car on the platform is an auction that gets the attention. A large marketplace audience says how many people visit a website. What counts for a seller is how many serious candidates for their specific car are reached.
Octane is built to be more than just the place where the highest bid lands. Around the platform we are building a Western European network of specialised partners for transport, inspections, detailing and other services around buying and selling special cars. If your car is in the Netherlands and the strongest bidder is in Belgium, that buyer does not have to find an inspector or transporter from scratch. On request, we connect buyer and seller with a suitable specialist. That way we can help not only to bring buyer and car together, but also to complete the transaction as smoothly as possible afterwards.
The overlap sits with classics and youngtimers with good history: a Jaguar E-type, a Porsche 911 or an Alfa Romeo Spider fits both. For that type of car, the question is mainly whether you want a large marketplace audience and escrow, at a commission, or a targeted campaign among enthusiasts, without one.
For a sports car, youngtimer, classic or modern performance car whose buyers are enthusiasts in Western Europe, we usually consider Octane the more logical choice. First, the costs. At Octane you pay nothing as the seller and the buyer pays 3% including VAT with a €3,600 maximum. At Car & Classic, on a €25,000 car you pay €1,500 commission excluding VAT yourself, and on top of that the buyer pays a service fee of €300 to €5,000 including VAT, whose percentage is not published. Second, the audience. Octane focuses exclusively on enthusiasts of special cars and builds a campaign around every accepted car to reach buyers beyond its own user base too, in the Netherlands and the rest of Western Europe. No listings marketplace around it, no registration plates and campers alongside. Third, the speed and simplicity: usually live within days, a seven-day auction and then direct settlement between buyer and seller in a private chat environment with each other’s details. On request we connect them with specialists for inspection or transport.
Car & Classic can make more sense for a classic with a broad European and British collector market, or for motorcycles, American cars, 4x4s and campers: their marketplace is built for that and, by their own account, draws millions of visitors per month. If you want a listing, an auction and Make an Offer as options under one roof, you will find them there. The escrow payment is also an argument for some sellers: the buyer deposits the purchase price with Car & Classic before the car is collected. And if the reserve is not met, they keep looking for a buyer for another fourteen days. The trade-off is whether that reach and that certainty outweigh a 6% seller commission with a €600 minimum excluding VAT, buyers who pay their own service fee, and a longer lead time from pre-live to payout.
No platform is automatically the best choice for every car. Are you selling a classic with a broad European or British collector market, or a motorcycle, American car or camper, and do you want listings, auctions and Make an Offer side by side with an escrow payment? Then Car & Classic is a logical option, with the commission and the longer lead time that come with it. Is your special car in Western Europe, with its buyers in the enthusiast market? Then we consider Octane the stronger proposition. You pay no commission, the buyer pays 3% including VAT and knows that upfront, around every car we build a campaign that reaches enthusiasts specifically, and the auction is done in seven days. Not the largest audience, but the right one. And with as little cost as possible between you and the buyer.
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Octane next to the other auction platforms:
Looking for an alternative to Car & Classic? See all options side by side →
| Item | Octane | Car & Classic |
|---|---|---|
| Platform type | Online auction for enthusiast cars | Online marketplace for classic and special vehicles with listings, a separate auction product and Make an Offer |
| Types of car | Sports cars and supercars, Youngtimers and classics, JDM and modern performance, Rare specifications and low mileage | Classics, youngtimers and modern classics, Motorcycles, 4x4s, American cars, campers and trucks, Registration plates and automobilia |
| Seller cost | None. You receive the full winning bid | 6% of the sale price, minimum €600, excluding VAT. Only due on a sale |
| Buyer fee | 3% of the winning bid, including VAT, minimum €350 | A service fee that scales with the value of the car, from €300 up to a maximum of €5,000, including VAT; you see the amount before you bid. A percentage is not published |
| Maximum buyer fee | €3,600 | €5,000 |
| Auction length | 7 days | 5 or 7 days live, preceded by an equally long pre-live phase in which bidding is already possible |
| Reserve price (minimum) available | Yes, confidential and agreed with the team | Yes, confidential; bidders do see whether the reserve is met, nearly met or not met. You can lower or remove it during the auction. If it is not met, Car & Classic tries to find a buyer for another fourteen days |
| Geographic focus | Western Europe: the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and Finland | International with British roots; auctions for cars across Europe, in pounds or euros, with local sites for the Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy among others |
| Car stays with the seller | Same on bothYes | |
| Presentation and photography | Editorial listing copy and structured specifications written by the platform. Photography through a photographer from our network, paid directly by you, or you supply your own images that meet the photo guide | Auction copy written by their writers and vehicle experts based on your information, with a draft for approval. You supply the photos yourself to their quality standards, or through a paid package with professional photography (price on request) |
| Promotion of the car | An active campaign per car, aimed at both the existing Octane audience and new potential buyers in Western Europe. Campaign costs are covered by Octane on regular auctions | Visibility on the auction marketplace and the international Car & Classic sites, a pre-live phase with early bids, themed auction evenings and the newsletter |
| Contact with bidders | Bidders ask questions in the comments under the auction and the seller answers them | Bidders ask questions in the public comments, directly to the seller, and can request a viewing through the platform, which you arrange with them yourself |
| After the auction ends | Buyer and seller get a private chat environment with each other’s details, where they complete the transaction between themselves | The service fee is charged to the buyer’s card and the buyer transfers the winning bid to the escrow account within four working days. Buyer and seller are then put in contact for the handover; after both confirm, the purchase price is released to the seller, usually within three to five working days to a euro account |
| Support around the transaction | On request, Octane connects buyer and seller with specialists for inspection and transport among others | Escrow payment, card verification of bidders, viewing requests through the platform, fourteen days of mediation if the reserve is not met and Make an Offer as a follow-up route; transport through a referred partner, no physical inspection |
Information checked on 17 August 2026. Fees and terms of external platforms can change. Always check the current terms with the platform itself.