To start off with, the classic car auction is usually set up where it's a combination of an auction as well as a classic car show at the same time. This will give the people the opportunity to be able to look at all of the different cars as well as getting to see some trophy winners. It also gives them the chance to visit with the owner if they are around and ask all the important question one might want to ask about the classic car that they might be interested in bidding on.
These kinds of auctions are usually set up to where they are on the weekend so that the car show and car auction will take up the entire weekend. They may even last a little longer depending upon where they are and what time of the year that it might be. After the actual car show is over, the cars then will start going through the auction. This is when the auctioneer will start reading of the number the car was assigned, the year of the car, the make and model and then they will add any additional information there might be about the particular car up for bid. It is going to be up to the buyer to remember the number of the car if he is interested in bidding for it and buying it.
There are other types of car auctions that will take place in an auction house and this is where the owners will either drive or push their car through the doors of the auction house. They will then sit and wait while their car is being auctioned. The auctioneer will again talk about the car a little bit, he will then look for bidders and then will talk about the car for a little bit longer and then again look around for bidders. He will continue to do this until the biding begins and once there is a winning bid the car will then be driven out of the house and then another car will come in and the process will start all over again.
No matter which car auction a person goes to, the person who bought the car will have to have either cash or a certified check from their bank to pay for the car that they won. So if you are really interested in getting a classic car you need to realize that there are lots others out there and there could be bidding wars so it's important to bring plenty of cash to one of these kinds of auctions.
Not all classic cars have reserve prices on them, however, most of them do. What this means is that there is an amount that the seller will not go lower than when trying to auction off the car. The bidding does however start below the reserve price and it will keep going until there simply are no more bidders. If that last bidder goes over the reserve price then they win the car. If no bids go over the reserve price then the car did not sell at that auction. Even if the person won the bid, if they don't want to pay the reserve price they don't have to and that means they also don't get to go home with the car either.