Christian Philippsen (http://christianphilippsen.com/en_US/) is a car enthusiast. The magazine Magneto recently ranked him in 24 th position in their top 50 list of most influential people in the collector car world. He sold Ferraris and was involved in a racing team in his twenties, he became an international executive for Michelin, he organised rallies and concours d’elegance for Louis Vuitton, was a consultant and an auctioneer with Christie’s, and is a founding member of the Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award. A real petrolhead! His latest initiative is called leBolide (https://www.lebolide.com/). We caught up with him to find out more.
 

Christian, what is leBolide?
leBolide.com (https://www.lebolide.com/) is an online auction platform connecting sellers and buyers of cars of special interest, classic and modern, small and big, expensive and affordable. leBolide is not a traditional auction house, but we follow an auction’s process. We put a car online and potential buyers bid online. We believe we offer the best of both worlds: the efficiency of an auction at the price of a classified ad.

 

Interview with the founder of Lebolide.com: Christian Philippsen

How does it work?
The process is very easy and smooth. Vendors keep their cars with them as opposed to having to deliver them to an auction venue. All they need to do is complete a detailed questionnaire telling everything they know about their car and provide a comprehensive photographic report. Our team at leBolide then writes a description of the car and will post all online. The cost for this is € 99 , nothing else! but we are waiving that fee for the 100 first lots and we still a few slots remaining. The advantage of the process is that there is a deadline. Interested parties must commit if they want to buy a lot. If they don’t bid, it’s gone.
 

And buyers?
Buyers bid on line. We screen them before they can bid and we charge a 5% premium on the winning bid to them, much less that what a regular auction will do. As a result, a significantly bigger part of the buyer’s budget lands in the vendor’s pocket! When the auction is over, the buyer pays the vendor and collects his lot. Can’t be simpler!

 

Interview with the founder of Lebolide.com: Christian Philippsen
Interview with the founder of Lebolide.com: Christian Philippsen

How can an interested party assess a car in which he is interested?
A great question indeed! As already mentioned, we publish a detailed description for each car together with a full photographic documentation. We insist that vendors mention and illustrate defects, if any. We don’t want buyers to be disappointed. Also, we are happy to put a potential buyer in contact with a vendor should he wish to go and look at the car in person. But, mostly, and this does make a difference: we open each lot to the comments of the community. You’d be amazed at the wealth of information available in the market, absolutely amazed! Combining all that enables one to build an opinion.
 

Interesting… Any more projects, Christian?
Plenty, but let’s first make a success of leBolide! We wish the very best to Christian and his leBolide team.