Bring a Trailer Won’t Explain Why It Listed a 2008 Dodge Avenger SE
We all just want to know why!
Bring a Trailer has standards that serve its buyers. Sure the paint thickness gauge antics can get a little off the deep end sometimes, but if you want to put a bid down for a desirable, albeit often-expensive enthusiast car that's been meticulously documented, the site is the place to go. We were curious, then, why a 2008 Dodge Avenger ended up listed there.
Not a typo. 2008 Dodge Avenger.
Sure it has just 17,000 miles, but I mean, come on. It's a four-speed auto Avenger. This was all unusual enough, so we asked Bring a Trailer about it. However, the auction site doesn't seem interested in chatting about why the vehicle ever made it onto its pages.
The Avenger listed, in short, sits in a kind of uncanny valley of the website's offerings. It isn't slow-car fast, it's just slow. It's not an enthusiast's car, nor does it have any real capability to be one as it sits. The most interesting part of it is the "Chill Zone beverage storage compartment," a small glovebox above the normal one that's air-conditioned. Is that why it was listed? The Chill Zone beverage storage compartment?
Other similar listings almost sit in this funny grey area (to say nothing of the grey area that is this Avenger's interior), but we can understand easily why they don't. Take that 400-mile Geo Metro that sold for $18,200 a while ago. That's a lot for an old Geo, but it's basically new, it's small, light and it has a five-speed manual transaxle. On the best day of its life, it could be a pretty fun car to throw around. The Dodge Avenger? It was made in 2008, famously not a banner era for American cars. It's not even an interesting time capsule yet. It's nothing special, on account of it, well, being a Dodge Avenger.
The "Why?" of the entire situation can be answered by one entity: Bring a Trailer itself, and it had no comment. I don't get it. I can't ask my therapist. I'm between therapists.
Yes, this is an especially clean Dodge Avenger, but it was driven in Florida for 17,000 miles before someone decided they wanted to sell it to a dealer, which is now selling it on the site. It has no rust and a spotless underbody. Right. I think most Dodge Avengers in similar circumstances would likely be in much the same condition.
The entire situation is just silly. A simple answer of "It's a clean Dodge Avenger" or "It's red", or "You must've missed the Chill Zone beverage storage compartment" would've at least given some method to the madness. Instead, this thing just sold as I'm writing for $9,600. "That's slightly too much for a low-mileage Dodge Avenger," you might say. "And why is it on Bring a Trailer?"
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