What to Know About baT Auction Success Story: Root Beer Element Served Up Fresh

This Success Story comes to us from BaT member Canoethrasher, who won this 2007 Honda Element SC from The_Dude_Abides in an April 2025 BaT auction:

It was a typical Monday. I was doing patient rounds at the hospital when my phone rang. Thinking it was the traditional spam call at 1:00 PM, I silenced the call, expecting to see a local area code and no voicemail left. But to my surprise, an East Coast number left a detailed voice message. “Congrats on the win!” I thought these scammers were really getting creative, until I remembered that I had placed a bid on a gorgeous Root Beer metallic Honda Element SC an hour ago. No way—I had won. Every car I’d previously hunted on BaT escaped my grasp during the final two minutes. I was usually meticulous in my browsing and bidding, scrutinizing every photo and comment. But after several recent losses in bidding wars, I admit that I basically saw Root Beer metallic and placed a bid.

I got in touch with the absolutely tremendous seller @The_Dude_Abides and began to discuss the pickup. With him leaving town for a few days and my schedule being tied up, we finalized payment but did not arrange transportation.

A few days later, my schedule opened up. Why pay someone to ship the vehicle when I had a few days with nothing better to do? I took my youngest out of school and we grabbed a redeye budget flight with carry-ons to New Jersey. This was not usual behavior for us since we are just small-town Minnesota guys. We grabbed a commuter train (it was our first time on one of those) that looked straight out of the Hunger Games and headed south toward the seller’s general region. But I hadn’t heard back from the seller since we arrived in town. Too cheap to pay for an Uber, we started walking a couple of miles to our hotel to set up and rest. As soon as we started hiking, we realized two things: the concrete jungle of highways in New Jersey was really not designed to be haphazardly bushwhacked like the country roads back home, and it can really rain hard out East. My son certainly regretted the choice of just letting me wing it.

Later that evening, we sat exhausted and soaked in our hotel room with Ridiculousness muted in the background, and then we we heard back from The_Dude, who could meet us the next day at a time to be determined. As checkout time loomed, we started worrying about spending yet another day walking around unfamiliar New Jersey in a downpour while waiting to meet the seller. I certainly did not look forward to fielding all the questions from my son about how or when this was actually going to work. Just as we got to the front desk to reluctantly extend our stay another night, I got a call from The Dude:

“What time works for you?”
“I can be ready any time.”
“Like now?”
“Yeah, man. Just gotta catch a bus or an Uber, and I’ll be wherever you need me.”
“An Uber? Wait, aren’t you by Rutgers?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m five minutes out. I’ll come pick you up.”

Next thing I knew, a pristine Audi RS pulled up, and we went from another day walking in the rain to riding in luxury. It turned out the seller, who’s had hundreds of successful transactions, had never had someone show up to drive the vehicle home, especially not 1,500 miles home. He figured I was in town for a medical conference or something at the university, but I had just picked the biggest landmark and hiked toward it. Less than an hour later, my son and I were on the road back home in our killer Root Beer Honda Element. We drove straight through the night (and SO much rain), stopping occasionally to enjoy the versatile bed and seat configurations, on our way back to Northern Minnesota.

The_Dude_Abides was the epitome of class and community that is BaT. What great service and kindness to pick me up at the hotel and make a stressful day suddenly become so enjoyable. He created a lifetime memory for me to share with my son about the kindness of strangers and the support and joy to be found in the world of BaT. Now, when this becomes his first car, he will always be able to tell its origin story—a story brought to pass by the sheer awesomeness from The_Dude_Abides.

Final fun fact: not only did the Element whip through the downpour the whole way home to Minnesota, it recently brought me through its first near-whiteout blizzard and a -20º road trip. Watch for whatever The_Dude_Abides lists because I’ve since put +3k miles on this 18-year-old car without spending a dime on anything but regular maintenance and fuel.

If you have a Success Story about a car you’ve bought or sold on BaT, please send a few lines and pictures (or a video) to community.content@bringatrailer.com, and we’ll send you a $50 credit to the BaT Gear Store when your story posts to the site.

We love to hear from satisfied BaT buyers and sellers, and a Success Story feature is a great addition to any car’s history when you’re ready to sell.