Selling a commercial vehicle fleet
Vans, trucks, trailers and plant on wheels sell well at auction, but a fleet has its own paperwork and its own pitfalls. Most of the problems we see are avoidable with a week of preparation. Here is what to do before the vehicles are catalogued.
Get the paperwork together
For every vehicle you need the V5C registration document, the current MOT certificate or a note of the expiry date, the service history if you have it, and any plating certificate or tachograph calibration certificate for heavier vehicles. Put each vehicle's paperwork in its own envelope with the registration on the front.
A missing V5C is not fatal, but it slows things down and buyers discount for it. If you know a V5C is lost, apply for a replacement now rather than on the day.
The V5C should show the seller as the registered keeper, or you need to be able to explain why it does not. A vehicle registered to a finance company, a leasing company or a previous owner will raise questions at the HPI stage.
Finance and HPI
Every vehicle in a commercial sale is HPI checked before it is offered. The check shows outstanding finance, insurance write off markers, mileage discrepancies, plate changes and whether the vehicle is recorded as stolen. Anything that comes back on that check has to be resolved before the vehicle can be sold.
If a vehicle is on hire purchase, lease or contract hire, it belongs to the funder until the agreement is settled. Get settlement figures from each funder now. Some sellers are surprised to find that a vehicle they thought was paid off still shows finance because the funder never cleared the marker. That takes time to sort out, so start early.
Keys, livery and contents
Find every key. Two keys per vehicle is what buyers expect, and a vehicle with one key sells for less than the cost of the missing key would suggest. Label the keys and keep them in one secure place, not in the cabs.
Remove your livery, or accept that the buyer will. Vinyl graphics and magnetic signs come off easily. Painted livery is a buyer's problem and they will price it in.
Either way, take the signwriting off before photographs are taken. A plain white van photographs and sells better than one carrying the name of a business that is no longer trading.
Empty the vehicles. Tools, racking contents, fuel cards, parking permits, tachograph cards and personal items should all come out. Remove trackers if they are on a subscription in your name.
Mileage, plated weights and tachographs
Record the mileage of every vehicle at the point it is catalogued. Mileage is stated in the catalogue, and a buyer who finds a different figure on the clock at collection has grounds to complain.
For vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, the plated weights and the plating certificate matter to buyers because they determine what licence is needed to drive it and what it can legally carry. Make sure the plate is legible.
Tachograph units need their calibration in date. Download the vehicle unit data before the sale if your operator licence requires it, and remove any driver cards. Buyers will ask when the tachograph was last calibrated.
Condition and presentation
Wash the vehicles. Clear out the cab and the load area. Check tyres, lights and fluid levels so the vehicle starts and moves on viewing day. A vehicle that does not start sells as a non runner and the price reflects that.
Do not carry out cosmetic repairs that hide damage. Vehicles are sold as seen, and disputes over undisclosed accident repairs are the most common problem we see in fleet sales. Tell us about known faults and we will list them.
Defleeting in batches
If the business is still trading while the fleet is reduced, sell in batches rather than all at once. Release the vehicles you can spare first, run them through a sale, and keep the rest working until the next one. This keeps the business moving and avoids putting too many similar vehicles in front of the same buyers on one day, which can push prices down.
Agree a batch plan with us at the start so each sale is catalogued well ahead of time and the vehicles arrive with their paperwork in order.
If you are closing rather than trading down, the whole fleet goes into one sale alongside the rest of the site. Either way, the first step is a list of registrations with mileage, MOT date and finance status. Send us that and we can start.