Britannia AuctionsBusiness closure auctions in Swindon
When a car plant changes hands or shrinks, the suppliers around it feel it first. Firms on the South Marston estate and across the north side of the town that pressed, machined, plated or packed for one customer find the work gone before the lease is. The building is still full: presses, CNC machines, assembly benches, test rigs and racking, and the tooling that was cut for parts nobody will order again.
A closure auction turns that into money by a fixed date. We catalogue on site, sell online in one timed auction with a viewing day, and buyers collect in a window afterwards. The sale is online and open to bidders well beyond the area, and the engineers and dealers at Chippenham, Cirencester, Marlborough and Wantage are a short trip from the viewing day. Pharmaceutical and electronics units on the north and east sides close the same way, with cleaner kit and a different buyer list.
Send us the list and the date.
Suppliers left holding the tooling when the work goes
Contract tooling is the awkward lot in an automotive supplier's closure. Press tools, jigs, gauges and fixtures cut for one customer's part are often the customer's property, and they go back rather than into the sale. Tools you own that only make one part suit very few buyers, and the value may be in the steel rather than the tool. We say that plainly when we first visit so that you can plan around it.
The machines are a different story. Presses, robot welders, machining centres, assembly conveyors and end of line test rigs are used by engineering firms along the M4 corridor, and bidding is open to dealers anywhere. Coating and plating lines need their chemicals cleared by a licensed contractor before the tanks can be lotted.
Pharmaceutical and electronics firms bring lab benches, fume cupboards, environmental chambers, clean room panels and analytical instruments. Instruments with current calibration are described with the certificate attached, because that is the first thing a bidder for this kit looks for.
Sheds by junction 16 and workshops on the older estates
Access decides how long the collection window needs to be. The distribution sheds at Blagrove and Symmetry Park were built for articulated lorries, and a closure there is mostly racking, handling kit, mezzanines and stock, which a buyer can load once the trucks are on site. Cheney Manor, Groundwell, Kembrey Park and Dorcan are older and tighter, with units that share a yard and doors that were fitted before the machines inside were bought.
We walk the site when we first visit and write into the catalogue what will fit, so that a buyer from Gloucester or Oxford sends a rigid rather than an artic. The collection order is agreed with you, and it often suits to take the heavy lots first, with the buyer arranging and paying for a rigger where a machine needs one, and to keep the van lots to a separate day.
The M4 and the A419 bring the trade in from both directions, and a low loader can be off the motorway and at the unit within a few minutes of junction 15 or 16.
What these sales can include
- Production machinery
- Finished goods and raw materials
- Warehouse racking
- Forklifts and handling equipment
- Vans, trucks and trailers
- Office furniture and computers
- Workshop tools and benches
- Compressors and site services
- Catering equipment
- Retail fittings and display units
- Vehicle lifts
- Packaging machinery
How we run the sale
We visit, agree the scope and catalogue the lots on site. Everything from the main machines down to the contents of the stores can be included. Small items are grouped into sensible lots so that nothing is left behind.
The sale runs online as a timed auction. Bidders register, view the lots on a set viewing day at your premises, and bid until the closing time. Lots close in sequence, and a late bid extends the closing time on that lot.
Buyers pay the hammer price plus the buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately on the invoice. They pay us, and you are paid once the sale is reconciled and the collection window has closed, from cleared funds. The auction terms set out what happens if a buyer does not pay or collect. The details for your sale are explained when we discuss it.
The business closure auctions page covers closure sales and the pressure of the date, who needs to agree before you sell, stock, records and the things people forget, collection, clearance and the empty building, when a closure sale is not the answer.
Questions about selling in Swindon
- We have racks of press tools that belong to the vehicle maker. What do we do with them?
Return them, and do it before the viewing day. Customer owned tooling is usually covered by a bailment or tooling agreement that says it must be kept separate and returned on request. Write to the customer with the closure date, agree a collection, and keep the correspondence. Tools that are yours, made for parts you designed, can be sold, though we will tell you honestly if we think they have no market. We check ownership before anything is lotted.
- Our lab instruments are due for recalibration next month. Should we have it done before the sale?
Probably not, unless the cost is small against the likely value. A calibration due date is one of the things a bidder weighs up, alongside the service history and the last certificate, and we photograph and attach both to the lot. Spend the time collecting that paperwork and the software licences rather than paying for a calibration the buyer may repeat. Ask us for a view on the particular instruments before you decide.
More questions about closure auctions
Related services
Guides
- Closing a business: a timeline for selling the assets
Work backwards from the day you hand the site over. This guide covers lease end and dilapidations, when to instruct, when staff should leave, when to keep the power on, and how to leave enough room for collection and making good.