Britannia AuctionsBusiness retirement auctions in Swindon
The car plant is gone, and the firms that fed it are deciding what to do next. Pressings, machined parts, fasteners, sequencing and logistics, paint and finishing, in units on the estate around South Marston and on Dorcan, Kembrey Park and Cheney Manor. If you are retiring and selling the equipment rather than transferring the business, that equipment is what goes into the catalogue.
We turn it into money on a fixed date. The same goes for the vehicle repairers, electronics firms, printers and trade counters on the older estates when the owner stops. Lots are catalogued on site, sold online over a week or two with a viewing day, and collected in a fixed window. Buyers pay us. We account to you after collection and cleared funds. If you are winding a business down anywhere in the town, describe it through the contact form and we will come and look.
Suppliers left standing after the car plant closed
A tier two supplier is usually a well equipped general engineering shop with a bias towards volume. Power presses and press brakes, CNC machining centres and turning centres, robot welding cells, a paint line, a coordinate measuring machine, packing and sequencing racks, forklifts and a fleet of stillages. Some of it was specified by the customer and paid for by them, so ownership is the first thing we check.
General machines have the widest audience. Machine tools, presses, forklifts and racking suit manufacturers along the M4 in Chippenham and Cirencester and in Oxfordshire along the A420, and bidding is online and open nationally. A robot cell or a paint line is a narrower market and takes more description and a longer bidding period, and where one item has real value we may suggest private treaty instead.
Stillages, racking and packaging go in bulk lots for the logistics firms on the same estates, and there are a lot of them.
Buyers along the M4 and up the A419
Junctions 15 and 16 are minutes from the main estates and the A419 takes a lorry north to the M5. The roads on Cheney Manor, Kembrey Park and Dorcan were laid out for larger vehicles, and we still check each unit on the visit for turning space, door dimensions and floor levels. Wantage and Marlborough are within a comfortable drive of the viewing day, and a haulier collecting for an online buyer has the access detail from the catalogue.
Timing is usually set by the unit. Rent falls due on the quarter days, so a sale that closes two weeks before one and hands the unit back after collection can save a quarter's rent. Where a customer contract has a fixed end date, we work back from the last delivery instead, and hold the viewing while machines that can be run without risk are still connected.
What these sales can include
- Workshop machinery
- Hand and power tools
- Vans and company vehicles
- Trade stock and consumables
- Racking and storage
- Forklifts and pallet trucks
- Office furniture and IT
- Welding and fabrication equipment
- Compressors and generators
- Vehicle lifts and garage equipment
- Catering and canteen equipment
- Signage and shop fittings
How the sale runs
It starts with a conversation. We ask what you have, where it is, and when you need it gone. Then we visit, walk the premises with you and agree which items are included.
We catalogue the lots on site. Each lot gets a description, photographs and, where relevant, a serial number and condition note. The catalogue goes online and the auction is marketed to buyers in the trade.
Most sales run as online timed auctions. Bidding is open for a set period, usually a week or two, with a viewing day at your premises before it closes. Buyers pay us, then collect their lots during the collection window. We account to you once the sale is reconciled, buyers have paid and the collection window has closed, from cleared funds.
The business retirement auctions page covers when an auction is the right route, what you need to prepare, values, reserves and what the buyer pays, collection day and unsold lots, other routes and when we suggest them.
Questions about selling in Swindon
- Some of the tooling and stillages belong to our old customer. How do we deal with that?
Tell us before the visit and we keep them out of the catalogue. Customer owned tooling, gauges, fixtures and returnable packaging are normal in the automotive trade, and the customer will usually collect them or tell you to scrap them. Get that in writing. Anything the customer has released to you in writing can be sold, and we put the release on file. Where ownership is unclear, we leave the item out rather than risk a dispute after the sale.
- We run a small print firm on Cheney Manor. Is that too small for you?
No. A press, a guillotine, a folder, a stitcher, plate making kit and a stock of paper is a list we can sell, on site or from our own premises where the unit has to go back quickly. Print machinery has a thinner market than machine tools, so we describe each machine in detail with its impression count and options, and reach for buyers online as well as printers in the town. Any job, big or small.
More questions about retirement auctions
Related services
Guides
- Auction or private treaty: which route to choose
Auction gives you a fixed date and an open market. Private treaty gives you a negotiated price and privacy. This guide sets out when each route suits, what you give up with each, and why many sales use both.