Britannia AuctionsCommercial vehicle and fleet auctions in Aberdeen
The oil and gas trade in Aberdeen runs in cycles, and the vehicle fleets follow them. When activity drops or a service contract moves to another operator, a supply depot at Altens or Tullos is left with flatbeds, crane lorries, crew vans and 4x4s bought for a level of work that has stopped. Subsea and inspection firms at Dyce add tidy panel vans with racking, and fish processors near the harbour add refrigerated rigids.
We sell them by online timed auction. The catalogue is written at your yard, bidding runs for a week or two with a viewing day, and buyers pay us before collecting in an agreed window. How long each stage takes depends on the number of lots and the date you need the yard clear. Bidding is open to buyers from every part of the UK, and the trade in Westhill, Inverurie, Stonehaven and Ellon is well placed to attend the viewing.
Depot fleets after the work moves on
An offshore supply depot fleet is built for the quayside. Flatbeds and crane lorries carry containers and skids between the yard and the harbour, 4x4s and crew vans run engineers to sites up the A90, and none of it was bought with resale in mind. When the contract ends the vehicles are surplus at once, and the quickest route out is a single offer from a dealer for the lot.
Listing each vehicle separately puts it in front of the buyers for that type instead. A crane lorry is judged on its inspection paperwork, its rating and the state of the chassis, a 4x4 on its tow bar, its service record and its mileage. What each makes depends on condition, specification and how easily it can be removed, and we give you our opinion on likely interest before you commit.
A vehicle on finance, hire purchase or lease stays with the funder until the agreement is settled, so it can only be sold with their agreement.
Selling from the far end of the road
Aberdeen sits a long way from the middle of the country, so the catalogue has to be good enough to bid on without a visit. We photograph each vehicle from every side and underneath, list the mileage, the MOT date, the crane rating and the faults we found, and answer questions from bidders while the sale is running.
Collection is planned around distance too. A buyer at the far end of the country may send a transporter rather than a driver, so the window is agreed with slack for that and the yard is told when each load is due. Buyers arrange and pay for the removal of their own lots, and we attend to release them against paid invoices. The Western Peripheral Route reaches Altens and Dyce from the A90 without crossing the city.
Where the fleet is small, the vehicles can be moved to our own premises for sale instead.
What these sales can include
- Panel vans
- Long wheelbase vans
- Luton box vans with tail lifts
- Tippers and dropside trucks
- Refrigerated vans
- Rigid lorries
- Tractor units
- Curtainside trailers
- Flatbed and skeletal trailers
- Minibuses and welfare vehicles
- Pickups and 4x4s
- Car derived vans
- Plant trailers
- Vehicle mounted equipment
How the sale runs
We photograph and describe each vehicle, record the mileage and note known faults. The vehicles are listed in an online timed auction and the catalogue is marketed to trade buyers, hauliers, owner drivers and export buyers. Bidders can inspect on a viewing day, usually at your yard or ours, and lots close in sequence on the sale date.
Lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding. The buyer pays the hammer price plus a buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately on the buyer's invoice. Your charge is a separate commission, with any costs agreed in advance, deducted from the proceeds.
Reserves can be set on individual vehicles where there is a clear reason, such as a finance settlement figure.
The commercial vehicle and fleet auctions page covers when auction suits a fleet, paperwork that affects the price, livery and fleet kit, after the hammer.
Questions about selling in Aberdeen
- Most of the trade is hundreds of miles away. Will anyone actually bid on a fleet in Aberdeen?
Bidding is online, so a haulier in Yorkshire can bid on a tractor unit at Tullos as easily as on one down the road and send a transporter afterwards. The trade around Inverurie and Westhill is close enough to look at a vehicle on the viewing day. What a distant bidder cannot do is make up for a missing service record by walking round the vehicle, so the paperwork you gather before the catalogue is written counts for more here than the location does.
- We are a fish processor with three refrigerated rigids on a harbour round. Who buys those?
Food distributors and other processors. A refrigerated rigid is a specialist lot, so the catalogue is written for bidders anywhere in the UK rather than for the room. Buyers price the fridge unit separately from the chassis, so we run it where it can be run safely, note whether it pulls down to temperature and record the hours on the unit. Condition, the service record on the fridge, the tail lift test and the months left on the MOT are what the bidding turns on.
More questions about vehicles and fleets
Related services
Guides
- Selling a commercial vehicle fleet
Fleet sales turn on paperwork as much as on price. This guide covers the V5C, MOT and plating documents, clearing finance before listing, keys and livery, recording mileage and tachograph data, and how to defleet in batches while still trading.