Britannia AuctionsCommercial vehicle and fleet auctions in Birmingham
A tipper that has spent its life on Birmingham building sites is a different sale from a parts van that has run between pressings shops in Witton and the vehicle plants. Both turn up here often, because the city has a large construction trade and one of the deepest automotive supply chains in the country, and each is judged by a different set of buyers.
The supply chain runs on vans. Component makers and metal finishers keep panel vans and long wheelbase vans for daily deliveries to assembly lines, and when a supplier loses a contract or consolidates two sites, a batch of white vans with modest mileage comes to market. Construction firms bring tippers, dropsides, plant trailers and pickups. The logistics sheds out towards the airport and junction 6 of the M42 add tractor units and curtainside trailers.
We run online timed auctions for all of it, from a single pickup to a depot full of trucks.
Tippers and dropsides from the construction trade
Construction fleets in the city change hands for a plain reason. A groundworks or civils firm finishes a big contract and no longer needs eight tippers, or a builder retires and the yard at Kings Norton has to be handed back. The vehicles are usually 3.5 tonne tippers and dropsides with a few years of hard use, some 7.5 tonne rigids, and a plant trailer or two with a mini digger still sat on it.
This kind of vehicle is bought by the trades rather than by the retail market, and the trade around Dudley and Walsall is near enough to attend the viewing day. Dents in the body and a tow bar that has seen use are ordinary on a working tipper. We describe the vehicle honestly, list the MOT date and mileage, and let the bidding find the price. A fresh MOT and a clean cab cost little and make the listing easier to bid on.
Planning viewing and collection around the site
Access is the first thing we look at on the older estates around Aston and Saltley, and it decides how the sale is run. On the first visit we check the approach roads, the turning space, the yard surface and where a transporter could stand, and the findings go in the catalogue so buyers know what to send before they bid.
From that we plan the days. Where space is short, collection runs by appointment so buyers arrive one at a time. Where the yard cannot take buyers at all, the vehicles can be brought to our own premises and sold from there, and the unit is handed back earlier. Where a rigid or a tractor unit is not running, the listing says so, and recovery is arranged as part of the removal.
The M6 junctions and the Aston Expressway bring buyers in from outside the city. An older diesel van that attracts a clean air zone charge in the centre is priced by what it is worth to an operator who runs it elsewhere.
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 Birmingham
- We supply a car plant and have lost the contract. Twenty vans go back to the leasing company but six are owned. Can you sell just those?
Yes. We sell only what you own outright, or what a lender agrees to release. Six owned vans is a straightforward sale. We photograph and describe them at your unit, run a viewing day, and buyers pay us and collect within a fixed window. If any of the six are on hire purchase, we need the lender's settlement figure and consent before they are listed. Send us the registrations through the contact form and we will check what is what.
- Do buyers from outside Birmingham really bid on a batch of tippers?
Bidding is open to anyone in the UK, so a tipper at Kings Norton is in front of the same market as one anywhere else, and the trade in Redditch, Tamworth and Coventry is close enough to look at it first. Whether a vehicle draws interest from outside the city depends on its condition, its age and whether the type is still in use, rather than on where it is parked. Buyers arrange their own removal, by transporter or by a driver with trade plates, and the M6 and M42 make that straightforward.
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.