Britannia AuctionsCommercial vehicle and fleet auctions in Leeds
A depot between the M621 and the M1 is a straightforward place to sell a fleet from. The distribution sheds at Leeds Valley Park and the estates at Stourton and Cross Green are minutes from a motorway junction, and Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield and York are all near enough to attend the viewing day. Bidding itself is online and open nationally.
The vehicles we sell here follow the local trades. Distribution operators bring tractor units and curtainside trailers. Food producers in Hunslet bring refrigerated vans. Trade counters and builders merchants bring dropsides and flatbeds with vehicle mounted forklifts, and printing and packaging firms bring Luton box vans with tail lifts that have done city deliveries for years.
All of it sells in an online timed auction that closes on a date agreed with you.
Selling a distribution fleet by the M621
A logistics operator that loses a contract or shuts a Leeds depot usually needs the yard empty by a date, and that date is what we plan around. We catalogue at the depot, list the vehicles in an online auction that runs for a week or two, and set the collection window to finish before the keys go back. Bidding is open across the UK, and the M62 and M1 make Leeds a straightforward collection.
What matters to those bidders is paperwork and condition. Tractor units want a current MOT and tachograph calibration. Trailers want a plated test date and sound curtains or a dry box. Vans want a service history and a V5C in the seller's name. We gather this with you before the catalogue is written, and where something is missing we say so rather than let a buyer find out on the day.
Reserves can be set on the main units.
Vans from trade counters and food producers
Not every fleet sale is a haulage yard. Around Hunslet and Kirkstall the more common job is a batch of vans from a business that has changed shape. A food producer that now uses a contract distributor has six refrigerated vans standing idle. A trade counter that has closed a branch has two dropsides and a couple of car derived vans that nobody has driven for a month.
Small batches like these suit auction because each van is priced on its own. A refrigerated van is judged on the fridge unit, a dropside on the bed and the payload, a Luton on the tail lift and the box, a car derived van on its mileage and its MOT. Selling them as a single lot to a dealer discounts all of them for the ones the dealer does not want.
Small batches can also be collected and sold from our own premises where that suits the seller better.
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 Leeds
- Our depot at Leeds Valley Park is being handed back at the end of March. When should we start?
About six to eight weeks before the handback date is comfortable. That allows a week to catalogue, a week or two of bidding, and a collection window that finishes with time to spare for anything that needs a second sale, though the exact dates depend on how many vehicles there are and the access at the depot. Rent quarter days are a common deadline and the timetable is set back from yours. Get the V5C documents together now, and ask your funder about consent for any financed vehicle.
- Will a refrigerated van with a tired fridge unit still sell?
Yes, but at a price that reflects the unit. Buyers of fridge vans price the refrigeration separately from the van, and a unit that does not pull down to temperature is treated as a replacement job. We run the fridge before the sale where it is safe to do so and describe what it does. If the fault is minor, having the unit serviced is usually worth the cost, because a van that holds temperature on the viewing day answers the question caterers and food traders ask first.
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.