Britannia AuctionsCommercial vehicle and fleet auctions in Leicester
Leicester's van fleets come from two ends of the city. Along the M1 and M69, the distribution sheds around Enderby and Meridian Business Park run tractor units, curtainside trailers and long wheelbase vans on contracts that start and stop. When a contract moves to another operator, the vehicles that served it are surplus on the day the last load goes out.
In the older textile and clothing streets to the east and west of the city, the fleet is smaller. A workshop that closes usually has two or four panel vans that carried cut work and finished garments between units, and a car derived van or two. Food processors add refrigerated vans to the mix.
We sell all of these in online timed auctions. Bidding is open to trade buyers, owner drivers and hauliers across the UK, Loughborough, Hinckley and Market Harborough are well placed to attend the viewing, and the sale closes on a date you set with us.
Refrigerated vans and the food processing trade
Food processing firms in Leicester run refrigerated vans for local deliveries to shops and caterers. When a firm downsizes or a delivery round is contracted out, those vans are usually the first assets to go, and the fridge unit is the expensive part, so that is what a buyer looks at first. They want to know its age and whether it holds temperature. We run the unit before the sale where it is safe to do so and note what we find.
A dozen fridge vans from one depot is a sale on its own. We photograph each van with the doors open so bidders can see the load area, the bulkhead and the condition of the floor. Where a van has been standing for weeks, we recommend charging the battery and running the fridge before the viewing day, so that a bidder sees what the unit actually does rather than guessing at it.
Collecting from inner city streets and outer estates
Access shapes how we run a vehicle sale in this city, and it is settled when we first visit rather than assumed from the address. We check vehicle access and room to turn, the yard surface, where a transporter could stand and how a vehicle leaves the gate, and the findings go in the catalogue so buyers know what to send. On the outer estates at Braunstone Frith and Meridian Business Park that is usually straightforward, and the sale runs from the seller's premises with a viewing day and a collection window.
The older textile streets need more care. A terraced unit with on street parking and no yard is a difficult place to bring buyers to. For a small van fleet in that setting the vehicles are often driven to our own premises, or to a yard on the edge of the city, and sold from there instead.
Either way, the auction runs online and closes on a fixed date.
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 Leicester
- Our distribution contract at Lutterworth ends in six weeks. Is that enough time to sell the trailers?
Yes, if we start now. A timed auction needs about a week to catalogue and photograph, then a week or two of bidding, then a few working days for collection, with the exact dates set by the size of the catalogue and the access. Six weeks fits that with room to spare. Curtainside trailers can be catalogued where they stand if the yard suits it, and bidding is open to hauliers on the M1 corridor and across the UK. Tell us the date the yard has to be empty and we will set the closing date and collection window back from it.
- We are a small clothing workshop with three vans and no yard. Is it worth an auction?
It is, and small jobs are normal. Three vans is a small sale, but each one is listed and priced on its own rather than lumped into a single trade price. The vans can be brought to our own premises and sold from there so that buyers never come to your street. Bring the V5C documents and any service history together before we collect, because a van whose history a bidder can read is easier to bid on than one with nothing behind it. The whole job takes a few weeks.
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.