Britannia AuctionsCommercial vehicle and fleet auctions in Northampton
Northampton runs more lorries per acre than most towns in England, and that has a consequence. When a pallet network member loses a route, a parcel depot at Brackmills or Swan Valley moves its contract, or a haulier decides to stop, there are rigids, tractor units, trailers and vans to sell into a market that already has plenty of them. Handing them to the nearest dealer for one price is the quick route. An online timed auction is the slower one, and it puts each vehicle in front of the buyers for that type. Every lorry is photographed and described at your depot, bidding runs a week or two with a viewing day, and buyers pay us before they collect.
Bidding is open across the UK. Wellingborough, Kettering, Daventry and Rugby are all a short drive from the M1 junctions and in reach of a viewing day.
Pallet network fleets when a route is lost
Pallet and parcel work is contract work, and a depot can go from full to empty in a month. The vehicles left behind are the standard kit of the trade: 18 tonne curtainside rigids with tail lifts, 7.5 tonne boxes, tractor units on the trunk runs and double deck trailers. It is common kit along this corridor, so a bidder knows what he is looking at and prices the detail.
We list each vehicle with the mileage, the MOT and plating dates, the tail lift test certificate and the tacho calibration date, and we photograph the load floor and the curtains because that is where the wear shows. Livery comes off before photography where it is vinyl. Where a depot is being handed back to the landlord, we set the closing date so the collection days fall before the handback.
Selling from the M1 side of the town
Brackmills and Swan Valley were built for the vehicles they hold, and where the yard confirms that during our first visit, the sale runs from the depot. Buyers view there on the viewing day, and in the collection window their drivers arrive with trade plates, check the vehicle against the listing, sign for the keys against a paid invoice and drive away. Junctions 15 and 15a are minutes from the gates.
The older estates near the town centre are different. A vehicle workshop or a shoe factory with a couple of Luton vans and a dropside may have a yard a rigid cannot turn in. For those the vehicles can be moved to our own premises for sale, or collection can run by appointment so one buyer arrives at a time.
Either way the auction is the same online catalogue, and the seller is dealing with one person throughout.
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 Northampton
- We run a pallet depot at Brackmills and our lorries are on our operator's licence. Does anything change when we sell them?
Not for the sale itself. The vehicles are sold as they are, and the buyer puts them on their own licence once they own them. What you should do is take each one off yours as it is collected, and keep the tacho download for each vehicle up to the day it leaves, because you are responsible for that record until then. We note the tacho calibration date and the plating date in each listing so buyers know where they stand.
- We are closing a footwear factory and have two Luton vans and a car derived van. Can they go in the same sale as the machinery?
Yes, and we would put them there. A factory closure sale is catalogued for the machinery buyers, and the vans sit in the same catalogue where those buyers see them, along with anyone searching for vans alone. The vans are collected on the same days as the machinery, which keeps the disruption at the factory to one window. Bring the keys, the V5C documents, the MOT certificates and any service invoices together before we come to photograph.
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.