Commercial vehicle and fleet auctions in Northampton

Aerial View of White Vans in Rows in Parking Lot

Vehicles and fleets for businesses in Northampton and the surrounding Northamptonshire area, including Wellingborough, Kettering, Daventry, Towcester. We catalogue and sell on your premises, so nothing has to be moved before the sale.

You may have a single van that is surplus, or a whole fleet to move on after a contract ends, a depot closes or the business changes hands. Vehicles cost money every week they sit unused: road tax, insurance, depreciation and yard space.

An online timed auction puts the vehicles in front of trade buyers, hauliers, owner drivers and export buyers across the UK, and sets a fixed date by which they will be gone. Tell us what you have and where it is through the contact form and we will come back to you with a view on the best route.

What these sales usually 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

When auction suits a fleet

Auction works well when you have several vehicles to clear at once and a date you need them gone by. A dealer will usually offer a single price for the batch and discount it for the risk of the vehicles they do not want. At auction each vehicle finds its own buyer, and the odd ones (the tail lift box van, the tipper with a fresh MOT, the refrigerated van) sell to people who want exactly that.

It also suits vehicles that are hard to value on paper. High mileage, mixed condition and specialist bodywork all put dealers off. Trade buyers at auction see plenty of both and bid on what the vehicle is, not what a guide says it should be.

If you have one clean, late vehicle, a private treaty sale or a trade sale may return more. We will say so.

Paperwork that affects the price

Buyers pay more for a vehicle whose history is complete. Before the sale, gather for each vehicle:

the V5C registration document, or a note of where it is
the current MOT certificate and any recent test history
the service record and the last few invoices
all keys, including spares and any for tail lifts or lockers
tachograph calibration certificates for vehicles over 3.5 tonnes
the plating certificate showing gross and train weights

Outstanding finance must be settled or agreed with the finance company before we can sell. If a vehicle is on hire purchase, lease or a balloon agreement, tell us at the start. We can often deal with the finance house directly and settle from the sale proceeds. Missing V5Cs can be replaced, but that takes time, so start early.

Livery and fleet kit

Most vendors remove branded livery before the sale, and we recommend it. Vinyl removal is cheap, and a plain white van sells to a wider group of buyers than one with someone else's name on the side. Where the livery is painted rather than wrapped, leave it and tell us so we can describe it.

Take out trackers, dash cameras and fleet management units if they are on a contract, and cancel the airtime. Empty the cabs and load areas. Remove fuel cards and any documents with customer details.

Roof bars, racking and ply lining can stay. They add value to the trade buyer who will use the van for the same kind of work.

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.

Every lot is sold as seen. Buyers pay the hammer price plus a buyer's premium, and VAT is charged on both where it applies. The premium is paid by the buyer, so the price you receive is the hammer price less our agreed commission and any costs we have agreed in advance.

Reserves can be set on individual vehicles where there is a clear reason, such as a finance settlement figure.

After the hammer

Buyers have a collection window, typically a few working days after the sale, to pay and remove their vehicles. Most drive them away or send a transporter. We check the buyer has paid in full before releasing keys and documents, and we manage the handover so you do not have to.

You sign the V5C over to the buyer and notify the DVLA that the vehicle has been sold. Cancel the insurance and any road tax after the vehicle has gone, not before, and keep a copy of the sale record.

A vehicle that fails to meet its reserve can be offered to the underbidder, moved to the next sale or returned to you. We will discuss which before the sale rather than after.

Businesses in Northampton

Northampton is one of the main distribution centres in England. Large warehouses and parcel depots take up much of the land at Brackmills, Swan Valley and Pineham, and many haulage and pallet firms run fleets from these estates. Footwear manufacturing continues in the town on a smaller scale. Food processing, engineering and print firms are spread across Moulton Park, Round Spinney and Lodge Farm, with trade counters and vehicle workshops on the older estates near the town centre.

The M1 passes the west side of the town, with junctions 15, 15a and 16 all in use for freight. The A45 and A43 link to the A14 and to Silverstone and Oxford. Northampton railway station is on the West Coast Main Line loop. Access for low loaders is straightforward on the big estates, and most of the smaller units are within a short drive of the motorway.

We regularly handle vehicles and fleets in Northampton and across Northamptonshire. Sales are run on site, with viewing and collection at your premises, and the online catalogue reaches buyers well beyond the area.

Questions people ask

Can you sell vehicles that still have finance on them?: Yes, if the finance company agrees. Tell us at the outset which vehicles are subject to hire purchase, lease or loan. We contact the finance house, obtain a settlement figure and, where they consent, sell the vehicle and settle the finance from the proceeds. The settlement figure often sets the reserve. A vehicle cannot be sold until the finance company has released its interest, so early disclosure avoids delays.
What if a vehicle has no MOT or is not running?: It can still be sold. Non runners and vehicles without a current MOT sell to trade buyers and breakers who price in the work. We describe the fault as you report it and photograph the vehicle honestly. Buyers will need to collect by transporter or on trade plates, which we make clear in the catalogue. A cheap MOT before the sale often pays for itself on a vehicle that is otherwise sound.
Do we need to move the vehicles to you?: Not usually. For a fleet of several vehicles we normally sell from your premises and hold the viewing day there. Buyers collect from the same location within the collection window. Single vehicles or small numbers can be brought to our site where that makes viewing easier. Either way the vehicles must be accessible and secure, with someone able to hand over keys on collection.
Who pays the buyer's premium and VAT?: The buyer does. The buyer's premium is a percentage added to the hammer price and paid by the buyer along with the hammer price. VAT is added to the premium and, where the vendor is VAT registered, to the hammer price as well. We collect all of this from the buyer and account for it. Your return is the hammer price less the commission and costs agreed in your instruction.
How long does a vehicle sale take?: Most vehicle sales run over two to four weeks from instruction to collection. That covers cataloguing, marketing, a viewing day, the online sale and the collection window. Urgent cases can be quicker if the vehicles and paperwork are ready. The longest delays come from missing V5Cs, unsettled finance and vehicles that cannot be accessed for photographs, so deal with those first.

All questions people ask

Related services

Guides

Selling a commercial vehicle fleet
Fleet sales fail on paperwork more than on price. This guide covers the V5C, MOT and plating documents, clearing finance before the HPI check, keys and livery, recording mileage and tachograph data, and how to defleet in batches while still trading.