Britannia AuctionsCommercial vehicle and fleet auctions in Swansea
Selling a fleet at the western end of the M4 has one difference from selling one in Cardiff or Bristol. Fewer buyers pass on their way somewhere else, so the online catalogue does more of the work, while the trade in Neath, Port Talbot, Llanelli, Gorseinon and the valleys through Pontardawe is what is in easy reach of a viewing day. That is not a problem for a well described lorry. It just means the photographs and the condition notes have to carry the sale, and that is how we write them.
The vehicles here come from the metals and construction trades. Fabrication firms and steel processors run flatbeds and crane lorries, and plant hire yards on the Enterprise Park and at Fforestfach run tippers, beavertails, low loaders and plant trailers. Add the dropsides and car derived vans from the trade counters at Llansamlet and you have most of what we sell.
Each is listed as its own lot in an online timed auction that closes on a date agreed with you.
Plant hire and fabrication fleets at Llansamlet
A plant hire yard that is closing usually has the vehicles and the plant on the same hard standing, and we sell them in the same catalogue. Someone bidding on a mini digger can bid on the plant trailer that carried it in the same sale, and the beavertail lorry that delivered both is a lot in its own right. Listing the vehicles separately keeps the prices honest.
Fabrication fleets are heavier and fewer. A crane lorry from a steel processor needs the crane's inspection certificate and its lift chart in the catalogue, because a bidder online is judging the crane as much as the chassis. Flatbeds are judged on the headboard, the bed and the months left on the MOT.
The Enterprise Park at Llansamlet is used to articulated traffic. We confirm the access and the standing when we walk the site, and junctions 44 and 45 reach the estate without touching the city centre.
Making the catalogue do the travelling
Because Swansea is at the end of the motorway rather than the middle of it, we put more into the listing than we might elsewhere. Each vehicle gets photographs from every side, the interior, the load bed and the underside where it matters, along with the mileage, the MOT date and the faults we found. That is what a bidder who never sees the vehicle is buying from, and it is also why lots are offered as seen under the auction terms with buyers expected to inspect before bidding.
The viewing day still matters for the local trade. Port Talbot and Bridgend are a run along the M4 and Ammanford is down the A483, and someone who has stood in the cab bids with more confidence.
Where the fleet is small, or the yard at Fforestfach has already been let to the next tenant, the vehicles can be brought to our own premises and sold from there.
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 Swansea
- Our plant hire yard at Fforestfach is closing. Can the lorries and the diggers go in the same auction?
Yes, and they should. One sale with the beavertails, the tippers, the trailers and the plant reaches hire firms and contractors who are looking for both, and someone who has bought a digger can bid on the trailer to take it home. Each is a separate lot with its own price. We photograph and describe everything on one visit, run the sale for a week or two, and agree the collection order with you for the site so the yard is clear when the heavier lots are loaded.
- Is there enough demand this far west to get a fair price for a fleet?
The market for this kind of vehicle is spread across the country rather than gathered in one town, and bidding is online, so a fleet at Swansea sits in the same catalogue as one anywhere else. Lots are offered as seen under the auction terms and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding, which is why the photographs and condition notes have to be accurate and why we answer questions while the sale runs. The trade in Neath and Llanelli is in reach of a viewing day. Condition, specification and paperwork set the price.
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.