Britannia AuctionsLiquidation and insolvency asset sales in Glasgow
Glasgow sits in the middle of a dense industrial belt, and that shapes how we run an insolvency sale here. A failed engineering firm at Hillington, a motor trade business off the M8, a printer in Rutherglen or a distribution depot at Clydesmill can be sold in situ by online timed auction with a viewing day. Bids are placed online and the sale is open to the whole of the UK, and Paisley, East Kilbride, Motherwell and Cumbernauld are within reach of the viewing.
We act for administrators, liquidators, lenders and landlords. The first visit produces the schedule with photographs and serial numbers, a written opinion of value and a list of everything on finance or belonging to a third party. On this side of the country the third party list often includes customers' vehicles left in a workshop, which have to be dealt with before anything else. Use the contact form to describe the appointment and the sites involved.
Vehicle workshops and the cars still on the ramps
A garage or a commercial vehicle workshop rarely fails empty. There are customers' cars and vans on the ramps and in the yard, some half repaired, some finished and unpaid for. They are not the company's and cannot be sold, but they cannot simply be handed over either, because the office holder may have a claim for the work done. We photograph and list every customer vehicle on day one, with its keys and its job card, and hold them for the office holder to release.
The workshop equipment is the saleable part. Two post and four post lifts, MOT bays, tyre machines, wheel balancers, diagnostic equipment, compressors and tool cabinets are catalogued for garages across the central belt and the rest of the UK. Lifts are bolted down, so they are sold with removal under a method statement and the buyer arranges the equipment and the labour to take them out. Courtesy cars and the company's own vans are checked for finance before they are listed.
One sale for a company with sites across the central belt
Companies large enough for an administration often have more than one site. A fabricator with a works at Queenslie and a yard in Coatbridge, or a distributor with depots at Clydesmill and in Cumbernauld, needs the assets at each site scheduled, secured and sold without running four separate jobs. We attend each site in turn in the first days, put one schedule together with lots grouped by location, and run one online auction with viewing days at each site on different dates.
The motorway ring helps. Hillington, Queenslie, Clydesmill and Clydebank are reached from the M8 and M74 without crossing the centre, so viewing two sites in a morning is practical. What each site can take is checked on our first visit and written into the catalogue. Where a small satellite site has to be handed back quickly, its contents come to our own premises and are sold in the same catalogue. The office holder gets one report that shows what was sold from where, and one point of contact throughout.
What these sales can include
- Machine tools and production lines
- Finished stock and work in progress
- Raw materials and components
- Commercial vehicles and vans
- Plant and site equipment
- Forklift trucks and pallet trucks
- Racking and warehouse fittings
- Office furniture and IT equipment
- Catering and bar equipment
- Fixtures and fittings
- Tooling, spares and consumables
- Shop fittings and displays
How the auction runs
Insolvency assets are usually sold by online timed auction. The catalogue is photographed on site, listed with estimates and opened for bidding for a period agreed with the office holder, usually one to two weeks. A viewing day is held at the premises. Lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding.
Buyers pay the hammer price plus a buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately on the invoice. Payment is taken before collection. Buyers arrange and pay for the removal of their lots during an agreed collection window, using specialist movers where the weight and dimensions call for them. Our staff supervise collection so the premises are protected and every removal is signed off.
Private treaty is used for individual assets where a direct sale may produce more than the auction, subject to the office holder's approval.
The liquidation and insolvency asset sales page covers who instructs the sale, what an insolvency practitioner needs from us, securing the site, timescales, for directors.
Questions about selling in Glasgow
- Customers' cars are in the workshop and the owners are ringing. What happens to them?
They are listed, photographed and held when we first visit, and released only on the office holder's authority. The office holder decides whether to release each vehicle and whether any payment is due for work done. We keep the keys secure, log each release with the owner's identity and the date, and keep customer vehicles apart from auction lots so that collection days do not confuse the two.
- We have a works in Glasgow and a depot in Aberdeen. Can you handle both?
Yes. We run multi site instructions as one job, with one schedule that lists assets by location and one auction catalogue with viewing days at each site. Anywhere in the UK, mainland or islands, is within scope, and further afield when the sale justifies it. Our staff attend each site to schedule and secure it. The office holder gets a single report and a single point of contact for the whole instruction.
More questions about insolvency asset sales
Related services
Guides
- What insolvency practitioners need from an auctioneer
For office holders realising physical assets. Covers the instruction letter, the asset schedule and valuation basis, retention of title, finance checks, site security, health and safety during the sale, and the reconciliation you need for the file.