Britannia AuctionsMachinery and engineering auctions in London
The land under a London machine shop is often worth more than the machines on it, and that is why most of the sales we run in the capital start with a lease ending or a site being sold. The engineering that remains is in the outer boroughs, in the units around Park Royal, along the Lea Valley at Brimsdown and off the A13 at Dagenham, and much of it is small.
Small does not mean easy. The machines are packed in tight, the yard is shared, the road outside is narrow and the landlord wants the floor back on a date. We plan the sale from that date backwards.
We catalogue on site, sell online and manage the collection days. Tell us what you have and when the keys go back, through the contact form.
Small shops on land worth more than the machines
A ten machine shop in Park Royal sells the same way as a fifty machine shop anywhere else, and it deserves the same catalogue. Each lathe, mill, machining centre, grinder and saw is listed with its make, model, year, control, capacities and the tooling that goes with it, and photographed properly. Buyers care whether the machine they want is described well enough to bid on.
What is different in London is the buyer mix. There are fewer machine shops close by to absorb the plant than in a northern engineering town, so the catalogue has to reach beyond the M25, from Slough and Watford round to Dartford, and across the country online. That means it has to work for someone who will not view.
It also means the small lots matter. Tooling, workholding, measuring kit and consumables are trayed up by type and suit hobbyists and small shops all over the country.
Low loaders, emission rules and the collection day
Getting a machine out of an inner London unit is a planning job. A rigger's lorry has to comply with the Low Emission Zone and the Direct Vision Standard, which rules out some older vehicles, and the street outside is often too narrow for an articulated low loader to stand. We survey every site before the catalogue is written and describe what a mover will find. Door widths, floor loadings, whether the yard is shared, where a lorry can wait and whether a crane on the road needs the borough's permission.
On a tight site we book collection in slots and agree the order with you, so that movers with the heavy lots are not competing with van buyers for one length of kerb. Neighbours on a shared estate are told which days to expect the traffic.
The outer estates at Dagenham Dock, Brimsdown, Hayes and Purley Way were built with lorries in mind, and each is checked the same way before the catalogue is written.
What these sales can include
- CNC turning centres
- CNC vertical and horizontal machining centres
- Manual and toolroom lathes
- Milling machines
- Surface and cylindrical grinders
- Press brakes and guillotines
- Laser, plasma and waterjet cutters
- Bandsaws and cold saws
- Radial arm and pillar drills
- Welding sets and positioners
- Coordinate measuring machines
- Tooling, chucks and workholding
- Compressors and dust extraction
- Cranes, hoists and forklifts
Viewing, bidding and the buyer's premium
Machinery sales run as online timed auctions. The catalogue is published with photographs and specifications. Buyers register, view the machines on the viewing day, and bid online until the lots close. The sale is advertised to the engineering trade, and bidding is online and open to buyers across the UK and beyond.
The buyer pays the hammer price plus the buyer's premium. VAT is charged where it applies and shown separately on the buyer's invoice. Ask and we will go through the specifics for your sale. Where a buyer is overseas, they arrange their own export.
Machines are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding, which is why the viewing day matters. Machines that can be run safely stay connected for the viewing day so your staff can demonstrate them where that is agreed, and everything else is isolated and left safe.
The machinery and engineering auctions page covers what the buyers want to know, what affects demand, reserves and estimates, removal and access, when a private sale beats an auction.
Questions about selling in London
- The lease ends on the September quarter day and the landlord wants vacant possession. How far ahead do we need to start?
About eight weeks before the date gives room, though the plan depends on how many lots there are, the access and how quickly buyers collect. It allows a week to catalogue, a fortnight of bidding with a viewing day, and a collection window before the keys go back, with days spare for the floor to be made good. With less time we shorten the sale and tighten the window, or the shop can be collected to our own premises and sold from there where that is agreed.
- Our unit is on a first floor with a goods lift. Can machines still be sold from there?
Yes, but the lift decides how. We check its rated load and the door size when we first visit. Machines within its capacity go out by lift and skates, and we say so in the catalogue. Anything heavier has to be craned out through an opening or dismantled, and the catalogue says that too, so the buyer's mover prices the job before bidding rather than after. Removal difficulty is one of the things that shows in the bidding, which is why it belongs in the catalogue.
More questions about machinery auctions
Related services
Guides
- How a commercial asset auction works
A stage by stage account of an online timed auction for business assets. It covers the asset schedule, cataloguing, viewing days, how bidding closes, buyer's premium and VAT, collection and how you get paid.
- Preparing machinery and equipment for sale
What to do before viewing day. Keep the machines that can be run safely available to demonstrate, isolate the rest, clean but do not repaint, find the tooling and manuals, and sort out access for removal.
- How used machinery is valued
Buyers pay for what a machine will do for them, less what it costs to get it out and running. This guide explains how make, hours, tooling, demand and removal cost feed a guide price, and why that price is not book value.