Britannia AuctionsPlant and construction equipment auctions in Cardiff
Cardiff's plant sits in the east of the city. Builders merchants and hire depots at Wentloog and on Hadfield Road run telehandlers, mixers, forklifts and small plant. Contractors keep excavators and dumpers on the estates at Tremorfa and off Lamby Way. The waste and recycling yards near the port own the material handlers and the big wheeled loaders. When one of those businesses closes or moves out to Cardiff Gate, the plant needs selling, and we sell it by online timed auction.
Whether the sale runs from the yard with a viewing day and collection at the gate, or from our own premises, depends on what we find when we look at the access. Bidding runs online and is open to bidders anywhere in the UK, and the trade in Newport, Barry, Caerphilly and the valleys is within easy reach of a viewing day.
Use the contact form to tell us what you have and where it stands.
Telehandlers from the merchants at Wentloog
A builders merchant's telehandler has often had an easier life than a contractor's, on hard standing, under a canopy and serviced on a schedule, and where that is true the catalogue has to prove it. We photograph the hour meter, the plate and the LOLER certificate, and we put the service history in the lot. Hours against the age of the machine, condition and the state of the certification are what the bidding rests on.
A merchant closing a branch usually has more than the telehandler. Counterbalance forklifts, pallet trucks, a mixer or two from the hire counter, racking and the yard's fuel tank all go in the same sale. We lot them separately so that a small builder can bid on one mixer and a hire company can bid on more.
Timing tends to follow the landlord. Where a depot lease ends on a quarter day, the sale is planned to leave the yard clear a few days before.
Material handlers and the scrap trade
The port handles scrap metal and the recycling yards around it run heavy machines. Material handlers with grabs, wheeled loaders, shear excavators, balers and the weighbridge that goes with them. Bidding on plant of that kind is online and open nationally, and the docks are close at hand for a buyer who ships.
We describe these machines with the numbers that trade wants. Reach and capacity for a handler. Tonnage and hours for a loader. The shear's serial number and whether the base machine has the hydraulic circuit for it. The baler's throughput and the state of the ram. Each attachment is a separate lot from the base machine.
The route from a docks estate to the A4232 and the M4 is one of the things we check before the sale, along with the gate, the turning space and the hard standing, and what we find goes in the catalogue. The trade in Newport, Bridgend, Pontypridd and Llantrisant is near enough to come and see the lots.
What these sales can include
- Excavators and mini diggers
- Dumpers and site dumpers
- Telehandlers
- Generators and lighting towers
- Compressors and breakers
- Rollers and compaction equipment
- Site cabins and welfare units
- Scaffolding and access equipment
- Concrete mixers and pumps
- Buckets, quick hitches and attachments
- Plant trailers
- Surveying equipment and small tools
- Fuel bowsers and tanks
How the auction works
Each machine is a lot with a full description, photographs and the hour reading. Bidding runs online for a set period, usually one to two weeks, and lots close in sequence. A bid in the last minutes extends the close for that lot.
Plant is 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 invoice. Payment is required before removal.
Buyers arrange and pay for the removal of their lots within the agreed window. What that takes depends on the machine: wheeled plant with road registration can be driven away, and tracked or heavy machines go on a low loader. Nothing leaves the site until it is paid for and signed out.
The plant and construction equipment auctions page covers what buyers want to know, finance and ownership checks, where the sale runs from, reserves and the market, alternatives.
Questions about selling in Cardiff
- Do buyers in South Wales pay for a telehandler with a full service history, or does it all go on the hours?
History counts, and so does the certification. A telehandler with a stamped service book and a current LOLER certificate is a different lot from one with the same hours and no paperwork, and the bidding tends to follow the evidence rather than the story. Hours, age, condition, specification and the way the machine is lotted all come into the price. Find the paperwork before we photograph the machine, and have it with the machine on viewing day.
- Our mixers and small plant are worth very little each. Is it worth lotting them?
Yes, in small lots rather than one job lot. Mixers, breakers, plate compactors and disc cutters are the kind of thing small builders and hire counters across Cardiff and Newport look for, and ten lots of two or three items give more people something to bid for than one lot of thirty. We photograph each lot, note what runs and what does not, and let the price find its level. The big machines carry a sale of this kind, but the small plant adds up.
More questions about plant and construction
Related services
Guides
- 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.
- 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.