Britannia AuctionsPlant and construction equipment auctions in Glasgow
Glasgow sits at the centre of the Scottish motorway network, and a plant catalogue put together here is within easy reach of the trade from Paisley to Motherwell and out towards Ayrshire and the Lothians. When a contractor goes into administration or a hire company closes a depot, that reach and those roads are what the sale is built on.
We sell that plant by online timed auction. The sale runs from the yard at Hillington, Queenslie or Clydesmill where the machines stand, or from our own premises when the yard has to be cleared first. Bidding runs for a week or two with a viewing day before the close.
The contact form starts it. A list of machines and where they are parked is all we need for the first conversation.
A contractor's fleet in one catalogue
A contractor's yard holds a bit of everything. Excavators from one tonne to thirty, dumpers, rollers, a telehandler or two, generators, a fuel bowser, welfare units, plant trailers and a container full of buckets and breakers. One catalogue puts all of it in front of the same bidders at the same time, and each buyer finds the lots they want in one place.
We catalogue on site, machine by machine, with hours, year and serial number photographed off the plate. Attachments are lotted on their own. Quick hitches, buckets, breakers and rippers have a trade of their own and can be bid on separately from the machine they came off.
In an administration the timetable is set by the administrator and we work to it. The plant is often on finance with several lenders, and sorting that out comes first, since a financed machine can only be sold with the funder's agreement. How soon a sale can close depends on that and on the number of lots.
Motorway estates that keep the lorry out of town
The route out is the first thing we look at, and the motorway estates make it a short conversation. Hillington sits at junction 26 of the M8, Queenslie is beside the same motorway in the east and Clydesmill is off the M74 at Cambuslang, so the questions are usually about the gate, the turning space and the hard standing rather than a route through the city. What we find goes in the catalogue against each lot.
It matters for viewing day as well. A yard that is easy to reach is easy to view, and we hold the viewing at the yard with someone who knows the machines. The ones that can safely be run are started so buyers can see and hear them.
For machines going further, Mossend has a rail freight terminal and the Clyde has the port, and online bidding is open to bidders well beyond the area and beyond.
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 Glasgow
- The administrator wants a valuation before anything is sold. Do you do that?
Yes. We give a written estimate for each machine based on its age, specification and condition and on what comparable machines have been making, and we say what we think it would make at auction and what it might make by private treaty. Those are opinions and we present them as such. The administrator can then decide which route suits the estate. Where a single machine looks better suited to a dealer than to the catalogue, we say so rather than push it into the sale.
- We have twelve identical dumpers. Should they be sold as one lot?
We would normally list twelve lots rather than one lot of twelve. Each machine then carries its own hours and photographs, a buyer who wants one can bid for one, and a buyer who wants six can bid on six, which a single lot of twelve does not allow. We list them in sequence so they can be followed through the catalogue, and we note which ones share a service history.
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.