Plant and construction equipment auctions in Reading

Plant buyers price on hours, age and condition. Have the hour meter reading for each machine, the year of manufacture and the serial number from the plate. A machine with a service history and a current inspection certificate (LOLER for lifting equipment, for example) attracts more bids than an identical machine without one.

CE or UKCA plates should be present and legible. Buyers exporting plant need them, and a machine without a plate can be held at the port. Keys, spare buckets, quick hitches and other attachments should be listed with the machine or lotted separately, whichever will make more.

We photograph each machine from every side, with the hour meter, the plate and any damage shown, because buyers bidding online rely on the images.

Most plant is bought on finance, and a proportion of the plant offered for sale is still subject to it. Before we list a machine we check for outstanding finance and ask for the settlement figure. The finance company must agree to the sale or be paid from the proceeds before title passes to the buyer.

Road registered plant and vehicles are HPI checked. Unregistered plant is checked against the industry registers for finance and theft. Hired plant belongs to the hire company and cannot be sold. If you are unsure whether a machine is owned outright, on hire purchase or on operating lease, send us the agreement and we will tell you.

Buyers ask about this. A machine sold with clear title sells for more than one with a question over it.

Plant can be sold from your yard, from the site where it stands or from a central compound. Selling in place saves transport and lets buyers see the machine in its working environment. It suits a site that is winding down with a compound that will stay open for another few weeks.

Bringing plant to a compound suits a fleet spread across several sites, and a sale with other vendors' plant draws a bigger crowd. Transport is by low loader for tracked machines and heavy plant. We can arrange haulage and offset it against the proceeds.

Whichever route you take, the sale runs online. Buyers bid from anywhere, and a viewing day is held so those who want to start the machine and check it over can do so.

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 sold as seen. Buyers can inspect at the viewing, but there is no warranty as to mechanical condition and buyers price accordingly. The buyer pays the hammer price plus a buyer's premium and VAT, which most trade buyers reclaim. Payment is required before removal.

Collection is by the buyer within the agreed window. Tracked machines leave on low loaders, and where a machine needs loading we arrange for it to be driven on or lifted. Nothing leaves the site until it is paid for and signed out.

The plant market moves with the construction cycle and with export demand. Prices for excavators, dumpers and telehandlers follow both. We give an estimate for each machine based on recent sales of the same model and age, and we agree reserves with you before the sale opens.

Reserves on plant are worth setting on the high value machines and leaving off the rest. A reserve above the market leaves you with a machine to transport home and sell again. Generators, compressors, site cabins and small tools usually sell without reserve, because the cost of holding them is more than the risk.

Proceeds are paid after the sale account is reconciled, less our commission and any haulage agreed in advance.

A single machine in good condition may sell for more by private treaty to a dealer or a hire company, without the buyer's premium and the sale timetable. Where we think that is the case we will say so.

A machine that is only worth its weight is better sold for scrap than catalogued. Plant that is still earning on hire should stay on hire until the contract ends.

Auction is the right route for a fleet or a mixed compound, for a site that has to be clear by a date, and for plant that has stopped earning and needs to leave. Tell us what you have and we will tell you which route we would take.

Reading is best known for office parks such as Green Park, Thames Valley Park and Arlington Business Park at Theale, but it has a solid industrial base beneath them. Battle Farm Trading Estate on Loverock Road and Portman Road holds engineering workshops, vehicle repairers and trade suppliers. The Robert Cort Industrial Estate and units along Cardiff Road and Basingstoke Road add warehousing and light manufacturing. Theale has larger distribution and industrial units near the M4. Construction contractors and plant hire yards are common across the area.

The M4 has three junctions for the town: junction 10 for the A329(M) and Wokingham, junction 11 for the A33 and Green Park, and junction 12 for Theale. Reading station is on the Great Western Main Line with services to London, Bristol and the south coast. Heathrow Airport is about 25 miles east.

We regularly handle plant and construction in Reading and across Berkshire. Sales are run on site, with viewing and collection at your premises, and the online catalogue reaches buyers well beyond the area.