Britannia AuctionsPrivate treaty sales in Coventry
Every vehicle programme leaves equipment behind when it ends. In Coventry that increasingly means test kit: battery cyclers, environmental chambers, dynamometers and the rigs built around them, alongside the machining centres and press tools of the older supply chain. Much of it is recent and expensive, and it is understood by a small number of buyers, which an open catalogue is a blunt way to reach.
Private treaty is a negotiated sale. We inspect the equipment, prepare a description that a test engineer would accept, and approach the firms and dealers who trade in that equipment, including any we know of who are looking. Offers come to you in writing with our recommendation and you decide. There is no public catalogue, which matters in a city where the engineering consultancies and component makers all know each other. We can run sales like this across the city and out into Warwickshire, from Binley to Bayton Road.
Test and battery equipment from ended programmes
A battery test lab or a powertrain test cell is the kind of asset a general catalogue is poorly suited to. The equipment is calibrated, often under a maker's service contract, and worth a great deal to the next research group or component maker who needs it. It is worth much less to a bidder who does not know what it is.
We sell it by approaching that next group directly. Universities and research centres, other consultancies, cell and pack makers, and the specialist dealers who buy test equipment for resale. We supply the specification, calibration records, service contract and software licence position, and we run sealed bids where more than one party wants the same item.
The older side of the trade is served the same way. A large machining centre or a press tool set from a tooling shop in Exhall has a narrow pool of buyers, in Nuneaton, Rugby, Birmingham and further afield, and that pool is approached first.
Moving fast when the funding stops
Programmes in this sector can end abruptly. A funding round fails or a customer cancels, and the equipment must be sold within weeks rather than months. A negotiated sale can still be the right route, provided we start at once.
We put a short deadline on offers and tell buyers why. What the removal takes is checked at the site visit: vehicle access and room to turn, the loading arrangements, the door dimensions and the route out. Junction 2 of the M6 and the A45 give the estates a road route, and the trade in Birmingham, Solihull, Rugby and Leamington Spa is close enough to inspect at short notice. Where the lease has already ended, the equipment can be collected and the sale continued from our own premises.
For an administrator or a lender, this route also gives a written record of every offer and our recommendation on each, which is useful when the sale has to be explained later.
What these sales can include
- CNC machining centres and lathes
- Printing presses
- Injection moulding machines
- Packaging lines
- Large generators and switchgear
- Cranes and heavy lifting equipment
- Specialist process plant
- Laboratory and test equipment
- Complete production cells
- Late model plant and vehicles
- Marine and rail equipment
- High value catering and bakery lines
How we market the asset
We inspect the asset, or have it inspected, and prepare a description with photographs, specification, condition and any service history. We then approach buyers directly: dealers who trade in that type of machine, and end users the asset suits. The asset can be advertised openly or offered only to selected parties. How open we are depends on how much confidentiality you need.
Interested buyers inspect by appointment. We attend or arrange access, answer questions and take offers. You are kept informed at each stage but do not have to deal with the buyers yourself.
There is no fixed end date. A private treaty sale takes as long as it takes to find the right buyer at the right price, which is one of its advantages and one of its costs.
The private treaty sales page covers when private treaty beats auction, how offers are handled, fees and what you receive, what to prepare.
Questions about selling in Coventry
- Does software and licensing go with test equipment when it is sold?
It depends on the licence, and we find out before marketing. Some test systems run on software licensed to the machine and transfer with it. Others are licensed to the company and need the maker's consent or a new licence for the buyer. We ask you for the licence terms at the start and state the position in the description, because a buyer of a dynamometer or a battery cycler will price it very differently depending on the answer.
- Is private treaty suitable for an insolvency sale in Coventry?
It can be, for the right asset. An administrator needs a defensible price and a clear record, and a negotiated sale with written offers, our recommendation on each, a deadline and a sealed bid round where there is competition gives exactly that. It suits a single high value item such as a test cell or a late model machining centre. For the rest of a site an auction usually suits better, and the two routes can run side by side.
More questions about private treaty
Related services
Guides
- Auction or private treaty: which route to choose
Auction gives you a fixed date and an open market. Private treaty gives you a negotiated price and privacy. This guide sets out when each route suits, what you give up with each, and why many sales use both.
- What happens to unsold lots
Not every lot sells, but the site still has to be cleared. This guide covers why lots go unsold, private treaty after the sale, lowering or removing the reserve, a later sale, scrap and WEEE recycling, and what disposal costs.