![]() "Although it's an auction, if whoever buys the vehicle can prove you had prior knowledge of a major mechanical fault, then there could be some come-back," he states.Īny significant damage, including major accident damage that has been repaired, should be declared too. "Drop it off the day before the sale and you'll be doing yourself no favours," says Spencer.Īny serious mechanical defects should be declared prior to the sale warns Alex Wright, MD of Shoreham Vehicle Auctions. Auctions usually provide a collection service, but they will make a charge.Įarly delivery will give potential buyers time to inspect your offering and the auction house time to photograph it and put the pictures into both printed and online catalogues. "Bidders can tell when you've done this, especially if you end up putting drive tyres on the steer axle - I've seen it happen - and may start to wonder what other vital items have been swapped," he says.Įnsure the van or truck is delivered to the auction several days prior to the sale date. One thing he advises vendors not to do is swap the vehicle's existing tyres for balding ones that are barely legal just because it is being sold. "Trucks sell better if they are still in their working clothes, but look as though they have been well-loved," says Charlie Wright, MD of Protruck Auctions. ![]() Having one or two dents taken out of the cab doors makes sense, but painstakingly painting the wheels and bumpers of an old vehicle could smack of trying to create a silk purse out of a sow's ear, and make prospective purchasers suspicious. ![]() While the van or truck you are looking to dispose of should be clean both internally and externally - rubbish in the cargo area and overflowing ashtrays will not appeal to bidders - be careful not to over-prepare it. If a fleet vendor's vehicles fail to sell again and again because the reserves are stratospheric, potential purchasers may lose interest in them and not bother bidding. Set it unrealistically high and again, it may not sell. Set it too low, and your auction entry may sell for less than it is really worth. "Take advice from the auctioneer on the reserve price you should set," says Tim Spencer, regional commercial manager at Manheim Auctions. It might not sell at all if the gaps are extensive. Gaps in the documentation could mean that your vehicle will fetch several hundred pounds less than you expected. That means everything from the registration documents and a current test certificate, if applicable - hopefully with a few months still to run - to a full service history. One of the first things you should do is put together all the paperwork that needs to accompany the vehicle destined to go under the hammer. If you have decided to rely on the auctions, then you must do some preparation. That, of course, presupposes that you have no plans to set up your own retail operation and run it as a stand-alone business. While they may not fetch the money you might make if you retailed them privately, leaving disposal in the hands of professional auctioneers is less time-consuming, and a lot less hassle. Selling through an auction can be a quick, clean and relatively pain-free means of disposing of your time-served vans and trucks.
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