NEWS

SPECIALIST Cars BMW Tring has now traded £1.1m of cars through the online Dealer Auction site. That, reports Dealer Auction’s Gavin Smith, is despite BMW Tring joining just 6 months ago. General sales manager at Specialist Cars, Tony Murphy, said the move had been made due to a desire to maximise sales to the trade. [...]

VAUXHALL sportscar fans recently helped charity by driving up bidding to £4700 for a scrap VX220. The Lotus-derived sportscar went for so little because it was a ropy example ‘given’ to the new Giveacar charity firm. Giveacar is the brainchild of former dealer Tom Chance. It offers to take customers’ car off them, for free, [...]

PRIVATE car buyers have been told they’re missing out on bargains through a fear of car auctions. Manheim ways this wariness results in 85 percent of all car buyers not even considering going to a car auction. Why? Well, for more than half of them, it’s through the puzzles of the auction process intimidating them. [...]

BCA reports that posh motors continue to make good money at auction despite the economic uncertainty. A 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe has just sold for £195,000 at a sale for Lex Autolease. It was the top draw in a 266-car posh motor auction, that saw more than £4m raised on the day. The average [...]

BCA has joined CAP in reporting a decrease in used car prices after analysing recent auction results. The ‘real world’ fall shows dealers are willing to pay less for stock at car auction. An average used car is now worth £5784: the fall is a modest quarter-percent, but it is a fall nonetheless. Particularly as [...]

BCA last month held a £3 million car auction sale for Citroen that sold 400 cars in a 100% conversion… …despite car dealers kicking not a single wheel of any car in the auction! That’s because it was a ‘virtual’ auction, conducted entirely online using a big digital screen. Logistically, the 50 attending Citroen car [...]

SMA Group has been awarded Best Independent Vehicle Remarketing Company 2010 by the ITM. The Institute of Transport Management handed over the glitzy gong in a ceremony on Monday. SMA MD Bob Anderson was pleased, crediting the company’s infrastructure both before and after sale for the big win. ‘We feel we offer our customers the [...]

MANHEIM has opened its online trade sales division and promised up to 1000 cars a day will be offered through it. Called Manheim Direct, it allows buyers to purchase both over the phone and online. To give it an edge, the service is also backed by a remarketing-industry first: ‘Live Chat’ functionality. It replaces the [...]

SMA Group has launched its new website after a total rewrite following customer feedback and advice. This, says SMA Group MP Bob Anderson, gives it ‘a much more user friendly experience. ‘We are still the only major auction company in the UK to allow all viewers access to our vehicle search & stock lists online. [...]

SMA Group is to build a third auction lane at the Leeds Auction Centre in a multi-million pound redevelopment. Along with the additional lane, there will be a smart new office mezzanine and an extension to the vehicle display canopy. Bob Anderson, MD SMA Group, said: ‘This is another fantastic announcement for the group. ‘We [...]

USED car values at auction fell in May with fleet cars leading the drop due to a 5.6 percent downturn. BCA’s latest results show the average used car was worth £300 less, at £5656. Year-on-year values are also down by more than £100; the first time they have started to fall since February 2009. BCA [...]

CARS from between 1949 and 1987 are the stars of a unique one-owner BCA car auction in May. The current owner has had all the cars in storage since the 1990s, and has amassed quite a selection. It will be auctioned at BCA Blackbushe, whose manger James Gibson said: ‘This is an exceptional and wide [...]

UK Car Exchange says it has hit 4-figure stock levels less than 4 weeks after launching the unique price drop concept. A new alternative for car dealers to source used cars, it’s already proving popular with traders. The service is also aiding car dealers in finding smart new ways to source stock, and ease current [...]

BCA held its biggest ever sale for Citroen last week – and scored a 100 percent total sales record! All 409 cars offered were successfully bid for, in an auction that generated a total of £3.26 million. 41 Citroen Approved dealers pushed the overall CAP Clean return up to 102.3 percent – and it was [...]

MANHEIM Colchester reports a record March sales total as it gets ready to celebrate its 21st birthday. Nearly 5700 cars and vans were sold during the month: up from the previous 5500 record of March 2009. Chris Cush, general manager at Colchester, said: ‘Once we got over the bad weather in January buyers have been [...]

WILSONS Auctions Queensferry has just held its first commercial vehicle auction in Wales. Impressively, 4 out of the 5 Welsh local authorities have already committed to using the new auction house for all their disposals! This is an immediate coup for the new auction division – but the development director says that such has been [...]

BCA is marking the arrival of summer with a special convertible-themed sale this Saturday. 400 drop-tops are set to be auctioned on 17 April at BCA Blackbushe. Stock ranges in price from £4000 to £40,000, and is focused on business, ex-lease and finance cars. Cars come from Lex Autolease and Black Horse – and will [...]

BCA analysts say hit retro TV shows such as Ashes To Ashes could inspire a classic car comeback. Interest could be revived in motors from the 70s and 80s thanks to their appearance in prime-time TV shows. ‘Ever since ‘Life on Mars’ reawakened interest in the cars of the 70s, we have been seeing a [...]

USED car trade-ins are now able to be marketed through a new online service to maximise profit returns. Car disposal firm Cartakeback has launched an Auction service to help car dealers make as much money as possible from part-exchanges. The service is targeting the lower-end traders, which are not worth much, but still have an [...]

MANHEIM reports 4x4s remain popular at car auctions after a recent auction realised 100 percent conversion. Not only that, the dedicated 4×4 sale at Manheim Rotherham also averaged prices of 104 percent CAP Clean! The Ford Credit Land Rover auction certainly impressed the finance arm’s Colin Normoyle. ‘Despite significant increases in CAP in this sector [...]