Sales of commercial vehicles from the fleet, contract hire and lease sector are initially taking place fortnightly at BCA Blackbushe – Europe’s largest weekly LCV sale - before rolling out to other locations in the BCA network.
While the company has previously sold low-mileage commercials direct from manufacturers using the online system, the product profile of used commercials from lease and contract hire sources is typically 30 months and 60,000 miles, meaning condition is critical.
To address this, BCA has introduced a strict grading system, which dovetails with the lease-end inspection process.
The BCA grading is based on the cost to refurbish the vehicle to lease-end standard where Grade 1 is £0 and Grade 6 is £1,000 plus.
This means online buyers have all the information they need to properly assess each vehicle and bid with confidence.
The system allows internet bidders to compete against buyers in the auction hall. Bidding status is displayed to online bidders via their PC, while hall buyers can see displays on large plasma screens.
Net buyers see live images of the vehicle on sale and hear the auctioneer conducting the bidding and bid in real time against the auction hall.
Only approved BCA buyers are eligible to participate through a log-on protocol, ruling out the potential of frivolous bidding from unknown customers.
BCA has also dealt with the issue of buyer confidence in remote bidding over the internet.
Con McLaughlin, used vehicle remarketing manager, Peugeot Used Vehicles, said: “BCA’s LiveOnline is a proven platform for selling our cars. BCA has applied this technology sensibly to the commercial vehicle market and maintained buyer confidence at the same time, which is crucial to the success of the programme.”
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