Red hot start for HGV & Plant at Manheim
Whilst Flaming June hasn’t quite lived up to its name weather wise, it certainly has in terms of our all new HGV & Plant programme at Manheim.
The state of the art facility at our new HGV home in Bruntingthorpe has been a hive of activity, and has seen excellent results for our buyers and vendors.
The feedback from all corners has been very positive - Bruntingthorpe has taken to HGV and Plant sales like a duck to water. It works so well it’s as if it has been in place for years, and we’ve had great feedback from buyers and vendors alike.
Our focus now is to build on a very successful start as we bring more vendors on board, increasing stock levels and attracting more buyers, both physically and online.
So lets start with the numbers:
After just 28 days and three auctions, we have sold a staggering 234 HGV units (177 physical and 57 virtual), with 38% selling to online buyers. 32 vendors and 102 individual buyers have participated in the events, and we’re currently tracking at 104.63% of reserve, 71% first time conversion and 14 days to sell.
So what’s the HGV & Plant market like at the moment?
Patchy is probably a fair term to use. Like the current LCV and car markets, the HGV and Plant marketplace is susceptible to seasonal fluctuations, volume, condition and the various legal policy implementations pertinent to the sector.
That said, and proven in the figures from this month, it feels as though June has been fairly buoyant – what we have sold, has done very well.
The broad spectrum of trucks and plant offered, from road-sweepers and tractors to specialist tankers and access platforms, through to the more mundane boxes and curtainsiders have all found new homes with relative ease.
As often happens in the HGV market, we’ve seen a lot of duplicate stock from a particular fleet vendor, so mileage and condition have come into play more than they may otherwise have done.
We don’t always rely on valuation guides for HGV and Plant because they don’t always fit the product. We prefer to use market intelligence, past results and our own market knowledge and expertise to put values to stock, and many of the HGV vendors are on board with this, and willing to listen to our expertise.
Trust is enormously important, and we remain accountable for our recommendations and the information that we provide. We must ensure we can quantify our success if we want our excellent relationships with vendors to continue to blossom.
And to the buyers, they remain hungry for the ‘right stock’. Odd bits of kit, Tippers, late ‘proper’ Euro 6 trucks (we’ll come to the ‘proper’ bit in a moment) and the ‘fake’ Euro 6 trucks at the right price (they’ll get a mention too).
So what’s HOT ?
• 7.5 ton tippers, the later the better, there are simply none around.
• Other construction based trucks, skip loaders, dropsides – this sector is booming and trucks to serve it are always in demand but they have to be late in the year.
• 'Proper’ or actual Euro 6 Engined trucks – these are in strong demand across the board, with buyers confident that they will have longevity given the ever increasing number of CAZ (Clean Air Zones) springing up around the country.
• ‘Fake’ Euro 6 Engined trucks, whereby they are given Euro 6 ‘compliancy’ status by date or registration – they’ll go into these zones for now and price-wise are making significantly less than a full-on Euro 6 equivalent, so they seem a good buy on face value.
• Quality plant items – tractors, diggers, sweepers, tankers – these are simply always in demand, being in very short supply.
• Other construction based trucks, skip loaders, dropsides – this sector is booming and trucks to serve it are always in demand but they have to be late in the year.
• 'Proper’ or actual Euro 6 Engined trucks – these are in strong demand across the board, with buyers confident that they will have longevity given the ever increasing number of CAZ (Clean Air Zones) springing up around the country.
• ‘Fake’ Euro 6 Engined trucks, whereby they are given Euro 6 ‘compliancy’ status by date or registration – they’ll go into these zones for now and price-wise are making significantly less than a full-on Euro 6 equivalent, so they seem a good buy on face value.
• Quality plant items – tractors, diggers, sweepers, tankers – these are simply always in demand, being in very short supply.
And what’s NOT ?
• Export. Put very simply, there doesn’t seem to be much of it happening right now. The buyers are quiet and the often more aged stock they prefer is proving more difficult to shift.
• Refuse & Recycling trucks over 6/7 years old – suitability for ever changing council and authority requirements mean they are often not fit for purpose beyond this point and if not suitable for export,
their value is more or less in the spare parts they can become.
• Late year/Euro 6 7.5tonners in pre-facelift guise –Iveco being a marque where this is common at the moment and they’re not well received.
• Euro 6 but high Kms Tractor units, the market is full of them and buyers are VERY picky.
• Anything Mitsubishi Canter that’s 7.5 tonnes – really in the doldrums at present, unless ridiculously cheap it seems.
And so to July, we’re expecting seasonality to rear it’s head, with buyers having their minds on their holidays perhaps but our volumes are set to increase with some more new-but-old vendors making a Bruntingthorpe debut and the impending arrival of some late ex National Express touring coaches providing another first past the rostrum here at our new home of HGV.
• Refuse & Recycling trucks over 6/7 years old – suitability for ever changing council and authority requirements mean they are often not fit for purpose beyond this point and if not suitable for export,
their value is more or less in the spare parts they can become.
• Late year/Euro 6 7.5tonners in pre-facelift guise –Iveco being a marque where this is common at the moment and they’re not well received.
• Euro 6 but high Kms Tractor units, the market is full of them and buyers are VERY picky.
• Anything Mitsubishi Canter that’s 7.5 tonnes – really in the doldrums at present, unless ridiculously cheap it seems.
And so to July, we’re expecting seasonality to rear it’s head, with buyers having their minds on their holidays perhaps but our volumes are set to increase with some more new-but-old vendors making a Bruntingthorpe debut and the impending arrival of some late ex National Express touring coaches providing another first past the rostrum here at our new home of HGV.
Chris Mynott, National HGV Manager
