Remarketing
Virtual or reality?
Jack Carfrae quizzes auction companies about the difference between physical and online sales in the post-pandemic age.
“
ou can’t beat a physical auction. It allows us to get to know buyers and we can adopt our selling approach accordingly. It enables immediate bidding, strong selling prices, and quick transactions.” That is the view of Nick Thompson, director of sales at Aston Barclay, which runs all its auctions both physically and online. The firm says it sells around 35-40% of vehicles to online buyers while 60-65% are scooped up by those in the hall, and the figures can vary wildly across the industry.
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BCA, for example, ditched physical sales at the pandemic’s onset in March 2020, while most other auction companies went through a digital-only spell then returned to a hybrid format when conditions allowed (assuming they ran physical sales in the first place). There are cases for and against both. You might not be able to beat a physical auction but, for sheer convenience, online wins hands down. Buyers can bid from
30 | August 2023 |
www.businesscar.co.uk
anywhere, across multiple locations, and get their hands on vehicles they might not have been able to before the digital age. Ever-increasing confidence around online sales means buyers are happy to bid on certain models without first seeing them in the metal.
“OEMs really do favour pure online, because it’s a fairly fresh product and, nine times out of 10, fairly good condition,” says Philip Nothard, insight director at Cox Automotive, which runs an average of 35 auctions a week both online and physically under its Manheim brand. Thompson agrees: “Nearly new, fleet, and OEM stock work well online due to vehicles being offered with low mileages and in good condition. Generally, online buyers will bid on and buy the younger NAMA grade one and two vehicles or bid on a very specific car or van for a customer.”
“Our online auctions are held for ex-fleet, lease and premium stock with a service history and with lower mileages,”
“Covid… opened the mindset of more buyers to
bidding online, which was good for the market.”
Nick Thompson, Aston Barclay
adds Zoe Sutton, sales director at Motor Auction Group, which runs around six online and four physical auctions a week, and claims to sell three times as many vehicles physically. She adds “Buyers have the confidence to bid on and buy these types of vehicles remotely as they are generally less than four years old and in good condition.”
However, that confidence is often limited to younger vehicles and to cars. A franchised retail group, for example, will have no qualms about buying a sub- two-year-old car at a closed sale from its affiliated manufacturer. The same cannot be said of a dealer shopping for older cars, commercials, or anything where condition is questionable.
“Commercial vehicles really do support physical auctions,” explains Nothard, “they are the smaller dealers – the one- man bands – and they want to get to that vehicle to check its condition, find out what kind of panelling its had and how good it is.”
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