Innovation Drives Seismic Shift in Used Vehicle Online Auction Space
These days, a professional trade buyer in the commercial motor industry is more likely to buy a used vehicle through an online auction than other channels. This is different from the past, and there hasn’t been just one shift in the industry; there have been two!
The Seismic Double Shift Driven by Tech Innovation
The first move was away from physical locations to online. The second shift was from buying vehicles at a set price, in a showroom to flexible pricing at an auction. So, two jumps: physical to digital; and (physical) set-price showroom to (online) flexibly-priced auction. The two shifts are related, of course, and this double shift is seismic, driven mainly by tech innovation, which has fundamentally changed the industry model for buying and selling vehicles in the UK and around the world. The revolution has made for a far slicker, speedier process to buy and sell commercial vehicles today, driving down time spent and costs, cutting prices and opening up a whole world of opportunity.
Long List of Improvements by Purchasing Through Online Auctions
Innovation, through the birth of a digital, connected world, has created a long list of improvements, which will continue to accelerate in the near future for the betterment of the trade and customers. Big digital changes include: A worldwide choice of online auctions for commercial vehicles; a move from fixed to flexible pricing; a deeper depth of data; also available 24/7; more transparent documentation, which moves faster; less travel time and costs; fewer carbon emissions and wasted time; more ways to communicate; and more second opinions.
There are still issues for some buyers: It takes more communication and time to trust online auctioneers, and information is sometimes not clear, but as long as professionals work with the good guys in online auctions, trade buyers will thrive. Our view is that purchasers of commercial used vehicles should leave the showrooms and auction halls behind and go auctioning online!
A Wider Choice of Auctions
Until recently, a trade buyer really only had a hinterland of 100 miles of so to visit showrooms and physical auctions. Quite simply, the world wide web offers the whole planet. Choice drives options and niches, opening up opportunities for trade buyers. Online really is the best option.
Auctions Offer Flexible Pricing Versus Fixed Price Showrooms
Auctions, above showrooms have always offered a unique flexibility. A showroom offers products at a fixed price, like a supermarket. Yes, you can haggle, but that’s not the point of the exercise. It is frowned upon by the salesman. On the other hand, auctions are for hagglers! It’s what they were invented for. So, a buyer never has to pay more than they want to for a purchase.
Digital Documents Speed Up Processing & Drive Down Costs
With faster processing, buying commercial vehicles through online auctions is clearer, quicker and more efficient. This is driven by a vast wealth of information at a buyer’s fingertips to help them decide what to bid for and buy, in addition to the benefit of faster documentation and data processing once they have set their heart on a certain purchase. This is because online platforms are effectively a database, with multiple, various tables of data, controls, communications, images and reports. All these pots of information interact with each other, so multitudes of documentation are on hand, whatever a buyer needs, whenever they need it – from vehicles images and data to vehicle grading and legal documentation. These massive amounts of data are beautifully dovetailed and easier to find than at physical locations, and always at a buyer’s fingertips on any screen and device through the online auctioneers’ website. The move to online has streamlined data collection and communication, saving bidders time and effort. Speed of digital processing from registration to bidding to buying and delivery of vehicles makes the life of the trade buyer smoother as speed, trust and return on investment all improve.
Travel Time & Expense Massively Reduced – The World Is Your Oyster!
Moving to buying at online auctions significantly saves time and travel costs. For every physical auction, adding travel can extend time away from running a business. Time wasted through travelling plus travel costs, hotel bills and the frustration of traffic jams and train delays, before considering the additional carbon emissions of getting from A to B and back again.
A much more sustainable, stress-free, efficient, cost-effective strategy is to buy commercial vehicles online, at an auction. There are always energy costs to run computer systems, so it is not just a one-way street. However, buying online will save a mountain of time, and no wasted journeys. And with the possibility of buying online from anywhere in the country, or even globally, the world truly is your oyster.
Trust and Verification Online Can Be An Issue
Although there are many upsides to the move to online auctions there are some issues that need resolving too. In particular, not viewing the vehicle in the flesh and secondly, the potential lack of trust of the cyber-auctioneers, which can put off some trade buyers. However, if you work with the good guys, purchasers will save money, time and angst, and end up with a wider choice of vehicles to choose from.
Only Work With the Good Guys, and Have More Contact
Trust has to be built with a reputable online auctioneer, which is why it is important to work with a trusted online used vehicle auctioneer – someone who is highly capable in every aspect of a sale, from vehicle inspection, validation, imagery, documentation, external grading and pre- and after-sales customer service. Once you find an online auctioneer you can trust, the chances of being sold a lemon disappears.
To gain trust, a buyer needs to know the auctioneer personally. There needs to be a real, long-term relationship with them. This requires a trade buyer to be in touch with them, to ensure they see the world in the same way. Therefore, online auctioneers need multiple communication channels open to the buyer: phone and e-mail are natural, but feedback form loops, Teams/Zoom, and WhatsApp are fundamental today to keep in touch in the right way and at the right time. A buyer would talk to auctioneer at a physical auction; online auctioneers must offer the same service through different communication channels. Once trust is built, bidding buyers will have faith in the documentation provided by online auction houses.
Great Photography is Critical to a Good Online Auction Platform
Also, great photography is needed, so that buyers become bidders, then become purchasers. Only the very highest resolution photography is acceptable these days. So many online auctions are guilty of having the equivalent of a criminal mug shot for their commercial vehicles. It just won’t wash! So, verified listings, warranties, and transparent bidding, so the trade buyer knows that they are at a bone fide online auction. The moral of the story is, don’t buy from an online auction until you completely trust the company behind the online platform.
External Validation is a Must
And good online auctions need detailed inspection, validation – QVS is a good example - and proper, objective, third party grading, such as NAMA grading, to prove to buyers that What You See Is What You Get.
In addition, an online auction needs to garner the same atmosphere as a physical one, where possible. This can be made up through great theatre from a charismatic auctioneer, creating a physical auction-like atmosphere, and crystal clear imagery giving the perfect picture of the vehicles for sale. Although there is a new work model for commercial trade buyers today, in an industry teeming with tech innovation, we prefer real images of vehicles for sale, and therefore AI and Virtual Reality, which have been spoken about for years as being helpful to bidders at online auctions are really not the answer for online auction as they paint the wrong, perhaps fake picture. Real pictures help present all vehicles truthfully, factually and precisely. The problem with AI and VR is they are virtual, not real, and give the wrong representation of the vehicles for sale. This is why the wonderful of acronym of WYSIWIG – What You See Is What You Get – is paramount in the world of digital auctions. WYSIWIG demands very high resolution, real images, so bidders trust the pictures in front of them, onscreen, rather than in the flesh.
Theatre Needed to Bring Online Auctions Alive
Online auctions can be more life-less than the real thing. They lack the party atmosphere. You need a talented, experienced auctioneer, who knows when to move bids on, what to say, and be in unison with the online site. They must be in a pristine studio that looks the part, not an auctioneers spare bedroom!
So, an industry heaving with innovation has transformed the selling and buying of used vehicles by converting the process from physical locations and paperwork to a global location with slick, quick documents on hand on any screen. The world of auctions online has left physical locations behind.
If you are looking for an online auctioneer of used commercial vans, then Hudson Kapel are partners to trust. Hudson Kapel sell used vans from the UK’s and Europe’s biggest buyer of new vans. Hudson Kapel are known to be highly capable because they inspect, validate (using external partner, QVS), grade (using NAMA) all vans and offer warranties to minimise any risks. They also have very high resolution cameras called BrightPix that show vehicles from every angle in a crystal clear presentation. Nothing can be hidden, so professional trade buyers know that WYSIWYG…What you see is what you get.
Hudson Kapel’s customer service team are all trade experts and are available the way you like to chat: Either by phone, e-mail, feedback form, in person or by WhatsApp. And dealing with the team is always a pleasure. Hudson Kapel delivers customer service with a smile.
With weekly auctions, and hundreds of used vans with detail available at the Hudson Kapel live auction website up to 7 days before the live auction, professional trade buyers have time to decide what they are keen to bid for and buy. Once a deal is struck, the buyers new vehicle can be delivered to them within 48 hours. It’s quick simple, clear, honest. So, if you are a trade buyer, looking for good used vans through an auctioneer you can trust, then hop along to the Hudson Kapel auction website – www.hkr.co.uk. Register quickly and easily and take a look at all the vans you can buy in the next weekly auction.