Dealer Auction

Dealer Auction is a trade-to-trade wholesale marketplace for used vehicles in the UK — the digital equivalent of the physical dealer auction, where franchised and independent dealers, leasing companies and fleets move stock between each other without it reaching the public. It positions itself around data rather than volume: better condition information and margin insight for both sides of the transaction.

What you can buy

• Part-exchange and dealer stock: vehicles one dealer does not want and another does.
• Fleet and leasing returns: defleeted cars and vans entering the wholesale market.
• Electric vehicles: an increasingly separate stream as the UK fleet turns over.

How the bidding works

This is a closed marketplace: you sign up as a business and are approved before you can buy or sell. Vehicles are listed with condition data supplied by the vendor, and buying decisions are made on that data rather than on a physical inspection, since the car stays with the seller until it is sold.

What to check before you bid

Private buyers cannot use this platform, and there is no route around that — if you are not in the motor trade, the public-facing auction houses elsewhere in this directory are where to look. For trade buyers the usual wholesale cautions apply: the condition report is the vendor's own, the vehicle is described rather than inspected, and collection is arranged from wherever the seller holds it. Understand the fee structure before your first purchase, since wholesale margins are thin enough that fees decide profitability.