9:33 am, January 10, 2019
CAR auction group Aston Barclay showed its commitment to serving both its digital and physical customers at its new super-centre in Wakefield this week.
The 78,000 square feet auction house will officially open on January 28 but acted as the setting to launch its new Digital Services arm and Cascade Suite product, as well as the new auction centre itself.
The site will host 15 dealer and fleet auctions per month and has the capacity to sell 50,000 used vehicles annually, contributing to Aston Barclay’s plan of doubling its group sales volume to 160,000 vehicles by 2022.
The 18-acre site is a stone’s throw from the M1, M62 and A1, with the super-centre featuring two glass-fronted auction halls, interactive screens and artificial intelligence. The vision is that its first-class transport links will help turn the Wakefield site into the ultimate destination for the local motor trade with a gym, a restaurant, and meeting rooms freely available.
Aston Barclay’s current six-acre Leeds auction base, which is consistently voted as the UK’s top auction site by its customers, will be turned into a used LCV centre during the first three months of 2019. Wakefield will also become the head office for the newly acquired The Car Buying Group.
Aston Barclay’s CEO Neil Hodson said: ‘Wakefield is a game-changer for the remarketing sector and there is no other auction facility like it in Europe. We have created a five-star, dynamic environment filled with new technology which will be a great working environment for our buyers, vendors and colleagues alike.’
He added that the new Cascade Suite also made buying and selling with Aston Barclay easier and more profitable, whether people were able to attend one of its centres or not.
Cascade combines Aston Barclay’s new e-Valuate, e-Hub, e-Xchange and e-Live products for dealers and leasing vendors, from initial used car appraisal through to wholesale disposal and onward delivery to buyers. The e-Hub smart dashboard allows for ‘at a glance’ decision-making with real-time market intelligence.
The Cascade process starts with the e-Valuate vehicle appraisal app, allowing dealers to accurately value incoming vehicles, as well as a guaranteed purchase price from The Car Buying Group.
Vendors can then use e-Xchange to fix the duration the vehicle is to be advertised for disposal, as well as set Buy Now and minimum reserve prices. Should the vehicle sell, the buyer arranges logistics and payments with the vendor. If the vehicle is unsold, it then flows into either a physical or online e-Live auction.
Hodson added: ‘Used car buying and selling patterns are changing and client requirements are becoming more complex. Digital Solutions places us firmly as a digital business supported by physical fulfilment, combining the best of both worlds to drive real value for our buyers and vendors.
‘The Cascade digital journey is seamless in taking individual used vehicles from initial vehicle appraisal, right through to physical delivery to the buyer with a number of options to increase speed of sale including dealer underwriting from The Car Buying Group.’
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