Auction collection checklist after the hammer

A catalogue line is not a certificate. Check the MOT yourself on check MOT status. You need the registration.

Trade plates are a DVLA product. Start at the GOV.UK trade licence overview. Duty and how to apply sit on apply for a trade licence. The first-licence form is VTL301.

OVM already holds plates. You do not post VTL301 to book a collection. What DVLA charges for the licence is trade plate licence cost. That is not a movement quote.

Four things have to be true before we dispatch. Missing any one of them is how a collection becomes a wasted journey and another day of storage.

1. Release code, or that site's equivalent. The compound issues a release code, a buyer reference, or both. Send us what you have. The office checks it with the site. We do not send a driver to see if it is ready. If the code has not come through, we hold the booking.

2. Payment. Pay the auction. OVM is not the cashier. A movement booking is not proof you have settled the lot. Until the site says the vehicle can leave, there is nothing for a driver to collect.

3. Named collector. Most compounds will not release to a stranger at the barrier. Tell the site that OVM is collecting. We brief the driver with OVM identification, trade plates and whatever that gate asked for that day. If the site needs the collector named on the release, name us before the driver sets off, not while they sit in the lane.

4. Pickup window. The compound sets the window, not us. Hours change. Sale days differ from collection days. Some sites will not release after a cut-off. We ask the compound what they need that day. A driver after the window is another night in the yard. If you only have a same-day slot, say so when you quote: same-day collection is priced for the disruption. It is still subject to release being confirmed first.

Also send: registration, compound name, collection and delivery postcodes, a date, a phone number and a named contact who can answer if the gate calls. Most quotes come back within the hour during working hours. No account is needed to ask.

Each operator runs its own gate. Each site does too. We ask the compound. We do not invent a single procedure here. We do not publish fake weekly volumes. Nationwide compounds are in scope if the vehicle is legal to drive. If your site is not listed on the hub, ask.

BCA. OVM collects from the BCA compounds we publish pages for, including BCA Glasgow, BCA Bellshill, BCA Edinburgh, BCA Livingston, BCA Crawley, BCA Measham, BCA Walsall and BCA Donington Park, plus the rest of the BCA list on auction collection. What is the same at every BCA job we take: release confirmed with the site before dispatch, a named collector, a roadworthy car or van with a valid MOT, photographs before the engine starts. What is not the same: the gate procedure that day. The office asks BCA. The driver does not guess at the barrier.

Manheim. OVM collects from the Manheim compounds we publish, including Manheim Manchester, Manheim Shotts, Manheim Leeds, Manheim Washington, Manheim Haydock and the other Manheim pages on the hub. Same rule as BCA. Buyer reference and release, confirmed with that Manheim site, then a driver. Do not assume a Manheim procedure you used last month still applies this week. We ask.

Wilsons. OVM collects from the Wilsons Auctions compounds we publish: Wilsons Auctions Glasgow (Dalry), Wilsons Auctions Newcastle (Birtley), Wilsons Auctions Maidstone, Wilsons Auctions Telford, Wilsons Auctions Queensferry, Wilsons Auctions Newport and Wilsons Auctions Witney. Wilsons is not BCA and not Manheim. The gate still wants a release and a named collector. We confirm with that Wilsons site, then collect. Roadworthy only.

Independents we publish pages for follow the same pattern. The hub is the list, not this paragraph.

Auction stock is bought on a description. The record has to start at the compound, not at your forecourt.

That is the proof of collection. At delivery the same record is taken again and the person receiving the vehicle signs. Digital proof of collection and delivery provided, emailed when the job closes.

If the lot is not as described, or is not safe to drive, the driver stops and calls the office. We do not see how it goes on the public road.

A bought vehicle starts costing money the moment it sits in the compound. Storage does not pause because the release code has not arrived yet, a transporter is still filling a deck, a driver was sent without paperwork and turned away, or you are waiting until next week because the truck is cheaper on paper.

For a single released, roadworthy unit, a driven collection once the site says yes is how you stop the clock. Waiting for a truck to fill can cost more than the move. That comparison belongs on trade plate delivery vs transporter. We will not invent a storage tariff or a transport price to prove it.

OVM does not dispatch on a hope. Holding the booking until release is confirmed is cheaper than a wasted day plus another night of storage.

This is the line. If any of the following is true, do not send a trade plate driver.

Tell us. We will say a transporter is the right tool. Driving it would invalidate the cover the movement depends on. A driver who arrives and cannot collect for reasons outside our control may still attract the full fee.

Valid MOT, drivable, released, named collector, window confirmed: that is an OVM job.