Buyers at many BCA commercial vehicle auctions will now be able to inspect vehicles online, prior to the auction, using BCA’s online video appraisal service.
Buying a vehicle through an online auction may go against the grain for many buyers, but as the success of eBay Motors has shown, it’s both workable and popular.
Vehicle auctioneers BCA picked up on this theme some time ago and offers a Live Online service allowing buyers to bid online.
However, the firm hasn’t rested on its laurels — BCA has spent the last year trialling an online video appraisal service for commercial vehicles that makes it much easier to inspect and select vehicles to bid on prior to the auction.
Buyers can use BCA’s Commercial Vehicle Video Appraisal service this to make absentee bids or to cut down viewing time before auctions starts, and after last year’s trials, the video appraisal service is being rolled out to “many of the biggest blue chip vendors of light commercial vehicles” in 2014, according to BCA.
BCA’s General Manager Commercial Vehicles Duncan Ward says that videos help boost prices:
“Average residual value performance increased notably when our Vehicle Video Appraisal service was used as part of the pre-sale marketing and first-time sale percentages improved. Buyer response was overwhelmingly positive and the service proved very popular with BCA Live Online bidders.”
BCA uses the latest generation tablet technology to produce a 360-degree video of the vehicle’s interior, exterior, roof and loadbay condition. The video runs in HD format on PC, tablet and mobile devices and takes 2 minutes to view with a fast scroll option if required. It also offers multiple still images with a zoom feature, to give buyers more flexibility. The video appraisals are accessed through the online BCA stock locator (bca.co.uk).
BCA polled its buyer customers about the new service during the pilot period. Over 70% of buyers polled said BCA’s Online Video Appraisals give them the confidence to bid higher, while 73% said they would be more confident to bid via Live Online. 72% said they would recommend the stock to friends/other buyers. LCV dealers said it gave them the opportunity to pre-sell stock to potential retail customers.
Ward commented:
“Buyers – including those from overseas – have said the videos are the next best thing to being there in person, proof indeed that this latest innovation from BCA helps maximise buying power and residual values for fleet vendors.”