Another Machinery Sales Record?
What a difference a month makes! Having had a poor first sale of the year, (admittedly due to the weather), and looking out onto a rather empty snow covered yard, my expectations for February were decidedly pessimistic. We only had a scattering of tractors leftover and a handful of lots in the other sections and so the likelihood of having a full sale looked pretty slim.
I shouldn’t have worried. As the sale day approached the vendors did us proud as the entry gathered momentum until we had over 360 freshly entered tractors out of a total of 413. With over 2300 lots entered and with plenty of pre-sale enquires, the scene was set for a good day.
Despite the snow flurries and freezing temperatures a truly multi-national crowd was in attendance and it’s always quite interesting to observe just how inadequately dressed some of our overseas buyers are when they attend the sale. Certainly summer-weight anoraks’ and expensive slip on shoes are not the required attire when faced with such inclement weather but such character-building conditions did little to deter the hardened sale goer, of which there were plenty.
Although it wasn’t quite a record for the month, it nigh on was and with the healthy number of post sale deals we’re currently finalising the record February sale we set last year looks all set to be broken. So what were the highlights of the day?
Over 65% of the tractors sold and it’s difficult to really pick out any trend except to say just about every make, model and price range was in demand. Over the last 2 or 3 sales, I often reported that the more expensive tractors i.e. £20,000 plus were difficult to place but that certainly wasn’t the case on the 8th. Dozens of tractors exceeded this benchmark and on the back row of the “premier patch” I sold 10 tractors, one after the other for a total of £330,000.
As usual John Deeres commanded spirited bidding and 73% of the 100 JD’s entered sold and needless to say, it was only the high reserves on the unsold items which prevented a clean sweep. The charismatic Spanish purchased their fair share but the Polish, Dutch, Germans and Swedish made sure “El Hombre” didn’t get all his own way.! Some example prices for the green and yellows would include £47,200 for a 02 reg’d 8520, £37,500 bought a similar aged 8220, a sharp 7530 was bid over reserve to £44,000, and the smaller sibling, a 6330 and 2008 in the year made £28,200. Older 6 and 7000 were probably even more in demand: a solid 7710 made an equally solid £19,500, a TLS equipped 6810 topped £15,000 and a plain 6506 with nearly 10,000 hours sold for £11,400.
New Hollands were thin on the ground and consequently, the examples we had received a fair degree of bidding. A trio of such from a new vendor all exceeded reserve: a 2004 TM140 and TM175 made £16,900 and £19,100 respectively and a 2003 TM190, often the pariah of this marque made a more than respectable £16,900.
Tractor Sale 5A featuring the older Masseys, Zetors etc had a clearance rate of 68% and with some very intense and spirited bidding from an assembled multitude of nationalities, some models reached new heights in prices never before achieved. MF 590’s averaged nearly £3000, almost 30% higher than just a few months ago and almost all the 500 series except the poorest of examples sold to buyers from Holland, Kenya, South Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and of course, the UK. The 100 and 200 series met with near equal trade and needless to say we need plenty of fresh entries to replenish depleted stocks.
With a very small re-entry from January sale and a general lack of second hand equipment coming to the market, the Contractors Plant entry was a little light. All but one of the 3CXs were sold at higher prices than the end of last year, a reflection of the current supply and demand situation. Later teleporters also sold better than in recent months, especially 530-70 JCBs and Manitous. A better demand for larger excavators saw all but one sold mainly to the UK market, although some of these will be travelling beyond our shores. No trade still for dumpers. Mini diggers sold particularly well with strong bidding from home, European and Middle Eastern buyers.
A good sale and a smaller entry means we have lots of spaces to fill for March. The signs are good for an improving trade particularly for digger loaders. Let us have your entries as soon as possible please.
Catalogue entries for our 8th March sale close 19th February and once again, following the clearance in the February auction, the call goes out for entries in all sections. We are continuously receiving enquiries for all types of equipment and therefore need fresh kit to appeal to the multitude of buyers. March through to May are normally the best auctions of the year and now that we have recovered from a disappointing January, I’m sure we’ll be able to build on the success from our last auction.
By Bill Pepper
