The collection deadline and any storage charges are set by the terms of the particular auction, not by the carrier and not by legislation. So before you start bidding, find two dates in those terms: by when payment is due and by when the machine has to be off the yard. We count the dispatch date backwards from the second one, including the time needed for paperwork.
Two dates from the terms, and why the second matters more
The payment date is a matter between the buyer and the auction house and can usually be closed quickly. The removal date is harder, because behind it stand a finite yard and the next sale due to be held on it. Once it passes, storage may be charged, and the terms provide for further consequences for goods left uncollected. The level of such charges and the way they accrue differ between organisers and are published in the conditions of sale; we do not quote them from memory or approximately, because a mistake in that line costs more than the whole haulage of a small machine.
The plan is therefore built from the end: removal date minus transit time, minus dispatch time, minus time for a complete set of documents. Only then does the day by which everything must be ready appear.
What has to be ready before the truck sets off
- Proof of payment and a release document from the auction house, either in the buyer name or made out to the carrier. Without it the yard will not release equipment even when it is paid for.
- A collection authority for the driver where the seller requires one, together with the vehicle details.
- The buyer EORI number and the full data set for the British export declaration. What happens when the first of those is missing is described in our article on a missing EORI number on loading day.
- The purchase invoice showing the price actually paid, because that is the basis of the customs value.
- A contact at the yard, the release hours and confirmation of whether the yard provides loading equipment.
Where buyer-side delays come from
Most often from payment. An international transfer can take longer than the calendar assumes, and sellers usually do not release goods before funds are credited rather than before the transfer is instructed. The second source is paperwork: a missing EORI number, incomplete company details, a typo in the consignee name. The third is communication with the yard, especially where the buyer assumes the seller will arrange the release while the yard waits for confirmation from the buyer. None of this is difficult, all of it takes time, and all of it can be settled before the bidding.
Two different charges that are easy to confuse
Yard storage is charged by the seller because the equipment occupies space past the deadline. Demurrage is charged by the carrier because the vehicle waits for loading longer than the agreed slot. These are two independent costs with different bases and different addressees, and buyers sometimes pay both at once, because the truck arrived on time while the release document was not ready. How to read the lines in a carrier quote and what counts as a surcharge is covered in our article on reading a carrier quote.
When the deadline runs ahead of the paperwork
Sometimes equipment has to leave the yard sooner than the formalities can be closed or the batch completed. The sensible answer is then to move the machine off the yard into our warehouse in Milton Keynes and store it there short term, until the documents are complete or the rest of the load has accumulated. The warehouse runs around the clock and we handle receipt and release, cross-dock and batch consolidation there. The procedure from booking to confirmation is described in our article on receipt and release in Milton Keynes, and what the warehouse is and is not in our piece on the warehouse as a UK operating address.
Clearance against the deadline
A British export declaration has to be filed before the goods leave, so the documents must be ready earlier than the truck. With an auction purchase the usual bottleneck is not the haulage but exactly that sequence. We arrange clearance working with our regular customs agencies on both sides of the Channel, and documentary requirements for used equipment are set out in our article on importing used machinery from the UK. How the return leg itself is ordered is covered in our piece on collection from the UK.
Sources
- GOV.UK: exporting goods from the United Kingdom
- GOV.UK: EORI number
- European Commission: customs union and customs value
Got a collection deadline and want to be sure the truck makes it? Send the date from the conditions of sale and the yard address through the quote form. See also warehousing and customs clearance.
