CD Auctions lines up launch of SME direct

CD Auction Group is planning to launch SME Direct to small businesses and the SME market in April, as MD Roger Woodward explains to editor Ralph Morton

R By Ralph Morton

23 January 2013 3 min read

I had lunch with the amiable boss of CD Auctions yesterday – Roger Woodward – who has plans for his online auction company to enter the small business arena with SME Direct.

Roger’s operation, which was established with his business partner Graham Johnstone in 1989, is based in Corby, Northamptonshire.

Not that its physical location matters: CD Auctions are online with detailed descriptions online of the cars for sale, along with excellent photographs.

Plus all the cars come with good provenance – mostly from leasing companies.

But, as Roger acknowledges, having auctioned 5000 vehicles in 2012, “just selling cars is not enough. We need to offer more services.” That’s why Roger is planning SME Direct, with a launch date of April.

CD Auctions provide high qualify pictures of the cars going up for auction – like this Honda Civic

“We’re aiming at the SME who has one, two, three, four cars – and offering them an online service with the sort of prices usually afforded to large fleets thanks to our economies of scale. And the cars are in ‘ready to retail’ condition.”

For those of you not used to auction jargon, that means as you would expect to find on a dealer forecourt: clean, well furbished, alloy wheel scuffs removed, and so on. Plus there will the security of a 12 month mechanical warranty, six months’ MOT and all tyres will have a minimum of 3mm tread.