Leaseplan & BCA expand live online link-up

LeasePlan has adopted LiveOnline for its entire car sale programme with BCA. LiveOnline is BCA’s exclusive service that allows Internet bidders to compete against buyers in the auction hall. It is the first time that a contract hire operator has committed to LiveOnline at every sale and follows a two-month pilot period.

Buyers are benefiting from this enhancement to LeasePlan’s auction programme in the weekly car sales staged at Bedford, Blackbushe, Birmingham, Brighouse and Nottingham, with Measham coming online shortly.

LeasePlan’s Graham Rixon - Operations Director commented, “LiveOnline adds another dimension to our sales programme with BCA. By giving additional professional buyers the opportunity to bid against those in the auction hall, we are generating even more buying power for our cars. We have seen uplift in residuals and we are attracting new buyers for LeasePlan stock.”

Rixon continued, “BCA’s technology is robust and transparent both for online buyers and those in the auction hall and we have received positive feedback from the buyers who participated and purchased LeasePlan cars in the early pilot sales. LeasePlan are committed to using the latest technology to reach the most number of buyers and BCA’s LiveOnline is a proven platform that allows both virtual and physical bidders to compete together.”

Mark Hankey, Sales Director of BCA, said, “LeasePlan has a real understanding of the market place and know what their buyers expect – and that includes using technology to deliver even more buying opportunities for the growing number of buyers who regularly follow the LeasePlan brand at BCA.”

He added “Recognising the product profile of LeasePlan is typically 30 months and 60,000 miles we have addressed any issues of buyer confidence by introducing a strict grading system which dovetails with the lease-end inspection process. The BCA grading is based on the cost to refurbish the vehicle to lease-end standard where Grade 1 is £0 and Grade 6 is £1,000 plus. This means online buyers have all the information they need to properly assess the cars they bid on.”

BCA is supporting the programme with a full multi-strategy marketing campaign that includes direct-mail, email, SMS messaging and online through Auction View, with LeasePlan vehicles imaged and catalogued on BCA’s website.

BCA LiveOnline uses sophisticated web browser technology to deliver live video and real time audio to remote bidders, allowing them to compete with buyers in the auction hall. The system has been developed in-house by BCA and uses the Vehicle Information Screens in the auction hall to display online bids, meaning the system is entirely transparent for both Internet bidders and the buyers in the auction hall.