Manheim has acquired Dealer Auction, the UK online trade-to-trade vehicle remarketing channel, for an undisclosed multi-million pound sum.

This latest deal with Dealer Auction comes only six months after Manheim bought Motors.co.uk, the UK’s second largest online classified portal.

Dealer Auction’s electronic sales cater mainly for vehicles arising from franchised dealers. The e-auctions operate on a rolling basis and allow registered trade buyers online access to part-exchanges and other non-required stock.

Buyers and sellers deal directly with each other and it is only the online bidding and listing platform which Dealer Auction provides to its customers.

John Bailey, Manheim’s chief executive said: "The industry is in a period of sustained change and our remarketing business is simply moving with the times.

"Inter-dealer wholesaling is an age-old practice and still thrives completely outside the traditional remarketing arena."

Bailey believes the Dealer Auction business sits naturally alongside Manheim's main remarketing business.

The two founders of Dealer Auction, Clive Colyer and Gavin Smith, will remain as joint managing directors at the business and will now report directly to Bailey who will take up a position of chairman on the Dealer Auction board.

Colyer said: "Since we founded the business three years ago it has grown dramatically. This success has been achieved despite facing the fiercest competition we’ve ever seen in the industry and it has really underlined the demand for our type of service.

"However, we needed major scale and investment to fully exploit our true potential and, to now be part of Manheim, gives us just that."