Sourced from our network of dealers and private owners — or bought for you at a UK auction.
Excavators, loaders, dozers, dumpers and more — found across the UK and European market, investigated by someone on your side, and shipped to New Zealand with MPI biosecurity handled.
New Zealand applies biosecurity to construction and earth-moving plant as well as farm machines. MPI normally requires machinery to arrive clean and free of soil, with a cleaning certificate and on-arrival inspection. European-sourced machines shipped roughly September–April may also need seasonal BMSB (brown marmorated stink bug) treatment. NZ Customs runs alongside. Exact duties, taxes, certificates and inspections are confirmed upfront per machine, route and origin — so it doesn't get held up or sent back.
No obligation. No purchase, no sourcing fee.
The UK has one of the deepest used-plant auction markets in the world. Machines come out of hire fleets, contractor disposals and finance recoveries, and they sell on a fixed public calendar to whoever turns up. It's an opportunity if you're standing in the room and a gamble if you're not — and from New Zealand, you're not.
Rob at a UK machinery auction
Sale dates well ahead of time, including Euro Auctions and Ritchie Bros, so you can plan around them instead of hearing about a machine after it's gone.
Catalogues are published days or weeks before each sale. We send them over as soon as they're out, so you're looking at the same list as the buyers who'll be in the room.
In person, with photographs and video. Hours, condition, and an honest read on how the machine has been treated — plus anything we could not check, such as whether it could be started. We tell you what we saw, not what we assumed.
To your written limit and never above it.
Declaration, commercial invoice, certificate of origin, transport to port, shipping — the same as any other machine we source. Biosecurity cleaning and MPI certification are handled before the machine leaves, exactly as they are on a sourced purchase.
The whole point is that somebody who knows machinery has stood in front of the lot before you commit a dollar to it — and has told you honestly what they found.
You register your own account with the auction house, you fund it, and you pay the auction house directly. Euro Plant Finder never holds your money, never bids as principal and never owns the machine — we act as your agent, to the limit you set in writing, and invoice our fee separately.
We'll only ever represent one buyer on any given lot. We can't advise two customers on the same machine while holding both their maximum bids, so if a lot is already spoken for we'll tell you it's taken — and nothing else about it.
Send us a lot number, or just tell us what you're hunting for and we'll watch the sales for you. Start an enquiry →
You tell us what you need. We do the searching, the travelling, the negotiating, and all the paperwork.
Tell us the machine — spec, year, range, hours, attachments and budget. Or just describe what you need it to do.
Dealer networks, auctions, private sellers. We find the right candidates and shortlist honestly — not just the easiest options.
We verify the seller, gather the evidence needed to assess the machine and arrange a physical inspection where you want it or where the risk justifies it. Scope and cost are agreed first.
We negotiate on your behalf. The seller invoices you and you pay the seller directly. Where appropriate, we help make sure the agreed price, condition and seller commitments are clearly documented before payment.
Export declaration, pre-export cleaning to MPI standards, cleaning certificate, any seasonal BMSB treatment, commercial invoice, bill of lading, NZ Customs documentation, shipping from a UK or European port — all coordinated.
Tracked from port to delivery. One person responsible for the whole chain.
"If it turns up worn out or misrepresented, I'm stuck with downtime on a live job — and that costs me far more than the machine."
From New Zealand, you cannot fly over every time you see a machine. You're relying on photos, seller descriptions, and hope. We remove that gamble entirely.
Where a physical inspection is arranged, we check the real hours, the undercarriage wear, the service history, and the signs a listing won't show you. You get the honest picture before you decide.
We assess who you're buying from — not just the machine. The biggest risk with an overseas purchase is the seller. We deal with that before any money moves.
New Zealand biosecurity applies to construction plant too, and requirements are strict. We coordinate cleaning standards, the cleaning certificate, any seasonal BMSB treatment, inspection records and NZ Customs so the machine normally clears without issue.
Transport to port, export declarations, ocean freight, bill of lading — all coordinated. You don't have to manage separate freight, customs and shipping contacts.
If it works on a site or a civil project, we can find it, check it, and get it to New Zealand. A rough spec is all we need.
No inventory to clear. No seller commission. We may know and work with the seller, but the seller does not pay us. Our commercial relationship is with you.
We can source several machines from different sellers across the UK and Europe, consolidate them at a UK or European port, and ship in one container — cutting your per-machine shipping cost and managing every step to your New Zealand yard.
We represent you — not the seller. No inventory, no bias, no incentive to push a particular machine.
We arrange it and agree the cost first, where it's wanted or the risk justifies it.
No purchase, no sourcing fee. Inspection costs quoted upfront, agreed before we travel.
The UK and European used-machinery market is large and active, which means a wider pool of listings to search against your specification. Whether that works out better value once shipping, duty and our fee are added depends on the specific machine — we work out the real landed cost before you commit, rather than assuming it's automatically cheaper.
Hundreds of UK and European dealers, auctions and private sellers give us a wide pool to search — the right specification depends on what you need.
We work out the full landed cost — machine price, shipping, duty and our fee — before you commit, so you're deciding on the real number, not a guess.
European-built machines — Volvo, JCB, Liebherr, Manitou — are often well-serviced and come with full dealer records, though condition varies machine to machine, which is why we check the evidence carefully before you commit.
If there's a specific model or configuration that's hard to find in New Zealand, the UK and European market is worth searching — tell us what you're after and we'll check what's really out there.
The questions that matter — answered honestly before you pick up the phone.
Ocean freight from a UK port to Auckland, Christchurch or Wellington typically takes 5–7 weeks. Add 2–3 weeks for the search, inspection and purchase phase. A realistic timeline from brief to delivery is 9–14 weeks, depending on your requirements.
MPI requires machinery entering New Zealand to be cleaned free of soil, plant material and organic debris, and inspected before shipment. Euro Plant Finder coordinates pre-export cleaning, inspection and documentation. Costs are quoted upfront as part of the export cost estimate.
You pay the seller directly — no money passes through Euro Plant Finder. Before any payment moves, we verify the seller (business identity, trading history, physical premises) and inspect the machine in person. A purchase contract is prepared between you and the seller to protect your interests.
The buying agent fee is success-only — nothing to pay if we don't complete your deal. Inspection travel costs are quoted and agreed upfront before we travel. You pay the seller directly; freight, shipping insurance and New Zealand import costs are also quoted before you commit.
Yes. Multiple machines can be sourced from different UK and European sellers, consolidated at a UK or European port, and shipped in one container — significantly reducing the per-machine shipping cost.
We work to prevent this by verifying the seller, gathering the evidence needed to assess the machine, and arranging a physical inspection where you want it or where the risk justifies it — reporting honestly what we find, including anything that leads us to recommend walking away. If a problem appears after you've bought, we stay involved and pursue it with the seller on your behalf, doing everything within our power to represent your best interests.
Yes. You register your own account with the auction house and fund it yourself — we never hold your money or bid in our own name. You give us your maximum in writing, we inspect the lot beforehand and report honestly on its condition, and we bid to your limit and never above it. If you win, you pay the auction house directly and we invoice our fee separately.
Send us the machine you need — makes, models, a year range, hours, budget, any attachments — or just describe the problem. No obligation. No purchase, no sourcing fee.
