The new centre is based in the historic city of Nimes in the south-east of the country.

The 20,000 sq ft facility is a trade-only operation, based on the B2B model BCA has established in other European markets and features vehicles direct from fleet, lease, contract hire and dealer-group sources, attracting a large regional buyer base as well as bidders from across Europe via BCA's Live Online network.

Facilities include multi-channel remarketing capability, with onsite, online and cross-border cyber-café sales, direct defleet services for larger vendors and a shuttle logistics operation for buyer customers using links by road and rail.

It joins BCA's existing operations in Bonneuil (Paris) and Lyon, with BCA planning to expand the network significantly in the coming years.

BCA's European managing director Paul Bradbury commented: 'France is one of the biggest potential markets in Europe for professional used vehicle remarketing services, but the traditional retail auction model has hampered growth. BCA have been using a B2B strategy across Europe for many years and has successfully introduced this into France. This allows us to deliver a high-volume, low-cost, trade-only model, where professional operators sell vehicles to professional buyers. This has generated impressive growth and we are the largest operator in France, with 30% growth recorded last year. Our target is 100,000 sold units annually in France.'

BCA says it has been expanding its customer base with a range of services including a part-exchange valuation and remarketing package that takes the risk out of the part-exchange transaction for dealers.