Company History

Established over 40 years ago, MMA is the largest direct fleet car, van, commercial, truck, minibus, ambulance, municipal and refuse auction in the United Kingdom (UK).

Community Support & Sponsorship

Merthyr Motor Auctions (MMA) have supported many local clubs, charities and organisations, just some of the areas MMA have and still support include:

• Dowlais Engine House.  MMA helped create and supports a main local charity for Boys & Girls and has provided support to 1200 children in the local area. The club provides Bike rides, Badminton, Football, Cricket, Music Lessons to Singing, Netball, Pool, Darts, Internet games and loads more!
  We help provide PC’s and office equipment, office furniture, and sports equipment.  We have donated a number of minibuses for the charity which they use to provide a pickup and dropoff service for children in the area.  We have also donated a number of crew vans to the charity to enable them to take children to local “green areas” to observe wildlife, take bikes and equipment to rural areas for bike rides and adventure activities, and also to provide food parcels to the surround area during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• We help support the local community, residents and their “green spaces” by providing a Kubota Ride on Mower free of charge to maintain the green spaces in the Pant & Dowlais ward of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough.  We have provided this service over the last 5 years maintaining the green spaces helping support local residents with places to walk, play and look after their health.  This also helps care for the wildlife and nature in the surround areas where we provide bird boxes and “bug houses” to support the local wildlife.

• During the COVID-19 pandemic we supported our local charity the Dowlais Engine House with their Food Parcel delivery service to local vulnerable residents of Merthyr Tydfil and the surrounding areas.
  We helped source and supply food, medicine and hygiene products for their care packages and also provided a van, driver and fuel facilities to deliver these care packages.
  We supported the Dowlais Engine House with these care packages during the pandemic from March 2020 onwards.

• We assist many other organisations with the purchase of vehicles and have sold vehicles to many local organisations like local volunteer services, volunteer drivers, sports and youth clubs. We provide extra assistance with the purchasing processes to ensure the buying process is easy and simple for any charity or local organisation.  Out “Spotters” help with all aspects of buying including finance, warranties, insurance and tax.
  A list of organisations we have recently supplied / helped purchase a vehicle include:
• Gurnos Mens Project
• Cyfartha Community Project
• Emmanuel Chapel
• Woodlands High Special School
• Park Baptist Church
• Howells School
• Cardiff Chameleons

Tash Harding Academy Ltd

We sponsored Wales International (103 caps), Cardiff City, Bristol City, Man City, Liverpool, Reading, & Villa footballer Natasha Harding with the opening of the Tash Harding Academy.

• We support many local sports clubs and schools with shirt/kit sponsorship, advertising boards and sports equipment.
  A list of clubs and schools we have recently supported is as follows:
• Merthyr Saints FC & Mini Football
• Merthyr Town FC
• Dowlais RFC
• Dowlais RFC Mini Rugby (9 team shirt sponsorship)
• Merthyr Rugby RFC
• Aberfan Rangers FC
• Gurnos BGS (10 team shirt sponsorship)
• Georgetown Boys and Girls Club U14
• Merthyr District Football
• Gellideg Minis Under 12s
• Tondu Cricket Club
• Christ College Brecon Girls Hockey
• Christ College Brecon Rugby
• Pant School Rugby & Football Teams
• Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Bodringallt Football Team
• Penydarren Boys and Girls Club Football Teams

• We support the Welsh Police Football Association.  They have used our on site facilities for committee meetings for many years.  Following is a letter from their Commercial Manager Mr. Malcolm Thomas.

• MMA sponsored Cardiff City in 1984, which was in the old second division (currently called the Championship), where they played the likes of Manchester City, Leeds United, Newcastle United and many other present Premiership football clubs.

• MMA also paid the salary of Gerry Francis, England captain at the time, who made his Cardiff City debut in December 1984 his salary was £450 per week.

• We also sponsored Penarth and Rhigos rugby in 1985.

Through the Archives

A note from Alan Davies, Managing Director

Merthyr Motor Auctions (MMA) has been able to craft an ever-growing empire selling locally, nationally and internationally to over 100 countries.

I was born and bred in Pant, Merthyr Tydfil, and began my business in Aberfan 1970.

Since then, MMA has grown into a world-class sales centre with over 3,000 Fleet vehicles and plant auctioned weekly at half the garage price. In fact MMA auction more vans / commercials than the other 600 auctions added together.

The company helped to grow through sponsorship of football, rugby, cricket, golf, horse racing, snooker, etc...

We were actually the first company in Great Britain to sponsor a football club. In 1984 MMA sponsored Cardiff City, which was in the old second division (currently called the Championship), where they played the likes of Manchester City, Leeds United, Newcastle United and many other present Premiership football clubs.

MMA also paid the salary of Gerry Francis, England captain at the time, who made his Cardiff City debut in December 1984 his salary was £450 per week.

We were also the first company to sponsor rugby in 1985, supporting Penarth and Rhigos. It managed to persuade the French Barbarians to play Penarth in 1987 to replace their Good Friday Barbarian fixture that they had just lost - because it was less fashionable than some of their other fixtures.

The likes of French try record holder Serge Blanco and most of the French international side at the time were in the French Barbarian side. This was the first time they played outside France since they were formed in 1979. It was also a great pleasure for MMA to sponsor little Rhigos, who were the lions of their division.

Along with my staff, we treat each and every customer with care and attention, and that is why they keep coming back.

The 40-strong team help customers, new and old, and guide them through the auction process.

I have even introduced 'spotters' to act as personal auction assistants for inexperienced bidders. This service is free and you can ask your spotter any questions you may have.

They will also arrange free fully comprehensive insurance for a week. This gives you time to get a competitive quote from other companies.

These spotters can help you in person, or even if you are a telephone / internet bidder.

Auctions are held in our purpose built auction house in Pant / Dowlais. We are one of the most successful auctions in Europe. There is always a great atmosphere during the auctions, people are relaxed and happy because they are helped through the process and they are not afraid to bid.

We pride ourself on providing top class garage facilities at auction prices.

The spotters are here to guide and relax everybody.

There's Sky television and a modern cafeteria and coffee bar to keep you entertained while you wait for your chosen vehicle to be auctioned or for your documentation to be arranged. Many vehicles are under manufacturers warranty and for those that are not covered; we very often give a free mechanical warranty. The older vehicles are sold as seen, but all vehicles are company owned and most with service history. We also offer low rate finance from as little as 10.9% APR.

There are thousands of vehicles to choose from, ranging from a Mini to a Mercedes, vans / commercials of all descriptions, big or small we've got them all, from an ambulance to a fire tender, from a mobile library to a refuse vehicle, from a tanker / gulley to a sweeper and from a mower to a tractor.

MMA is one of the longest established auctions still operated by the same directors.

The author, Alan Davies, is Managing Director and co-founder of Merthyr Motor Auctions.

Originally published: January 2013