Vehicle sourcing
Sourcing: cutting the market down to a short list.
Sourcing is the work of finding which cars deserve your attention. It is done against the brief, not against what happens to be advertised loudly this week.
Scope and method
What we work through, and in what order.
We start with the channels that suit the car you are describing rather than starting from the largest site and working down. From there the brief does the filtering: budget, body, gearbox, fuel, mileage ceiling, age floor and how far you are willing to travel.
Listings that nearly fit are not quietly dropped. They are named with the reason they failed, because a rejected car tells you something about your own brief.
Your side of it
What to send, and why each part matters.
Budget
The working range, not the maximum you could stretch to. A wide range produces a wide list.
Models
Marques and bodies you would genuinely buy. Two or three is usually sharper than ten.
Ceilings
Mileage and age limits. These remove the largest number of listings, so they do the most work.
Travel
How far you will go to view. It decides whether remote listings belong on the list at all.
Fixed points
Automatic, fuel type, seats, tow bar, anything you will not compromise on.
If a requirement is impossible at the budget, we will say that at the start rather than returning an empty list a week later.
What you get back
A short list with its reasons attached.
- Each candidate with where it sits against your brief
- The points where it falls short, stated as plainly as the points where it fits
- An indication of which candidates deserve a viewing first
- The questions to ask before travelling to any of them
