Car sourcing means you tell a dealer exactly what you want and the dealer goes and finds it. You give the make, the model, the year, the spec and your budget. From there the search runs across trade stock in Ireland and, where the sums work, cars abroad, and the car is checked before you are asked to come and look at it. It replaces evenings on the classified sites with one conversation and a short list.
What goes into a sourcing brief?
The more precise the brief, the better the search. A good one covers:
- Make and model, and the body style if it comes in more than one.
- The year range you will accept.
- The spec. M Sport, AMG Line, S line, or a plain trim you are happy with. Say which options matter, such as a sunroof or a tow bar, and which do not.
- Colour, and whether it is a must or a preference.
- Fuel and gearbox.
- A mileage ceiling.
- Budget, as a range rather than a single number.
- What you would give up first if the exact car does not exist.
That last line matters most. Every search reaches a point where the perfect car is not for sale anywhere, and the dealer needs to know whether you would sooner take a higher mileage, a different colour or another year.
Where does a dealer look for the car?
Three places, roughly.
Trade stock in Ireland. Cars move between dealers all the time, and a car that suits your brief may be sitting on another dealer with no buyer for it. Those cars are not always advertised to the public.
Cars coming in. People trade cars in every week, and a dealer who knows what you are looking for can put your name on one before it is prepared and listed.
Imports, when the sum works. For some premium specs the right car is easier to find abroad. That brings VRT into it, and possibly VAT and customs duty on a car from Great Britain, so the import route is only worth taking when the total still beats the Irish car. Revenue's page on importing vehicles from the UK sets out what has to be paid and declared before such a car can be registered.
Sourcing suits the kind of car that is in stock already, the premium used cars like an X5, a GLE or an A6 where the spec matters. It suits everyday cars too, when you want a specific model in a specific year rather than whatever happens to be for sale that week.
What checks happen before you see it?
Sourcing exists so that the checking happens before your time is spent, not after.
A history check first. Finance outstanding, a write-off record, a mileage that does not add up, the number of owners. Cartell is one of the services that runs these checks, and a car that fails one is dropped before you ever hear its registration.
Then the car itself. Service history against the mileage, tyres across each axle, panel gaps and paint for signs of repair, warning lights, a cold start, a run on a rough road. MotorCheck's guide to what to look for when buying a used car lists the same checks any buyer should make. A sourced car is checked before it is put to you, the same as anything in stock is checked before it goes on sale.
Then the honest conversation. If the only car that fits the brief has a gap in its history or a repair in its past, you hear about it and you decide. The search is not finished by a car being found. It is finished by you being happy with the one that was found.
How is this different from searching the classifieds yourself?
Searching yourself is free and it works, up to a point. That point is usually one of these.
You are looking for a spec the filters cannot express. Classified sites filter by make and model and by year, and not much beyond that.
You cannot see the car. A listing two hundred kilometres away is a day off work to view, and a wasted day if the car is wrong.
You cannot tell the good seller from the bad one. Photographs hide a lot.
You are buying a premium car and the cost of getting it wrong is high.
Sourcing turns that around. The looking, the phoning and the driving to view are done for you, the checks are run before you are involved, and what you get is a short list of cars that already fit, with any problems flagged. What you give up is the pleasure of the hunt, if you enjoy it.
Who is car sourcing for?
Anyone who knows what they want and would rather not spend a month finding it. That covers the buyer who wants a particular premium spec, the buyer who wants an everyday car in a particular year and colour, and the buyer who lives a long way from any dealer that stocks the car. RS Motors sources cars for buyers across Munster and delivers anywhere in Ireland if needed, so a buyer in Tipperary or Clare can put a brief in by phone and drive down only when there is a car worth seeing.
Questions buyers ask
What is the most affordable way to buy a car in Ireland?
The lowest purchase price is usually a private sale, because there is no dealer margin in it. Lowest overall is the car that costs you least across the years you own it, which is where history and condition matter more than the price on the windscreen. Sourcing is not the lowest-priced way to buy a car, but it is often the most affordable way to buy the right one.
How to calculate VRT on imported cars?
Put the car's details into Revenue's online VRT calculator and it returns an estimate based on the car's CO2 and NOx emissions and Revenue's open market selling price for that model. That final figure is set at registration. If a sourced car turns out to be an import, that figure is part of the total you compare against an Irish car.
Is there a free way to check a car history in Ireland?
The free checks show you the basics. A vehicle status enquiry on gov.ie tells you whether a car's tax and NCT are current, and the history-check services offer a free look-up that returns the headline details for a registration. Finance, write-off history and mileage records sit in the paid reports, and on any car worth real money the paid report is the one to run.
Put a brief in
Ring or WhatsApp RS Motors on 086 800 0001, Monday to Saturday 9am to 8pm, and say the make and model, the year, the spec and the budget you have in mind. RS Motors' car sourcing page sets out what a brief needs, and the search starts as soon as it is in.
