Vehicle sourcing
Lucas International is appointed by the buyer. We search, verify, negotiate and acquire across North America and Europe, and we hold no stock of our own.
- Appointed by the buyer, never the seller
- No commission or introducer fee from any seller, dealer or auction house
- United States, United Kingdom, European Union
The mandate
A buying agent is paid to say no
Nearly every opinion a buyer receives about a car comes from someone who owns it. Inventory is the answer to every question, because inventory is what a dealer is paid to move. On 1 August 2025, in the motor finance appeals, the UK Supreme Court held that motor dealers owe consumers no fiduciary duty and may pursue their own commercial interests.
A dealer is not obliged to act in your interest. An appointed agent, contractually, is. We hold no stock, no floorplan and no allocation to place, and we take nothing from the seller side, so most of a mandate is spent removing cars. A search that ends without a purchase is still a completed search, and the reasons are written down.
A mandate runs from the brief to the handover, ending with transport, customs and registration through our own shipping desk. If you have already found the car, verifying, negotiating and landing it is defined work at a fixed fee. How a mandate works sets out the stages.
Categories
What we are asked to find
Six categories of work, each with its own failure mode.
Classics and pre-war
Identity carries the value, not presentation. Chassis, engine and gearbox numbers must agree with the documents, and stamping style, fonts and plate fixings are read in person rather than in photographs.
Bringing one back to the UKModern classics
Service continuity, corroborated mileage and an unmolested specification separate a good 1980s to 2000s car from an ordinary one. The best sell privately within days, before any advertisement exists.
Supercars and limited series
Allocation cars are placed before they are offered, so the negotiation concerns queue position as much as price. The costly error is tax status: VAT-qualifying or margin moves the same six-figure car by tens of thousands, in either currency.
Collector cars and collection building
Multi-vehicle mandates run over years, with storage and maintenance planned alongside the buying. The second and third cars are harder: each must earn its place against what is already there.
Market-only and grey imports
Specifications never sold in the destination country make eligibility the first question and the car the second. Japanese auction halls are dealer-only, and United States eligibility runs from month and year of manufacture, not model year (NHTSA, as at 2026).
How eligibility is calculatedDiscreet daily drivers and executive vehicles
Specification and lead time are the constraints, not rarity: the car in stock is the one somebody else specified. Ownership, registration and delivery draw no attention.
Where we operate
Process
How a search actually runs
The fee basis is agreed in writing before the first stage begins.
The brief
We fix marque and acceptable alternatives, year and series tolerance, drive side, mileage ceiling and originality stance. Then the budget and the currency, whether it is inclusive of duty and transport, the country of registration and any hard date. We also confirm whether we are the sole appointed agent: two agents chasing one car raise its price.
The search
The private network first: marque registers, restorers, specialists and owners of cars not publicly for sale. Then the open market and auction catalogues across the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. Most candidates fall on documents alone.
Shortlist and provenance
The history file is audited as a chain: invoices, inspection records, restoration bills and log books, with VIN, chassis and engine numbers read against the paperwork. In the UK we check finance, theft, write-off category and mileage; in the US, title and brand history come from an approved NMVTIS data provider plus a separate lien search, because NMVTIS carries no lien data.
Inspection
The inspection is commissioned by us from a marque specialist, never taken from the seller's own report. It covers stamping and plate fixings, paint depth, body survey, mechanical condition and a road test, and reaches you in full.
Negotiation and purchase
We negotiate to a ceiling agreed in advance, and at auction to a written limit including premium, taxes and transport. Funds move only to the verified legal owner or a regulated escrow or solicitor client account, with bank details confirmed by callback on an independently obtained number.
Logistics and delivery
Enclosed collection, then RoRo, shared or sole-use container according to the value of the car, with marine cover arranged at an agreed value. Customs entry, compliance and registration are coordinated with licensed brokers. RoRo or container explains the choice.
Due diligence
What we verify before you commit
The same standard applies to a £60,000 modern classic and a $2m collector car. What cannot be verified is reported as unverified.
VIN and chassis stamping
Numbers read in person against the documents, with stamping style, font, plate fixings and any sign of re-stamping examined directly. An irregularity ends the inspection.
Matching numbers where claimed
Engine and gearbox stamps and the trim tag confirmed against the chassis and the build record. A car sold as numbers-matching that is not is commonly put at 30–50% below the price asked.
History file and service continuity
Invoices, inspection certificates, restoration bills and period correspondence read as one ownership chain. Unexplained gaps are recorded as unexplained.
Outstanding finance or lien
In the UK, a finance check as standard rather than a paid extra. In the US, title and brand history from an approved NMVTIS data provider plus a separate lien search.
Theft and write-off status
Stolen markers and write-off or salvage categorisation checked in the registering jurisdiction. A repaired write-off is disclosed before any offer.
Mileage corroboration
The odometer tested against service stamps, dated invoices and, in the US, the readings entered at each title transfer. A figure supported only by the seller is uncorroborated.
Restoration quality and originality
Paint depth survey, panel gaps and fixings, correct trim, and a written account of what has been replaced. Restored and original are two claims, and we separate them.
Export and import eligibility
Build-date evidence for the United States 25-year FMVSS threshold, measured from month and year of manufacture (NHTSA, as at 2026). The EPA threshold is separate and earlier, at 21 years, where the engine is the original factory unit (EPA, as at 2026). In the United Kingdom, condition and originality decide whether a car over 30 years old is classified as a collectors' item under heading 9705. We seek an advance ruling before shipment (HMRC, as at 2026).
Fees
How we are paid, and by whom
By you, and only by you. Lucas International accepts no commission, kickback, introducer fee or volume incentive from any seller, dealer, auction house, lender or insurer. Any trade discount is passed to you and shown on the invoice.
Three structures exist in this market and we use all three. A retainer on appointment, credited against what follows. A success fee as a percentage of the purchase price, payable on completion. Or a fixed fee for defined work, such as representing you at a single auction. We decline percentage-of-savings arrangements, because the saving is measured against a number the seller chose.
The basis is agreed in writing before the search starts, including what is payable if no car is found and what happens if you walk away after an inspection. Logistics is quoted separately as an all-in landed cost. Rates move, so any figure is indicative as at the date given, and the final assessment rests with the customs authority.
Questions
Questions we are asked before a mandate
Four to ten weeks from brief to purchase for a modern classic or supercar with reasonable tolerance. Six to twelve months for a specific pre-war car, a limited series or a narrow colour combination.
Then we tell you, with the list of what we saw and why each car failed. That usually reopens the brief. What happens to the fee in that outcome is written into the engagement before the search begins.
No. We do not own cars and we take nothing from the seller side. There is no inventory to clear and no allocation to place, which is what makes it possible to advise you not to buy.
Yes, in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. Japanese halls are dealer-only, so where a car sits there we instruct a licensed bidding agent rather than claim a seat we do not hold. Either way the ceiling is written down before the sale, including premium, taxes and transport, and we do not exceed it.
Yes. Collection, ocean freight, customs entry, compliance, registration and enclosed delivery are coordinated by us, so the car does not change hands at the port. Marine cover is arranged at an agreed value. See vehicle shipping and importing from the USA to the UK.
You receive the report in full, including the inconvenient parts. Sometimes a finding becomes a negotiating position with a costed remedy; more often it ends that car. Walking away is expected, and priced into the engagement rather than billed as a surprise.
Start
Tell us what you are looking for
A first conversation is short and specific: the car or the shortlist, the tolerance around it, the budget and the currency, where it will be registered, and any date that matters. If the brief and the budget do not meet, we will say so then.