Guide

Our own fleet or a sourced car — what does the difference mean for you?

Updated September 2026 6 min read Performance & Prestige

A car in our own fleet is one we own, prepare and deliver, so it carries our own driver criteria, our own risk and a firm answer on timing in one conversation. A sourced car is arranged through a vetted partner: its criteria are the partner’s, and the specific vehicle is confirmed in writing before anything is agreed. Every car on the site, both kinds, is quoted on request.

What is the actual difference?

Ownership, and everything that follows from it.

A fleet car is ours. We buy it, we prepare it, we hold it, we deliver it to you — or you collect it — and we take it back at the end. Nothing about that agreement depends on a third party saying yes, which is why we can answer the figure, the dates and the condition of the car in one conversation rather than promising to find out.

A sourced car is arranged through a vetted partner who holds the vehicle. We put the agreement together, we deal with you throughout, and the car itself belongs to somebody we have checked. That is an ordinary structure in this sector. What is less ordinary is saying so on the page.

Every card and every vehicle page carries the badge, so you always know which you are looking at before you enquire rather than after.

Why does no car on the site show a price?

Because a monthly figure is settled against a specific car, a specific start date and a specific driver, and none of those three is known while you are reading a page. Every car in the catalogue reads "on request", ours and sourced alike.

That is not a negotiating position or a way of hiding a high number. The rest of the cost stack is published in full on every car's own page, before any form: the refundable deposit, the insurance excess beside it, the 1,000 miles a month every agreement includes and the rate per mile beyond it. Those are the figures you can hold us to from a page, and on most comparisons they separate two cars further than the monthly figure does.

What the fleet badge changes is where the figure comes from. On a car we own, we settle it ourselves. On a sourced car it is settled with the partner who holds the vehicle, against the same three things, which takes a step we do not control.

The agreement underneath is the same either way: a three-month minimum term, one month up front, then one a month, and nothing taken through this website at any point.

Does a sourced car take longer to arrange?

Usually, and the difference is mostly at the start rather than at the end.

On a fleet car we can answer the price, the availability and the delivery window ourselves, in one conversation. On a sourced car there is a step in the middle: the partner confirms the specific vehicle, the figure and the dates, and only then do you have something firm.

That step is why we will not give you a firm availability state on a sourced car before it happens. A "yes, available" that has not been confirmed is worth nothing, and a date you plan a birthday around is worse than useless if it moves.

If your date is tight, say so at the enquiry stage. It sometimes changes which car we recommend, because a car already sitting in our own fleet is the safer answer to a short deadline than one that has to be confirmed first.

Whose driver criteria apply?

On a fleet car, ours. On a sourced car, the partner's, and we confirm them with you in writing rather than assuming they match.

That is worth reading twice, because the age, licence-held and points requirements published on a sourced car are the ones we hold for that vehicle — and anything the partner adds, we tell you before anything is agreed rather than after you have planned around it.

The same applies to deposit and excess figures, which are provisional across the catalogue pending confirmation. On our own cars we confirm them directly. On a sourced car we confirm them with the partner.

Driver requirements sets out the whole framework, and every car's own page carries its own figures.

Who do you deal with after delivery?

Us, either way. That is the part of this the badge does not tell you and it matters more than the rest.

You enquire with us, the agreement is with us, the car arrives at your door and, if something needs sorting during the term, you call us rather than a partner you have never spoken to. We do not hand you off.

What changes on a sourced car is what happens behind that: some things we resolve directly and some we resolve with whoever holds the vehicle, which occasionally means an answer takes a little longer to come back. We would rather say that plainly than pretend the two are identical.

The insurance arrangement is confirmed with you before anything is agreed on both, and we do not describe it as settled from a web page.

Which cars are ours?

Mostly luxury SUVs, with one open car and one saloon:

The full list, with the deposit, excess and mileage rate on each, is on our fleet. Everything else in the catalogue is arranged through a partner, and that includes every supercar and every grand tourer we list.

Should you steer towards one or the other?

Towards a fleet car if certainty matters most: a firm timeline, our own criteria, our risk rather than somebody else's, and the shortest path from enquiry to a car on your drive.

Towards a sourced car if the car itself matters most, because that is where the catalogue is widest and where almost everything exotic lives. The trade is a confirmation step in front of the answer.

Most people who arrive wanting something exotic end up comparing both, and the comparison is easier once both figures are real. Tell us the car and the date and the fleet answer comes back immediately, the sourced one as soon as it is confirmed.

Common questions

Is a sourced car more expensive?

Not automatically, and we will not guess from a page — every car is priced against the specific vehicle, term and start date, ours as well as sourced. What is true is that the exotic end of the catalogue is entirely sourced, and those cars carry the largest deposits and the steepest excess-mileage rates wherever they come from.

Can I see a sourced car before committing?

Raise it when you enquire. It depends on the partner and on where the vehicle is, so it is something we confirm rather than promise from a web page. On a car in our own fleet we can be much more definite.

Who delivers a sourced car?

It is arranged as part of the agreement and confirmed with you before the day, along with the address, the window and who will be there to sign. Delivery is to your address anywhere in mainland Britain either way, or you can collect the car by arrangement — there are no depots.

Do you check the partners?

Yes. That is what "vetted" means and it is why the word is on the page. What we will not do is publish a claim about how many partners there are or how long the checks take, because those are not figures we are in a position to stand behind publicly.

Can a sourced car become a fleet car?

The catalogue changes over time and cars do move between the two, which is exactly why the badge is generated from the data on every card rather than written into the copy. Whatever a page says today reflects the vehicle record behind it.