A dealer who works the aisles properly comes home from a show with a folder of quotes from vehicle suppliers. The hard part is not collecting them. The hard part is that three weeks later, on a Tuesday, you try to lay those quotes side by side and discover you cannot — because each supplier answered a slightly different question, and none of the answers were written down in the same units.

The fix is unglamorous and it works: carry the same list of questions to every stand, ask them in the same words, and write down the answer in the form it was given. What follows is that list: 12 questions in three groups, with a note on what separates an answer you can file from an answer that only sounds like one.

A disclosure before the list: we build electric golf carts and utility vehicles in China for dealers who sell under their own brand. We are not exhibiting at this year’s show. These are the questions we would want a dealer to put to every vehicle supplier they are seriously evaluating — including us.

GROUP ONE — THE TERMS

1. Is the vehicle on this stand built to the specification you would ship, or to a show specification?

Ask which items on the vehicle in front of you are standard and which are additions, and ask for that list set against the configuration you are being quoted. A usable answer is a list. An unusable answer is “that’s pretty much what you get.”

2. What is the smallest first order you will accept?

A single unit and a full container commit very different amounts of your capital and your floor space. Ask what the first order has to be before you ask what it costs — the two numbers are not independent, and a price is meaningless until you know the quantity attached to it.

3. How long is production, in what kind of days, counted from which event, and which milestone ends it?

A production time is not comparable until you have four things: the number, whether the days are working or calendar, every condition that must be met before the clock starts, and the milestone that stops it. One supplier may count to assembly, another to inspection, another to packing. “About six weeks” from two different stands can mean a month apart in real life.

4. What is the warranty, on which components, from what date — and can I read the written terms before I pay a deposit?

Ask for the exclusions in the same breath. Terms described at a booth and terms you can read before money moves are not the same instrument.

GROUP TWO — CONFIGURATION, CONTAINERS AND PARTS

5. If I change the seat color, the roof or the wheel package, what does that change — the price, the production time, or both? And what is the minimum for a changed configuration?

Ask them to answer per item, in writing. What you need is a number attached to each change, not a yes.

6. Can one container carry more than one configuration, and which ones can be combined?

Compare the answer against the mix you actually plan to stock, not against what you would like to be possible. This is the question that decides whether your first order matches your lot or fights it.

7. What spare parts ship with my order, who selected that list, and how was the quantity arrived at?

Ask for the list itself and the rule behind the quantity. A list you can read is a different thing from an assurance that parts will be included.

8. When a unit is down in month seven, where does the replacement part ship from, and how long until it reaches me?

Ask for a location and a stated lead time you can hold them to — then ask the follow-up that actually matters: what happens when the part is not in that location.

GROUP THREE — THE DOCUMENTATION

9. Which cell brand and model is in the pack, and which test report covers it?

Ask for the report reference, the test date, the issuing organization and the test scope. Scope is the part people skip. Check whether the report covers the cell, the module or the assembled pack, and whether the model it names is the model in the configuration you are being quoted.

10. Who owns the tooling for this body, and is the same body supplied to other brands?

Ask for it in writing rather than inferring it from the styling. If the answer has to be confirmed after the show, that is not evidence either way — it is simply unconfirmed. Record it as such and follow it up.

11. Which controller and motor are fitted, and when one throws a fault code, what is the support route for my technician?

Ask for the make, the model, the channel and the hours it is staffed. The last two are the ones that matter late on a Friday.

12. If I have to service a unit built 18 months ago, how do I identify which revision it is, and are the parts still the same?

Ask how revisions are identified on the vehicle, and what the supplier does when a part is superseded. Use the answer to work out how you would identify and order replacement parts for an earlier revision — because eventually you will.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE ANSWERS

Two habits make the list worth carrying.

First, write the answer in the form it was given, including the hedges. “40 working days from deposit, counted to packing” and “about six weeks” are different answers, and the difference disappears the moment you tidy one into the other in your notes.

Second, note which questions got an answer that has to be confirmed later, and treat that as a third category rather than a soft no. Plenty of good suppliers send a booth team without the paperwork. What matters is whether the confirmation actually arrives, and how long it takes — which is itself one of the more honest signals you will collect all week.

Then lay them side by side, and hold us to the same 12.

Gabby Ran is the owner of EV Cart Source (https://evcartsource.com), which manufactures electric golf carts and electric utility vehicles in China for dealers and distributors selling under their own brand.