Buyer guide
Send the information that makes your requirement clear.
Seven sections, one checklist and a template you can copy straight into an email. Nothing here is mandatory — but a requirement carrying these details gets a real answer first time instead of a request for more information.
Why this page exists
Buyers are rarely short of knowledge about their own vehicles. What slows a sourcing conversation down is that the knowledge stays in the buyer's head, and the enquiry that arrives is three lines long.
This guide is written to close that gap. Each section says what to send, why it matters and one practical tip — and at the end there is a plain-text template you can copy, fill in and send from your own email. You do not need any technical vocabulary to use it.
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Vehicle / Application
The single most useful line in a seatbelt enquiry is the one that says where the part is going.
Make, model, year and body type for a road vehicle. Trim level if you know it. If the application is not a road vehicle — a bus, a piece of equipment, a seat installed into something custom — describe what it is and how the belt mounts to it.
Belt geometry, anchorage positions and retractor arrangements are designed around a specific vehicle. The same manufacturer, in the same model generation, can use different belts across trims and body styles. Without the application, no answer can be more than a guess.
If you have the registration document or a VIN plate photograph, that resolves make, model and year in one image.
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Product Requirement
Say what kind of thing you need, even if you are unsure of the correct term for it.
Whether you need a complete belt assembly, a retractor unit, a buckle or receiver, a tongue, mounting hardware, webbing, or an accessory. Plus the seat position — front right, front left, rear right, rear left or rear centre — for every item.
“A seatbelt” can mean a whole working assembly or a single moulded buckle, and the two are different conversations with different answers. Position matters just as much: belts differ between positions on the very same vehicle.
Unsure of the term? Describe it physically. “The bit the metal tongue clicks into, on a short stalk” is perfectly clear.
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Photographs
Photographs do more work than any other information you can send. This is the section worth the extra two minutes.
The belt in place before anything is removed. The mounting points at both ends. The buckle from at least two angles. Any moulded, printed or embossed markings, photographed close and in focus. A wider shot showing the seat and the surrounding trim for context.
A photograph carries details you would not think to describe — the mounting orientation, the stalk length, the connector type, the shape of the anchor foot. It also removes the risk of a term meaning one thing to you and something else to us.
Wipe the part first, use daylight if you can, and take the markings shot close enough to actually read. A blurry code is worse than no code, because it invites a wrong assumption.
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Quantity
Wholesale runs on numbers, and the useful number is the one broken down per item.
How many of each item, listed separately rather than as a single total. Whether the figure is fixed or approximate. Whether the requirement is a one-off or repeats, and roughly how often if it does.
A total conceals mismatches. “Twelve belts” might be twelve identical assemblies or four different items in threes — and only the itemised version can be sourced without a second round of questions.
For fleet work, listing by vehicle rather than by part is often easier and just as useful.
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Destination
Where the goods need to reach shapes the logistics, the timeline and any documentation involved.
City and state at minimum. Country if the requirement is crossing a border. If there is a specific delivery point — a workshop, a warehouse, a depot — note the type of location.
Destination is not a formality attached at the end of a sourcing conversation. It affects how a requirement can be met, how long it takes, and what a shipment may need to carry with it.
If the destination is not settled yet, say that. A known unknown is far more useful than a placeholder.
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Existing Markings / Information
Anything already written down about the part saves reconstructing it from scratch.
Moulded codes on housings, printed labels on webbing, embossed numbers on tongues and anchor plates. Previous invoices, old part references, a supplier's earlier description, packaging from a prior order.
Existing references narrow a search dramatically. Even a partial or worn code helps, and even a reference that turns out to be wrong is informative — it tells us which direction not to go in.
Transcribe exactly what you see, including characters you are unsure about, and mark them as uncertain rather than correcting them to what you assume they should be.
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Additional Requirements
The constraints that are obvious to you are invisible to everybody else until you state them.
Your timeline and the date past which the requirement stops being useful. Whether items must match one another. Any colour requirement. Packaging or labelling expectations. Anything your own customer has imposed on you.
Constraints genuinely narrow what can be supplied, which is precisely why they must arrive at the requirement stage rather than at delivery. A matching constraint discovered late is a returned batch.
If your requirement is driven by your own customer's schedule, say so. It changes how the timeline is treated.
Checklist
The enquiry checklist
Run down this list before you send. Anything you cannot answer is not a blocker — simply say so, and it becomes the first thing we look at together.
- The vehicle or application is stated Make, model, year and body type — or a description of the equipment.
- The seat position is given for every item Front right, front left, rear right, rear left or rear centre.
- The product type is described Assembly, retractor, buckle, tongue, hardware or accessory — in your own words is fine.
- Photographs are attached Belt in place, mounting points, buckle from two angles, markings in focus.
- Quantity is broken down per item Not a single total, and with a note on whether it repeats.
- Destination is included City, state or country — and the type of delivery point if it matters.
- Markings are transcribed exactly Including any characters you were unsure about, flagged as uncertain.
- Constraints are stated Timeline, matching requirements, colour, packaging, or your customer's conditions.
Template
A template you can copy into an email.
Select it, copy it, delete whatever does not apply and send it to info@autogleam.in. Or use the same structure through the enquiry form, which lays it out field by field.
WHOLESALE ENQUIRY Name Your name Company Business name, if applicable Country / City Where you are enquiring from Phone Best number to reach you Email Where the reply should go REQUIREMENT Vehicle Make / model / year / body type Seat position Front right / front left / rear right / rear left / rear centre Product Assembly / retractor / buckle / tongue / hardware / accessory Quantity Per item, e.g. 4 x front right assembly, 2 x rear buckle Repeating? One-off, or repeating (how often) Destination City / state / country Needed by Date, and the date it stops being useful Must items match? Yes / no IDENTIFICATION Markings Codes exactly as written, note anything uncertain Prior reference Old invoice, part number, previous supplier description Photographs Attached: belt in place, mounting points, buckle, markings ANYTHING ELSE Colour requirements, packaging expectations, constraints from your own customer, or a question you would like answered before going further.
Background
A little context on why identification is so specific.
The three-point seatbelt — the lap-and-diagonal arrangement now standard in passenger cars — was developed by the engineer Nils Bohlin at Volvo and introduced on production cars at the end of the 1950s. Volvo made the design broadly available to other manufacturers rather than keeping it exclusive, which is why the basic geometry is now near-universal across the industry.
What did not become universal was the hardware. Every manufacturer engineers the anchorage points, retractor housings, stalk lengths, connector types and mounting arrangements around the specific vehicle body they are designing. The result is that belts which look alike across two vehicles are frequently not interchangeable at all.
That is the practical reason this guide asks for so much specificity. It is not administrative thoroughness for its own sake — it is that a seatbelt is defined as much by the vehicle around it as by the belt itself.
A note on scope. This guide covers how to describe and source a requirement. It does not cover fitting, adjusting, inspecting or repairing a restraint system. That work belongs with qualified automotive professionals assessing the actual vehicle, and nothing on this website should be treated as a substitute for it.
Next step
Guide read. Now send the requirement.
Use the template, the enquiry form or a plain email with photographs attached. Whichever is fastest for you is the right one.