Buying
Searching in one sentence: what the filters make of it
5 min read
Instead of setting a dozen filters, you can type a sentence on Carvexia, in your own language, and the search sets the filters itself. That saves time as long as you know what happens: only what translates clearly into a filter is taken from the sentence. The rest is dropped rather than guessed.
What a sentence can become
On the home page and in the search there is a link, “Rather describe it in your own words?”. It opens a field for a sentence of up to 200 characters and a button, “Turn into filters”. You need to be signed in for it, and you can write in any European language.
An external AI service turns the sentence into filters — the same ones you could set by hand. That is the key to understanding it: the sentence search can do nothing the filters cannot. It only saves you the clicking. What cannot be expressed as a filter cannot be searched for either. And because the sentence goes to an external service, nothing belongs in it that does not belong in a search — no name, no phone number.
Nor does it guess. A filter is only set if you asked for it explicitly or unambiguously; everything else stays open. If no filter at all can be derived from the sentence, the search looks for your text like an ordinary full-text search. The same happens if the reading fails or the feature's daily limit has been reached. So your input is never lost.
Details that translate into filters
Makes and models are matched against the catalogue that the search's selection lists come from. Common spellings from other markets are mapped: “3 Series” becomes the “3er”, “C-Class” the “C-Klasse”. A make or model the catalogue does not know is dropped, and the search tells you so explicitly.
The other details that become filters:
- Fuel, gearbox, drivetrain, body type, colour and condition. Hybrid and plug-in hybrid both count as hybrid; 4x4, quattro or xDrive become all-wheel drive.
- Price, year and mileage, each with a lower and upper limit.
- Power in PS (metric horsepower) or kW. A figure in kW is converted with the usual factor (1 kW is roughly 1.36 PS).
- Minimum number of seats and doors, and a minimum range for electric cars.
- Accident-free, service history, warranty and reclaimable VAT — only if you ask for them. There is never a “without warranty” filter.
- Dealer or private seller, a country and a place — only if you name them.
Words that are not filters
Many words people use to describe a car are judgements: reliable, economical, well kept, family-friendly, well equipped. There is no filter for them, and the sentence search does not invent one. If the rest of the sentence produces filters, such words are simply dropped; they do not narrow the list.
Even what does translate is only as good as the information behind it. “Accident-free” filters on what the seller stated in the listing, and so does “service history”. Whether it is true only the records and the viewing will show.
If you still mean one of those judgement words, translate it yourself into something measurable:
- Economical: a fuel type, an upper power limit, a minimum range for electric cars. Then read the consumption in the listing.
- Family-friendly: estate or van, at least five doors or seven seats — whatever you actually need.
- Well kept: the service history filter and a mileage limit. Whether it was looked after is shown by the invoices, not by the word.
- Reliable: no filter can do that. What helps here are the maintenance records, the condition at the viewing and the reputation of the engine and gearbox combination.
Amounts and currencies in the sentence
Carvexia shows cars from many countries in many currencies, and the search compares prices using a converted value. So the sentence search needs to know which currency you are thinking in. The rule is simple: if you name a currency — euro, francs, €, CHF, zł — the amounts are in that currency. If you name none, they are in your display currency, the one you have set on the site.
So with francs as your display currency, “under 20,000” means 20,000 francs; with euros, 20,000 euros. Short forms such as “20k” are understood. The conversion is not done by the AI service but afterwards by the search itself, exactly as with the price fields in the filter panel.
Two consequences are worth knowing. First, a car listed in another currency and priced close to your limit can fall in or out depending on the exchange rate; so leave some headroom in the limit. Second, the converted price is a guide. You pay in the seller's currency, at your bank's rate on the day — and a price from abroad only becomes comparable once transport, import and registration are added.
Checking what was recognised, and sharpening it
After the translation you land in the search with filters set and a short message: “Matched automatically”, plus a one-sentence summary and a request to give the filters a quick check. Take that request seriously. The filters appear as chips above the list; each can be removed with a click, and in the filter panel you can change any value.
A new sentence replaces the previous filters completely. So make small corrections in the filter panel rather than with a second sentence. What to look out for when checking:
- Is something you wrote missing? Then it was not a filter or could not be matched unambiguously.
- Is something there that you did not mean? “No older than five years” should be a minimum year, not a mileage limit.
- A place in the sentence becomes a place filter: the search looks for listings with that place name or postcode, not within a radius. Places usually appear in the listing as the seller writes them — Milano, not Milan. To search more widely, remove the place and set the country instead.
- A country is only set if you name one. Without a country, the search covers the entire stock.
- Is the power right? A figure given in kW appears converted to PS.
Turning the search into a price alert
Once the filters are right, you do not need to type the search again every day. With an account you save it via “Save search”; the saved search remembers the filters and notifies you of new matches.
Without an account, it works where a search finds nothing. Below the empty list you then see “Tell me when something matches”: enter your e-mail address, “Set the alert”, click the link in the confirmation e-mail. Only then is the alert active. You get a message when new cars matching the filters are listed, at most one a day, and you can unsubscribe with one click in every e-mail. On the pages for individual models the same form appears even when there are matches — but only for make and model, without your other filters.
The alert takes over exactly the filters set at that moment — including a wrongly recognised one. A place filter you did not want or a mileage limit that is too tight makes it silently overlook suitable cars. So check the chips before you set the alert. And the name is slightly misleading: the price alert reports new listings below your price limit, not price reductions. Those you find in the search with “Reduced cars only”.