Vehicle History Report

A Design Sprint Under Extreme Time Constraints

Detail

IT Company

Rol

UX/UI Designer, Researcher & Facilitator.

Country

Argentina

Duration

1 week

Year

2019

Overview

This project was a one-week, sprint-driven exploration to design a Vehicle History Report for the Argentinian used-car market.
Working under tight time constraints, we used a remote Design Sprint to rapidly assess feasibility, define the right moment in the user journey, and prototype a report that could support safer purchasing decisions.

Problem statement

How might we provide fast, relevant, and accessible information to support decision-making when buying a used car?

User context

In Argentina, buyers are not accustomed to vehicle history reports
Information is fragmented across multiple sources
Trust relies heavily on word of mouth and manual inspections

Business context

The lack of centralized data creates uncertainty
Market informality limits access to reliable information
Viability needed to be tested quickly before further investment

Summary Outcomes

Design can meaningfully support decision-making, even when data is incomplete
Market informality is a structural constraint, not a design flaw
Trust in financial and asset-related decisions requires careful framing and transparency
In highly informal markets, expectation management is as important as feature completeness

Key insight:
In this context, the most reliable path to accuracy remains certified mechanical inspections. Design can’t replace missing data — but it can help users understand limitations and make more informed choices.

Key Challenge

This was not just a design problem — it was a market and feasibility challenge.

Early research revealed:

80% of findings pointed to structural challenges tied to local business practices
90% difficulty in obtaining complete, reliable data
No centralized source for used vehicle information
Project viability was assessed as 75% questionable at discovery stage

Despite this, we explored how design could still add value through clarity, transparency, and expectation management.

Approach

We ran a fully remote Design Sprint, focusing on two core questions:

What information is most valuable to users when buying a used car?
At what moment in the journey does a report provide the most value?

Sprint focus areas

Report content definition: identifying critical data points and prioritizing clarity over completeness
Landing page & purchase flow: simplifying access and using clear language aligned with user concerns
Visual hierarchy: using icons, color, and whitespace to support fast scanning and comprehension

Weaknesses

Strengths

Existing reports

Key Decisions

Favor concise, high-signal information over exhaustive detail
Use visual cues (icons, color) to communicate risk and status
Position the report at two key moments:
- Before in-person inspection
- After inspection, as confirmation
Focus initially on B2C users, despite exploring B2B opportunities

Created by our stakeholders, who actively participated in crafting our user profiles.

Launch regions

Suscription process analysis

Prototype & Testing

We produced both digital and printable versions of the report and tested them with four pre-selected users matching our target profile.

Testing goals

Usability of the report interface
Relevance and clarity of content
Effectiveness of visual design

Key findings

Users found the report clear, professional, and easy to read
Visual hierarchy supported fast understanding
Content aligned with expectations for decision support

Areas for improvement

Add tooltips or contextual explanations
Include real-life examples
Increase use of visual summaries (e.g., infographics)

Outcomes & Learnings

Design can meaningfully support decision-making, even when data is incomplete
Market informality is a structural constraint, not a design flaw
Trust in financial and asset-related decisions requires careful framing and transparency
In highly informal markets, expectation management is as important as feature completeness

Key insight:

In this context, the most reliable path to accuracy remains certified mechanical inspections. Design can’t replace missing data — but it can help users understand limitations and make more informed choices.

Digital Report

Print Report