Bettina Grieser Johns (asker) Aug 27, 2018:

@ Steffen That certainly sounds like a possibility!

Steffen Walter Aug 27, 2018:

Bettina, ... ... based on the feedback received from your client, how about "eligible car/vehicle/make"?

Bettina Grieser Johns (asker) Aug 27, 2018:

@ Everybody I am so grateful for all your thoughts, ideas and references on this! I must admit that I am not much the wiser. Steffen is right in that the questionnaire seemed to be addressing the interviewer, who filled in the answers for the respondent. Actually, the questions sounded very similar to those given in the Spanish kudoz question, so that I agree with Bjoern in that the ST in the Spanish question sounded translated from German. I asked the client and the answer I got was: "We refer to “Quotenfahrzeug” when we talk about cars which have listed admissible for the study. So to speak a vehicle that is accepted to reach the quota. " I think that goes in the direction of what philgoddard said. In the end I went with 'quota vehicle' as I felt that was 'safest' and covered both possibilities.

Björn Vrooman Aug 24, 2018:

If that is so... ...then what about brands (or whatever) "relevant to this survey"?

"Specific food types relevant to this survey are presented in the subsequent tables."
https://www.cefas.co.uk/publications/environment/bradwell201...

Best

Steffen Walter Aug 24, 2018:

This term seems to be part ... ... of the internal interviewer instructions, rather than the actual questionnaire.

Björn Vrooman Aug 24, 2018:

I think we have a misunderstanding I don't like the answers in Spanish either, Phil, but as said, I don't even trust the ST. The issue with a good portion of EN-to-whatever-language questions is that the text has been translated and re-translated until it "ended up" as a source document in EN.

I thought my surveymonkey links were much more helpful and they seem to confirm your explanation further below.

And, yes, the German word is probably not widespread. As you are well aware, we've had a number of DE-EN questions where Germans created words out of thin air.

What I meant was that I couldn't find any proof of the English term being used. Just because Germans put two words together doesn't mean there isn't some kind of ENS description for that. We've had those questions before.

Moreover, while Quotenfahrzeug can be misunderstood as having something to do with sales quotas (see below), the same can be said about "car/vehicle quota". A lot of my work deals with sustainable means of transportation. There are, for example, electric car quotas in China and the ZEV program in Cali. It's needlessly confusing, IMO.

Also, why is this shown to the respondent at all?

Best

philgoddard Aug 24, 2018:

The old question supports my answer, though all three Spanish translations are wrong in my opinion. And thanks for your references about quotas.
There's no reason why this word should appear widely online, since it's being used in this specific surbey.

Björn Vrooman Aug 24, 2018:

Yes, there is an old KudoZ question about it See

https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english-to-spanish/marketing-mark...

I don't trust the ST, though.

Also, I find it extremely odd that you can't find that term online, especially since it is market research.

I can support what you've said in the discussion box:
https://help.surveymonkey.com/articles/de/kb/What-are-Quotas
https://help.surveymonkey.com/articles/en_US/kb/What-are-Quo...

However, I didn't know just putting two words together was considered acceptable.

Best wishes

Bettina Grieser Johns (asker) Aug 24, 2018:

@philgoddard Yes, that's what I mean. They next question, with the heading "Quotenfahrzeuge", gives various car brands and models and the interviewee has to tick what he's driving. If it's not a Quotenfahrzeug, the survey ends for him. So it seems they are only interested in Quotenfahrzeuge.

philgoddard Aug 24, 2018:

I don't think this is anything to do with sales quotas. Isn't it a market research term, meaning they have quotas for the different makes of car whose owners they have to interview? For example, they might want 1,000 Volkswagen owners. If so, I would simply say "quota car".
When you say 'weitergeleitet zu "Quotenfahrzeug"', do you mean they're routed to another question headed Quotenfahrzeug? If so, what does that say?

Björn Vrooman Aug 24, 2018:

Bettina I think Frosty misunderstood what this person said. The "also" in the first sentence is colloquial and is not "which means" but "or, more, specifically."

A Quotenfahrzeug is part of the sales quota the car dealer has to meet.

Please see "Meeting Quotas" here:
https://www.carlease.com/blog/how-are-car-dealerships-able-t...

Cf
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/12/19/aa.why.bu...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimhenry/2012/10/31/car-dealers...

That's in line with
https://www.goingelectric.de/forum/smart-fortwo-electric-dri...

and

https://www.motor-talk.de/forum/4er-gc-rabatt-t6156357.html?...

This one here is particularly interesting:
https://www.meinauto.de/lieferzeit

Look for "Quote" only. It is a match to the LEO query and you'll see why it was preordered.

Best

Bettina Grieser Johns (asker) Aug 24, 2018:

@ Frosty Thanks, Frosty - I was wondering about that one. I can see it makes sense in the context of the two references, but I just don't understand the German.