The Used Car Index
REMOTE · API.THEUSEDCARINDEX.COM
Free NHTSA recalls, complaints and investigations per vehicle, recall alerts, dealer listing events.
Available components
Last scanned (18 hours ago)
Scores higher than 60% of remote servers
Reachable. Last reached 18 Oct 2026.
Category Maps and Location
How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically against the live server, and we only credit what we can confirm. How we score → Why this is hard to score →
Endpoint Security80
- The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key. View diagnostics → Pass
- No authorisation is required to call this server. Every tool declares its destructiveHint and none is destructive, so open access doesn't expose one. See how to fix → View diagnostics → Partial
- HTTPS is enforced; there's no plaintext access path. View diagnostics → Pass
- The HSTS (Strict-Transport-Security) header is present. View diagnostics → Pass
- DNSSEC check failed: this domain isn't protected by DNSSEC. See how to fix → View diagnostics → Fail
Transport & Reachability100
- Verified streamable-http transport via a live MCP handshake. View diagnostics → Pass
Schema Quality & AI Usability61
- AI-judged instruction clarity (good).Pass
- Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 611 tokens (~152/item across 4 items; 4 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params. See how to fix → Fail
- Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples. See how to fix → Fail
Stability & Change Management12
- Stability check failed: schema churn in the 10 days we've observed: 0 tool removals, 0 breaking changes, 1 auth/transport breaks, 1 additions. See how to fix → Fail
Tool Coverage67
- 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).Pass
- 0% of tool parameters carry a description.Fail
Tool Safety100
- No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.Pass
- We read all 4 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.Pass
- An AI judge read all 4 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.Pass
Capabilities100
- Implements a supported MCP spec version (2025-11-25); the latest is 2026-07-28.Pass
Every change we have recorded for this component, newest first. Security-relevant changes are always shown. ▲ marks a change for the better, ▼ a change for the worse; unmarked changes are neutral.
- 17 Oct 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 6 to 9.
- 15 Oct 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 0 to 2.
- 10 Oct 26 68
First indexed and scored.
Diagnostic detail from the automated scan of this channel: what the scanner observed at each step, so you can see exactly where a check passed or failed. It is informational only and never changes the trust score.
Captured 18 Oct 2026 · Probed https://api.theusedcarindex.com/mcp
TLS valid
Negotiated TLS 1.3 with TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 .
| Subject | Issuer | Valid from | Valid until | Key | Signature | Serial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN=theusedcarindex.com | CN=WE1,O=Google Trust Services,C=US | 7 Oct 2026 | 5 Jan 2027 | ECDSA 256 | ECDSA-SHA256 | 8c3b79cac2a7c6ab0ea2894dc5093e8e |
| SANs: theusedcarindex.com, api.theusedcarindex.com, *.api.theusedcarindex.com | ||||||
| CN=WE1,O=Google Trust Services,C=US (CA) | CN=GTS Root R4,O=Google Trust Services LLC,C=US | 13 Dec 2023 | 20 Feb 2029 | ECDSA 256 | ECDSA-SHA384 | 7ff31977972c224a76155d13b6d685e3 |
| CN=GTS Root R4,O=Google Trust Services LLC,C=US (CA) | CN=GlobalSign Root CA,OU=Root CA,O=GlobalSign nv-sa,C=BE | 15 Nov 2023 | 28 Jan 2028 | ECDSA 384 | SHA256-RSA | 7fe530bf331343bedd821610493d8a1b |
Background: What to check on a remote MCP endpoint →
DNSSEC insecure
Validation of api.theusedcarindex.com. — Not signed
| Zone | DS | Keys | Algorithms | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | trust_anchor | 20326, 38696 | 8, 8 | Verified |
| com. | present | 19718 | 13 | Verified |
| theusedcarindex.com. | absent | Unsigned (proven) parent-signed NSEC/NSEC3 proves an unsigned delegation |
Authentication No authorisation required
The endpoint answered without asking for a token. Anyone who knows the URL can reach it.
| Result | No authorisation required |
|---|---|
| HTTP status | 200 |
| Header | Value |
|---|---|
| strict-transport-security | max-age=31536000 |
| x-content-type-options | nosniff |
Background: How OAuth 2.1 works in the 2026 MCP spec →
Transports 2 probes
| Transport | URL | Outcome | Status | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| streamable-http | https://api.theusedcarindex.com/mcp | Verified | 200 | |
| http (plaintext) | http://api.theusedcarindex.com/mcp | HTTPS enforced | 301 | https://api.theusedcarindex.com/mcp |
The tools this component advertises to a client, with an estimated token cost for each. Expand a tool to see its parameters and schema. The per-tool counts are indicative and are not scored directly; the schema's total context footprint is one signal in Schema Quality & AI Usability. A tool's description is untrusted text the model reads on every call, which is what makes this list a security surface and not just an inventory: how tool poisoning works →
compare_vehicles Compare vehicles ~94
Compare recorded facts for several vehicles side by side, with factual orderings by complaints, recalls and available verified complaints-per-100k-sold rates. Unknown vehicles come back with database suggestions and unrated vehicles stay explicitly unrated. Counts reflect source coverage; no recommendation, verdict or safety ranking. The free tier compares up to 2 vehicles per call, paid plans up to 5.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| vehicles | array | yes | – |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
listing_changes Listing changes ~170
List observed dealer listing changes (new, price drop, relisted, delisted) with VIN, price, mileage, dates, source and link, filtered by vehicle, event type or date. Collector status separates an inactive feed from observed events. No photos or dealer-written text; delisted only means the listing was no longer observed, not that a sale completed. The free tier returns at most 10 events per call with no paging, paid plans up to 200 with cursors.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| cursor | string | – | – |
| event_type | string | – | – |
| limit | integer | – | – |
| make | string | – | – |
| model | string | – | – |
| since | string | – | – |
| until | string | – | – |
| vin | string | – | – |
| year | integer | – | – |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
recall_changes Recall and investigation changes ~186
List new and updated NHTSA recalls, investigations and complaint-count changes that this service recorded from the daily NHTSA bulk-file comparison, newest first, filtered by make, model, model year, type (recall, investigation, complaint_count) or observed date. Each change has the NHTSA campaign or action number, the record date, a short summary and a source link. These are published records, not a prediction, safety rating or advice. The free tier returns at most 10 changes per call with no paging, paid plans up to 200 with cursors and a vehicle watchlist.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| cursor | string | – | – |
| limit | integer | – | – |
| make | string | – | – |
| model | string | – | – |
| since | string | – | – |
| type | string | – | – |
| until | string | – | – |
| year | integer | – | – |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
vehicle_risk Vehicle risk record ~161
Look up the recorded risk facts for one make, model and model year: NHTSA complaint counts by system and subsystem, recalls, investigations, manufacturer communications, an optional verified complaints-per-100k-sold rate and source coverage. Separately labeled Jev model tags (model years 2012 and newer; about 43 percent of all complaints are tagged) carry per-label counts, shares and model confidence, which is not accuracy. Spellings and aliases resolve to the stored vehicle. A zero is confirmed only when coverage_complete is true. These are observed records, not a prediction, safety rating, verdict, repair advice or an individual vehicle history.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| make | string | yes | – |
| model | string | yes | – |
| year | integer | yes | – |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
How do I install the The Used Car Index MCP server?
The Used Car Index is a hosted endpoint at https://api.theusedcarindex.com/mcp, so there is nothing to install locally. Ready-made configuration for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and 5 more is on this page, copied from each client's own documentation.
remote · api.theusedcarindex.com
claude mcp add --transport http com-theusedcarindex-feed 'https://api.theusedcarindex.com/mcp'
What is the The Used Car Index MCP server?
The Used Car Index is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as com.theusedcarindex/feed. Free NHTSA recalls, complaints and investigations per vehicle, recall alerts, dealer listing events. This page covers its hosted endpoint (https://api.theusedcarindex.com/mcp).
Is the The Used Car Index MCP server safe to use?
The Used Car Index scores 70 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. That is a record of what we were able to check automatically, not an endorsement. The category breakdown on this page shows every signal behind the number, including the ones we could not confirm.
What tools does the The Used Car Index MCP server expose?
The Used Car Index exposes 4 tools: vehicle_risk, compare_vehicles, listing_changes, recall_changes. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 611 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.
Does the The Used Car Index MCP server require authentication?
No. We connected to The Used Car Index without credentials and it answered, so anything it exposes is reachable by anyone who knows the address.
Is the The Used Car Index MCP server still maintained?
The Used Car Index is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 18 October 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.