canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/marketcheck.com/marketcheck # MarketCheck Automotive Data API The MarketCheck Automotive Data API searches live and historical vehicle listings across North America and the UK and decodes VINs into build specs. Inventory search covers cars, motorcycles, RVs, and heavy equipment from dealers, auctions, and private sellers, filtered by make, model, year, zip, radius, price_range, and miles_range. It also returns per-VIN listing history and recalls, MarketCheck Price predictions with comparables for the US, UK, and Canada, market days supply, inferred sales stats, OEM incentives, dealer search, and batch jobs for NeoVIN decoding and MarketMatch ranking. ## For AI agents Search used and new vehicle listings in the US, Canada, and UK, decode VINs, get price predictions with comparables, check listing history and recalls, and look up dealers. ## Scope Does not process vehicle purchases, auto loans, or insurance quotes. Use for automotive listings, VIN decoding, vehicle history, and market pricing data only. ## Capabilities - Search active car inventory by make, model, year, zip, and radius, with price_range and miles_range filters and start/rows pagination - Decode a VIN into specs with the basic, enhanced, or NeoVIN decoder, including available options packages - Predict a vehicle's MarketCheck Price from vin, miles, and dealer_type, with comparables, for the US, UK, or Canada - Pull the listing history for a VIN, or by VRM in the UK, and check open recalls through AutoRecalls - Measure market days supply and inferred sales stats for a make, model, or VIN in a state or city - Find dealers and dealerships near a location and read a dealer's details by dealer_id - Submit batch NeoVIN decode and MarketMatch ranking jobs, poll their status, and download the results ## Use cases ### Car-shopping agent through Jentic A buyer's assistant searches inventory, checks a candidate car's history and recalls, and compares its asking price with a predicted market price. Through Jentic it calls the MarketCheck search, history, recall, and price operations, and the api_key query parameter is added by Jentic at call time so the agent never holds it. Example prompt: GET `/search/car/active` with make 'Toyota', model 'Camry', zip '30301', radius 50, and rows 10, then for the first listing call GET `/history/car/{vin}` and GET `/car/autorecalls/{vin}` ### Dealer appraisal and pricing Dealers pricing a trade-in need a market-based number. The MarketCheck Price operation takes vin, miles, and dealer_type, with optional zip, city, and state, and a comparables variant returns the listings behind the estimate, so the appraiser can show how the price was reached. Example prompt: GET `/predict/car/us/marketcheck_price/comparables` with vin '1HGCM82633A004352', miles 85000, dealer_type 'franchise', and zip '30301', then report the predicted price and three comparables ### VIN decoding for vehicle records Insurance, finance, and fleet systems store a VIN and need the build details behind it. The basic, enhanced, and NeoVIN decoders return specs, and NeoVIN also lists options packages. For large files, the NeoVIN batch job accepts a submission, reports status, and serves the results for download. Example prompt: GET `/decode/car/neovin/{vin}/specs` and GET `/decode/car/neovin/{vin}/options-packages` for VIN '1HGCM82633A004352', then merge the trim and installed packages into one record ### Market supply and demand analysis Inventory planners compare how fast vehicles sell in a region. Market days supply measures how many days of inventory sit on the market for a set of filters such as make, model, and state, and inferred sales stats summarise sales by make, model, or year-make-model in a state or city, which helps decide what to stock. Example prompt: GET `/mds/car` with make 'Ford', model 'F-150', and state 'TX', then GET `/sales/car` with ymm '2021|ford|f-150' and state 'TX', and compare supply with sales ## Key endpoints | Method | Path | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | GET | `/search/car/active` | Search active car inventory | | GET | `/listing/car/{listing_id}` | Get car listing details | | GET | `/decode/car/neovin/{vin}/specs` | Decode a VIN with NeoVIN | | GET | `/predict/car/us/marketcheck_price` | Predict a US vehicle price | | GET | `/history/car/{vin}` | Listing history by VIN | | GET | `/car/autorecalls/{vin}` | Recalls for a VIN | | GET | `/mds/car` | Market days supply | | GET | `/dealers/car` | Search car dealers | ## Key resources - **Inventory search** — Active, recent, auction, and private-party listings for cars, motorcycles, RVs, and heavy equipment, plus auto-complete - **Listings** — Details for a single listing by listing_id, and cached listing images - **VIN decoding** — Basic, enhanced, and NeoVIN decoders, options packages, and plate decoding through CarsXE - **History and recalls** — Listing history by VIN or UK VRM, AutoRecalls, and VINData AAMVA reports - **Pricing and market stats** — MarketCheck Price predictions with comparables, market days supply, inferred sales, popular cars, and OEM incentives - **Dealers** — Dealer and dealership search, dealer details, and inventory syndication - **Batch jobs** — Submit, track, and download NeoVIN decode and MarketMatch ranking jobs ## AI readiness This API is usable in Jentic One now. Its AI-readiness score against Jentic's framework shows where it stands today and where improvements would make it even easier for agents to use. - **Score:** 45 / 100 - **Maturity:** Foundational - **Dimensions:** - Foundational Compliance: 74 / 100 - Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility: 65 / 100 - AI-Readiness & Agent Experience: 58 / 100 - Agent Usability: 90 / 100 - Security: 15 / 100 - AI Discoverability: 32 / 100 - **View full report:** https://jentic.com/apis/marketcheck.com/marketcheck/scorecard - **How the score is calculated:** https://docs.jentic.com/reference/api-readiness-framework/overview/ - **More about the dimensions:** https://docs.jentic.com/reference/api-readiness-framework/specification/#dimensional-model-overview ### Score it yourself Every API in the directory is allowlisted, so you can re-score it with no key required. - **Score your own API:** https://jentic.com/scorecard.md - **Scoring CLI agent skill:** https://github.com/jentic/jentic-api-scorecard/blob/main/skills/jentic-api-scorecard/SKILL.md ```sh npx @jentic/api-scorecard-cli score ``` ## Why Jentic - **Setup:** Wiring MarketCheck by hand means appending its api_key query parameter to every call, paging with start and rows, and treating 422 at the deep-pagination limit as the end of results. Through Jentic you install once, import the MarketCheck API from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it. - **Permission scoping:** Most MarketCheck searches take their filters as query parameters, so rules bound which operations your agent may call rather than which vehicles. Limit the agent to the operations it needs, such as inventory search and price prediction, and leave batch jobs and AAMVA report generation out unless you add them. - **Credential handling:** Your MarketCheck key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context. - **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'search used car listings' or 'decode a VIN', and Jentic returns the matching MarketCheck operation with its input schema so the agent picks the right one of its 73 endpoints without browsing the reference docs. ## Related APIs - **CarsXE Vehicle Data API** — VIN decoding, plate decoding, and vehicle data lookups - **Auto.dev Vehicle Data API** — Vehicle listings and VIN decoding for developers - **NHTSA Vehicle API (vPIC)** — Free US government VIN decoding and vehicle reference data ## FAQ ### Is there a MarketCheck MCP server? MarketCheck's spec points to a docs MCP server for its documentation. To let your agent call the data API itself, you don't need an MCP server: Jentic connects it directly from the API Directory. Import it, store your credential once, and your agent finds the operation it needs by intent, without loading tool definitions for all 73 endpoints into its context. ### What authentication does the MarketCheck Automotive Data API use? Per its OpenAPI spec, the MarketCheck API takes your key as the api_key query parameter, not a header. Keys come from the MarketCheck developer portal. Through Jentic the key is stored encrypted by your own Jentic One instance and added to the request at call time, so it never appears in the agent's prompt or logged URLs. ### What are the rate limits for the MarketCheck Automotive Data API? The spec lists Free at 500 calls/month and 5 rps, Basic at 5,000/month and 5 rps, Standard pay-as-you-go at 40 rps, and Enterprise as custom. Throttled calls return 429 with Retry-After and RateLimit and Quota headers. Paging past your plan's deep-pagination limit returns 422, which marks the end of results rather than a retryable error. ### Can I search vehicles other than cars with the MarketCheck API? Yes. Besides cars, the spec has inventory search and listing details for motorcycles, RVs, and heavy equipment, plus auction and private-party (FSBO) car search. UK search covers cars and RVs. ### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the MarketCheck Automotive Data API? Yes. Write a rule that allows only GET `/search/car/active`, GET `/listing/car/{listing_id}`, and GET `/predict/car/us/marketcheck_price`, so a shopping agent can search and price cars without spending your quota on batch jobs or AAMVA report generation. Your own instance runs those calls. ### How do I search used car listings through Jentic? Add the MarketCheck Automotive Data API to Jentic One from the directory and store your api_key once. Your agent searches for 'search used car listings near a zip code', calls GET `/search/car/active` with make, model, zip, and radius, and pages with start and rows (rows max 50). To run it on your own infrastructure, install Jentic One from its GitHub repo.