About & Methodology

What AutoVetting is

AutoVetting is a free three-step used-car research tool built for buyers who want mechanical due diligence before a purchase, not a referral to a dealer.

The three steps are:

• Pinpoint — Filter for a model that matches your use case, must-haves, seat count, and budget. Start with a short list of reliably good options rather than a sea of unknowns.
• Search — Find listings for your chosen model across major marketplaces.
• Inspect — Enter a VIN (or pick a make/model/year) to surface open safety recalls, technical service bulletins, manufacturer-reported issues, and a model-specific pre-purchase inspection checklist that tells you exactly what to look for — before you hand over money.

The tool does not connect buyers with dealers. It does not list inventory. It does not take a cut of any transaction. It provides information so buyers arrive at the negotiation table with an advantage.

Our data sources

• NHTSA vPIC API — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Vehicle Product Information Catalog decodes VINs into verified make, model, year, trim, engine, and drivetrain data directly from manufacturer records.
• NHTSA Recall Database — Open safety recalls are pulled directly from NHTSA's public recall database. These are manufacturer-confirmed safety defects that have triggered a recall notice — not opinions, not forum posts.
• Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs) — TSBs are manufacturer-issued repair advisories sent to dealerships when a recurring fault pattern is identified. They are not recalls — they do not require free repair — but they indicate known failure patterns that buyers should know about.
• Owner-reported failure patterns — Aggregated from large-volume owner complaint databases. High-frequency complaints on a specific model/year indicate systemic issues that may not have triggered a formal TSB or recall.
• Mechanic knowledge base — Inspection checklist failure points are informed by decades of repair experience. Mileage bands for failure points are set based on when components statistically fail on each specific model, not generic advice.

Our methodology

Vehicle-specific inspection checklists are built by cross-referencing three data streams:

• Recall data for that make/model/year from NHTSA
• TSBs issued by the manufacturer for that engine and drivetrain
• High-frequency owner complaints aggregated across a statistically meaningful sample

Where all three signals converge on the same component, that item is a high-confidence inspection point. Where only one or two signals are present, we include the item but note the confidence level.

Mileage bands are applied to failure points based on when components statistically fail on that specific model — not generic rules of thumb. A 100,000-mile timing belt on a Honda is treated differently than a 100,000-mile transmission on a model with documented premature failures at 80,000.

Safety-critical issues — items where failure risks occupant injury — are flagged separately from maintenance items and cosmetic issues. They appear first in the checklist and are visually distinguished.

No affiliate model

AutoVetting earns no referral fees from dealers, inspection services, parts retailers, or financing companies. We do not sell leads. We do not have sponsored results in any step of the tool.

The tool links to NHTSA directly for recall information. We do not link to parts retailers or mechanic networks for compensation. The repair guides include part price estimates as buyer benchmarks — not as referrals to specific vendors.

The reason for this is straightforward: a tool that earns money by connecting buyers with dealers has a conflict of interest. A tool that earns money by helping buyers make better decisions does not. We chose the latter model.

Who built this

AutoVetting was built by the same team behind TrailManual. The project started from a personal frustration: used-car buying research is fragmented across forums, dealer sites, and review platforms that all have a financial interest in the buyer making a purchase rather than a well-informed one.

The goal is a tool that gives buyers the same information advantage a knowledgeable mechanic friend would give — before the test drive, not after the money is spent.

Questions, corrections, or data issues: autovetting@gmail.com