# Car Check

Decode a VIN and see recalls and fuel use for a US car. It is free, with no sign-up and no key.

## What it does

Check a US car's public record before you buy or while you own it: decode a VIN, see its recalls, crash test ratings and owner complaints, and compare fuel economy.

Ask "what car is VIN 1HGCM82633A004353?", "any recalls on a 2018 Toyota Camry?", "give me a report on a 2016 Honda Civic" or "what mpg does a 2022 Toyota RAV4 hybrid get?".

Car Check reads two free official sources: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for VIN decoding, recalls, 5-star crash test ratings and consumer complaints, and the US Environmental Protection Agency's fueleconomy.gov for mpg, mpge, electric range, tailpipe CO2 and estimated annual fuel cost.

The report answers in one call: the vehicle, its crash ratings, how many recalls NHTSA lists and the newest ones, how many complaints were filed and which components they name most often, and its fuel economy.

Complaints are shown only as a count and the components named. Individual complaint texts and VIN fragments are never returned, and a complaint is a report from an owner, not a confirmed defect.

It covers vehicles sold in the US. Recalls and complaints are listed by year, make and model, not by VIN, so for one specific car confirm at nhtsa.gov/recalls. A VIN you enter is sent to NHTSA to decode it and is never stored.

Car Check is a data lookup. It is not a valuation, a vehicle history or accident report, an inspection, or safety, mechanical or buying advice.

Data from NHTSA (nhtsa.gov) and the US EPA (fueleconomy.gov), which are public US government sources. It stores nothing about you: answers are cached for a day, and the only lasting record is a daily count of calls per tool.

- Decodes a 17-character VIN into year, make, model, trim, body style, engine and fuel, with NHTSA's own error codes
- Lists NHTSA recalls for a year, make and model with the component, consequence and remedy
- Shows NHTSA 5-star crash test ratings: overall, front, side and rollover
- Counts owner complaints filed with NHTSA and names the components reported most often
- Shows EPA fuel economy: city, highway and combined mpg, mpge, electric range and annual fuel cost
- Builds a one-call report from a VIN or from year, make and model
- Covers US vehicles only and never gives valuation, history or safety advice

## Who it is for

Anyone who asks an AI assistant a question like this one: “What mpg does a 2022 RAV4 hybrid get?”

Roles that use it at work: Fleet or car dealer manager.

## Price

Car Check is free to use. There is no sign-up, no account and no API key. Calls are limited to 60 calls a minute per network and 5000 calls a day per server, shared by all callers. Repeat questions are answered from a cache.

## Tools it offers

- `decode_vin`: Decode a VIN
- `get_vehicle_report`: Get a vehicle report
- `list_recalls`: List recalls
- `get_fuel_economy`: Get fuel economy

## Connect

The MCP server is `https://cars.openkrill.app/mcp` (streamable HTTP). It needs no key.

Claude Code, in one command:

```
claude mcp add --transport http cars https://cars.openkrill.app/mcp
```

Hermes Agent, in one command that answers its two setup questions (no key, enable all tools):

```
printf 'n\ny\n' | hermes mcp add cars --url https://cars.openkrill.app/mcp
```

Or add these lines to `~/.hermes/config.yaml`, under an existing `mcp_servers:` key if the file has one. Start a new Hermes session after either step.

```
mcp_servers:
  cars:
    url: https://cars.openkrill.app/mcp
```

Any other agent: give it this page's Markdown address, `https://tools.openkrill.app/tools/cars.md`, and ask it to connect Car Check.

Install guides, each checked with a real call: [Car Check in ChatGPT](https://tools.openkrill.app/integrations/cars/chatgpt), [Car Check in Claude](https://tools.openkrill.app/integrations/cars/claude), [Car Check in Cursor](https://tools.openkrill.app/integrations/cars/cursor), [Car Check in VS Code](https://tools.openkrill.app/integrations/cars/vscode), [Car Check in Pi](https://tools.openkrill.app/integrations/cars/pi).

## Job recipes for agents

Step-by-step recipes that walk an agent through 3 jobs with this server's tools:

- Decode a VIN, with `decode_vin`
- Get a vehicle report, with `get_vehicle_report`
- List recalls, with `list_recalls`

[Download the recipes as SKILL.md](https://tools.openkrill.app/skills/cars-jobs/SKILL.md). Save it as `cars-jobs/SKILL.md` in your agent's skills folder. A connected MCP client gets the same recipes from `prompts/list` on the gateway, `https://api.openkrill.app/gateway/mcp`.

It is listed under Everyday checks in the [full tool list](https://tools.openkrill.app/tools). The same facts in plain text are in [llms.txt](https://tools.openkrill.app/llms.txt).

Source: the Car Check listing, version 1.0.1. As of 2026-10-18.