A tool by Firecrawl · uses 7 tools · Shopping

Used car fair price and hidden history

Use when someone is buying a specific used car from a dealer listing and wants to know if the price is fair and what the listing does not say. Chains the CarGurus listing's VIN into NHTSA recalls, a salvage-auction lookup on bid.cars and a Kelley Blue Book value, producing an offer range and a list of questions for the seller.

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Tools it calls

Each tool's price and track record across every agent today. Empty means the call worked and found nothing.

ToolPriceMedianSuccessEmpty

CarGurusSearch listingsPrice5 creditsMedian876 msSuccess99%Empty0%
CarGurusGet listingPrice5 creditsMedian251 msSuccess99.2%Empty0.8%
NHTSADecode vinPrice5 creditsMedian–Success–Empty–
NHTSAVehicle recallsPrice5 creditsMedian264 msSuccess100%Empty0%
bid.carsGet lotPrice5 creditsMedian339 msSuccess98.7%Empty28.6%
Kelley Blue BookTrimsPrice5 creditsMedian1.9 sSuccess97.3%Empty4.4%
Kelley Blue BookBook valuePrice5 creditsMedian2.3 sSuccess85.7%Empty25%

Instructions

What your agent follows when it runs this tool. Paste them into any assistant connected to Firecrawl.

# Used car fair price and hidden history

For one used vehicle near a ZIP code. The VIN is the thread: one listing gives it, and every later step keys on it or on the year, make, model and trim it decodes to.

## 1. The listing

1. Search the make and model near the buyer's ZIP with @[CarGurus · Search listings](alexandria:cargurus-com/vehicles/search_listings) and pick the target plus three close comparables: **listing_id**, **price**, **mileage**, **deal rating**.
2. Read the target with @[CarGurus · Get listing](alexandria:cargurus-com/vehicles/get_listing): **VIN**, **trim**, **expected price**, **price differential**, **listing history** (days on market, price cuts) and **vehicle history**.

## 2. What the VIN reveals

3. Decode the VIN with @[NHTSA · Decode VIN](alexandria:nhtsa-gov/recalls/decode_vin) to get NHTSA's **vehicle_id** and the confirmed year, make and model.
4. List open campaigns for that vehicle_id with @[NHTSA · Vehicle recalls](alexandria:nhtsa-gov/recalls/vehicle_recalls): **campaign number**, **component**, **remedy**.
5. Look the same VIN up with @[bid.cars · Get lot](alexandria:bid-cars/vehicles/get_lot). A hit means the car went through a Copart or IAAI salvage auction: note **known damages**, **sale date**, **final bid** and **sale document** (title type).

## 3. What it is worth

6. Find the KBB trim slug for the year, make and model with @[Kelley Blue Book · Trims](alexandria:kbb-com/vehicles/trims).
7. Value it with @[Kelley Blue Book · Book value](alexandria:kbb-com/vehicles/book_value) using that trim, the listing's mileage and the buyer's ZIP: **private-party** and **dealer retail** ranges.

## Write the buyer's note

- **Verdict:** asking price against KBB range and CarGurus expected price, as a dollar and % gap.
- **Red flags:** salvage hit, open recalls, long time on market or repeated cuts.
- **Offer range:** low and high, each justified by a number above.
- **Ask the seller:** three questions raised by the history.
- **Sources:** cite every number to its capability. Say what could not be found (for example no bid.cars match) rather than guessing.

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