Garage

Garage — connector documentation

• MCP endpoint: https://garage.connectorbay.com/mcp
• REST API: POST https://garage.connectorbay.com/v1/tools/{tool_name}, described by the OpenAPI 3.1 spec at https://garage.connectorbay.com/openapi.json
• Transport: Streamable HTTP, stateless, MCP specification 2025-06-18 or later
• Authentication: none required. An optional Authorization: Bearer <key> raises rate limits.
• Health: https://garage.connectorbay.com/health · Tool schemas: https://garage.connectorbay.com/tools.json
• Publisher: Unify Dynamics LLC · connectorbay.com/garage · agent@connectorbay.com

What Garage is for

Buying a used car, or wondering whether the noise your own car makes is a known problem, means the same three tabs every time: NHTSA recalls, owner complaints, and fueleconomy.gov. Garage does that in one call. A VIN (or a year/make/model) becomes what the car is, every open recall with the free remedy and whether NHTSA says to park it, what owners complain about most with crash and fire counts, the 5-star crash ratings, the EPA fuel economy and what fuel will cost at the person's own mileage, a side-by-side of the shortlist, and a used-car verdict with the questions to ask the seller.

Sources and what they mean

• NHTSA vPIC decodes any VIN (with a check-digit test for typos).
• NHTSA recalls are the manufacturer's own filed campaigns by year/make/model. Whether a specific VIN is included and whether the remedy was already done is confirmed by the VIN lookup at nhtsa.gov/recalls or any dealer; the fix is free. park_it / park_outside are NHTSA's own flags.
• NHTSA complaints are unverified owner reports; counts scale with sales volume, so Garage reads them as a signal and shows the components, not just the number.
• NHTSA NCAP 5-Star ratings compare vehicles of similar size and weight; IIHS awards are a separate program.
• fueleconomy.gov gives EPA label estimates (city/highway/combined MPG, MPGe and range for EVs, annual cost at EPA's assumptions); Garage recomputes the cost at the miles and price the person gives.

What federal data cannot see: this particular car's accidents, title history, flood damage or maintenance. Garage says so and always ends with the same next step: an independent pre-purchase inspection and a vehicle-history report by VIN.

Tools

Identify

decode_vin — What a VIN is: year, make, model, trim, body, engine and horsepower, fuel, drivetrain, transmission, plant, and the safety equipment built in (airbags, ESC, forward-collision warning, automatic braking, blind-spot, backup camera), plus a check-digit validity test. Use for "what car is this", "decode this VIN", "does this VIN look right". Args: vin.

models_for_make — The model names NHTSA uses for a make and year, so the other tools get the exact spelling ('Grand Cherokee', 'F-150', 'Model 3'). Use when a lookup returns nothing or the person is unsure of the model name. Args: make, year.

Safety

recalls — Open safety recalls for a vehicle (by VIN or year/make/model): each campaign's component, the defect, the risk, the free remedy, and NHTSA's park-it / park-outside flags, sorted with the most urgent first, plus what to do next. Use for "any recalls on my car", "is this recall fixed", "should I stop driving it". Args: vin, year, make, model.

complaints — Owner complaints filed with NHTSA for a vehicle: the total, the components most complained about, crash/fire/injury counts, and recent examples — the fastest read on a model year's known problems. Use for "what goes wrong with a 2018 Equinox", "are the transmission complaints real", "known issues before I buy". Args: vin, year, make, model, component.

safety_ratings — NHTSA 5-Star crash-test ratings for a vehicle: overall, frontal (driver/passenger), side (barrier/pole), rollover with the rollover risk percentage, per variant (FWD/AWD, body style), plus which recommended safety technologies it has. Use for "how safe is the 2022 Highlander", "crash rating for this car", "5-star rating". Args: vin, year, make, model.

Decide

fuel_economy — EPA fuel economy for a vehicle: city/highway/combined MPG (or MPGe, range and charge time for EVs and plug-ins), annual fuel cost at the person's own miles and price, CO2 per mile, and every engine/transmission option so the right one can be picked. Use for "what MPG does it get", "how much gas per year", "is the hybrid worth it", "EV range". Args: vin, year, make, model, miles_per_year, fuel_price_usd.

compare_vehicles — Side by side for two to four vehicles: NHTSA overall stars, rollover risk, open recall count (with any park-it), complaint count, and EPA combined MPG / annual fuel cost — with who wins on each. Use for "CR-V or RAV4", "which of these is safest", "compare these three used SUVs". Args: vehicles.

used_car_check — One call before buying or when something feels off with your own car: decode (if VIN), open recalls with urgency, complaint profile and top problem areas, crash ratings, fuel economy and cost — assembled into a plain-English verdict with the questions to ask the seller and the next step. Use for "should I buy this 2019 Rogue", "what should I know about this VIN", "is this car a good idea". Args: vin, year, make, model, asking_price_usd.

Conventions

• Read-only. Every tool reads public data or computes; nothing is written anywhere and nothing about the user is stored.
• Result envelope. ok: true with data, or ok: false with a structured error (bad_input, not_found, upstream_error). degraded lists optional sources that were unreachable.
• Rate limits. Free tier 60 tool calls/minute and 300/day per user (keyed on the user identifier supplied by the host agent, else client IP); Pro keys raise this. Over-limit calls return HTTP 429 with Retry-After. initialize and tools/list are never counted.

Support

agent@connectorbay.com · connectorbay.com/garage/support

Garage — Privacy Policy

Effective 22 September 2026. Unify Dynamics LLC ("we", "us"), Menlo Park, California.

What Garage is. Garage is a connector (an MCP server and REST API) that AI assistants and personal agents call on your behalf for vehicle information: VIN decoding, recalls, owner complaints, crash ratings, fuel economy and a used-car check. You interact with your assistant; the assistant sends us only the specific request needed: a VIN or a year/make/model, and optionally your annual mileage and fuel price.

What we receive. The arguments of each tool call, the technical headers needed to serve the request (an IP address or a client identifier supplied by the assistant, and a Pro API key if you have one), and standard server logs.

What we do not receive or store. We do not receive your conversation with the assistant, your name, contacts, or credentials for any service. Request arguments (a VIN, a make and model) are used to fetch the answer in memory and are not stored. A VIN identifies a vehicle, not a person, and is not retained. Rate-limit counters (a client identifier and timestamps) are held in memory for at most 24 hours. Hosting-provider access logs, which contain IP addresses and request paths but not request bodies, are retained for up to 30 days for security and abuse prevention.

VINs. A VIN identifies a vehicle, not a person, but can be linked to an owner through other records. Garage sends the VIN only to NHTSA's public decoder, uses it for the single request, and never stores it or links it to a client identifier.

Sub-processors. To answer requests we send only the VIN, make/model/year or vehicle asked about (never anything about you) to NHTSA (U.S. Department of Transportation) and fueleconomy.gov (U.S. EPA/DOE). Hosting: Vercel (United States regions).

Legal bases and your rights. For users in California, the EU/UK and elsewhere, our processing is necessary to provide the service you request through your assistant. Because we store no personal data beyond short-lived logs, requests to access, correct or delete personal data are usually satisfied automatically; you can still contact agent@connectorbay.com and we will respond within 30 days. We do not sell or share personal information and do not use your data to train models.

Children. Garage is a general-audience service operated by the adult using the assistant.

Changes. We will post changes here with a new effective date.

Contact. Unify Dynamics LLC · agent@connectorbay.com

Garage — Terms of Service

Effective 22 September 2026. These terms govern use of the Garage connector ("the Service") operated by Unify Dynamics LLC ("we", "us").

1. The Service. Garage returns vehicle information from U.S. government sources: VIN decoding, recalls, complaints, safety ratings and fuel economy. It is accessed through an AI assistant or directly over MCP or HTTP.
2. Recalls and safety. Recall matching is by year, make and model; only a VIN lookup at nhtsa.gov or a dealer confirms whether a specific vehicle is affected and remedied. If a recall says to park the vehicle, follow the manufacturer's and NHTSA's instructions. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
3. Not a vehicle-history report or inspection. Federal data does not include a specific vehicle's accident, title, flood or maintenance history. Buying guidance is general; get an independent pre-purchase inspection and a vehicle-history report before purchasing.
4. Acceptable use. Do not use the Service to overwhelm the underlying services or to circumvent rate limits. Automated use within the published limits is welcome.
5. Availability. The Service is provided "as is" without warranty. We may change, limit or discontinue it at any time.
6. Data. Our Privacy Policy describes what we process. In short: nothing about you is stored.
7. Attribution. Data by NHTSA (vPIC, recalls, complaints, ratings) and the U.S. EPA/DOE (fueleconomy.gov), U.S. government works in the public domain.
8. Pro keys. Optional Pro API keys are issued at our discretion, are personal to the holder and may be revoked for abuse.
9. Liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Unify Dynamics LLC is not liable for any loss arising from use of or reliance on the Service. Our total liability is limited to US $100.
10. Governing law. California law; venue in San Mateo County, California.
11. Contact. Unify Dynamics LLC · agent@connectorbay.com · https://connectorbay.com/garage

Garage support

Email agent@connectorbay.com. We answer within two business days.

• MCP endpoint: https://garage.connectorbay.com/mcp
• REST API: https://garage.connectorbay.com/openapi.json
• Live status: https://garage.connectorbay.com/health

When you report a problem, include the question you asked your agent, roughly when, and which agent you used (for example Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini). Never send us passwords, account numbers or ID numbers. Garage never asks for them.