Chicago area used car market snapshot
A free daily snapshot of used car listings we collect from Chicago area dealer websites, joined with NHTSA recall and investigation records. No key is needed.
Cite this snapshot: The Used Car Index, Chicago area dealer listings snapshot, as of YYYY-MM-DD, https://theusedcarindex.com/index/
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Methodology
What is counted
- One listing is one VIN at one dealer website.
- Active means the latest observation was not a delisting.
- Prices are the dealer's asking prices as last recorded from its public inventory page and can include or exclude fees.
- Mileage is as last recorded from the public inventory page.
- A price or mileage is recorded when a listing is new, relisted or has a price drop. A price increase or a mileage-only change is not recorded until a later event for that listing.
What delisted means
- The listing was no longer observed on the dealer site.
- It may be sold, withdrawn, renamed, or hidden by a site change or a partial scan.
- A delisted listing is never reported as sold.
Coverage
- The bot visits Chicago area dealer sites about once a day.
- Some scans cover only part of a site's inventory.
- Counts describe what was observed, not the whole market.
- History starts at launch.
Limits
- Medians are of asking prices, not transaction prices.
- Prices and mileage can lag the dealer site because price increases and mileage-only changes are not recorded.
- NHTSA exposure is at the model-year level.
- Small groups can have a wide spread. Counts are shown next to every median.
Download
The endpoint is free, needs no key and allows cross-origin reads. Read the API docs.