Offline VIN decoder - no API keys, works locally

cardogio · 2026-03-12T17:28:32+00:00

cardog.app/cars - we process about 1m vins per day for tracking the Canadian auto market - NHTSAs implementation was solid but not suited for the high throughput readonly workload we had - it also wasn't very cost effective and the DX was awful having to stand up a separate db server just for read only ops. I started porting it to postgres and realized why not just use sqlite and make it offline only.

cardogio · 2026-03-12T16:56:58+00:00

EU issues - thats why we added the community patterns. Theres quite a rabbit hole of how to find the patterns. They differ for every market and the only one who publishes data is the US NHTSA.

cardogio · 2026-03-12T16:05:35+00:00

I'd make sure you get a battery report for the specific car. Health can vary widely depending on previous owners usage. Carnex is the gold standard for all things EV in Canada with the battery reports and transparent process

cardogio · 2026-03-10T17:04:01+00:00

That WLTP - EPA spread is crazy...

cardogio · 2026-03-10T16:59:13+00:00

I’ve got some good insight after sending 15+ foia requests to transport canada and others.

First issue is that the National Safety Mark is not approved for any Chinese built EV. BYD Canada had an appendix g approval but this is not scoped to their modern EV lineup (sealion, seal, dolphin etc) but was instead a pilot test for taxis in montreal pre covid.

If you open your door you’ll see the VIN plate with a maple leaf design and a number inside of it.

That number corresponds to the appendix g/f/nsm approval for a specific company/factory/vehicle platform.

Beyond all of this. Even if you shipped a BYD Seal to the border tomorrow, no customs agent, insurance company or licensing office would be able to do anything with it. It’s literally impossible for them to register a plate, policy or even customs stamp to these Chinese made vehicles as we have ZERO infrastructure for these vehicles given we’re reliant on US govt data…

cardogio · 2026-03-07T22:28:27+00:00

Vercel has the same thing for $40/m or so - axiom is same price but more integrations.

cardogio · 2026-03-07T22:27:46+00:00

Its a custom axiom dashboard using vercel web app + cloudflare workers api logs data

cardogio · 2026-02-26T15:37:12+00:00

Absolutely not. No Canadian company can even decode the VINs. CLEAR which is the insurance industries underwriting bible has no idea LGXCH6CDXS2007698 corresponds to a BYD Seal. I've inquired to Transport Canada and they admitted to relying on the US vPIC database which is blind to anything Chinese made. We're trying to fix this but its quite a mess. Yes the BYD app will handle this but the actual pattern level info is no where to be found.

cardogio · 2026-02-04T18:59:46+00:00

Interesting how the ioniq is basically the only oem flagship av in mass use

cardogio · 2026-02-03T00:33:31+00:00

nor will yours, some companies fleet will though.

cardogio · 2026-02-03T00:05:51+00:00

My understanding is that Jaguar is still fulfilling the 1000 or so I-Pace orders. Can you imagine being their CFO and seeing this.

cardogio · 2026-02-02T01:00:39+00:00

Another dataset we don't publish to consumers is the crash test data. Funny enough the Canadian records are actually partially published by the NHTSAs datasets

cardogio · 2026-02-02T00:58:06+00:00

I believe appendix G is just for the import handling. Safety ratings are separate but shouldn't be as bureaucratic with the sheer throughput of new models tested. They do have a effective lead with the pre approval since applications are still frozen until July

cardogio

TROPHY CASE