Affordable used car data API bypassing expensive automotive giants
Indie hackers building used car pricing tools face prohibitive data sourcing costs and API restrictions from automotive giants like CarGurus.
CarDataProxy acts as a smart proxy that aggregates and caches data from public sources and free APIs, delivering used car pricing info without direct reliance on restricted APIs. It handles rate limits, caching, and formatting for indie devs. Users get instant access to VIN-based pricing, market trends, and comps at a fraction of the cost.
Indie hackers and solo developers building used car pricing or automotive data tools
Zero reliance on proprietary APIs; uses ethical public scraping + caching for 99% uptime and sub-second responses
friendly
Fetch pricing data by VIN with comps and trends
Query by make, model, year for average prices
Generate and manage personal API keys with usage tracking
Built-in caching reduces calls; tiered rate limits
Real-time stats on requests, costs, and errors
Notify on price changes for watched vehicles
Bulk download historical data
Add user-defined filters like mileage adjustments
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| text | No | |
| stripe_id | text | Yes |
| created_at | timestamp | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| key_hash | text | No |
| user_id | uuid | No |
| requests_used | int | No |
| tier | text | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| api_key_id | uuid | No |
| vin | text | No |
| response | text | Yes |
| timestamp | timestamp | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| vin | text | No |
| data | text | No |
| expires_at | timestamp | No |
/api/priceGet pricing by VIN or make/model
/api/keysCreate new API key
/api/usageFetch usage stats
/api/healthCheck service status
No caching priority
| Month | Users | Conversion | MRR | ARR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | 50 | 5% | $38 | $450 |
| Month 6 | 300 | 8% | $360 | $4,320 |
Proxy API delivers accurate pricing data from public sources – $15/mo starts you instantly.
Post in Indie Hackers forum sharing pain point MVP demo; DM 5 active used car project builders on Twitter; Offer free Pro tier for feedback in r/SaaS.
High accuracy
Enterprise only, high costs
10x cheaper, indie-focused
Comprehensive
No solo access
Instant signup, pay-per-use
Proprietary caching layer + scraping optimizations create data moat over time
Rising indie auto tools + public data explosion post-2023 regulations
Scraping blocks
Multiple sources, respectful delays, TOS compliance
Data staleness
Daily cron refreshes
Success: 50+ yes votes
Success: 80% retention
Success: 100 signups
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