Home / VINGuard / VINGuard Specification
VINGuard
Know the Car Before You Buy.
VINGuard is an open-source, modular vehicle transparency specification designed to give buyers and sellers a clear, verifiable, VIN-centered view of a vehicle’s history, condition, title status, ownership, maintenance, and potential risks.
The specification is designed to reduce uncertainty in used vehicle transactions by bringing fragmented vehicle information into a unified transparency system. Every function is modular, independently replaceable, auditable, and extensible.
Purpose
VINGuard provides a structured framework for collecting, validating, correlating, and presenting vehicle information before a transaction occurs.
The system is designed to:
- Establish a verifiable vehicle identity using the VIN
- Aggregate available vehicle history
- Identify inconsistencies and potential fraud
- Make title and accident history easier to understand
- Track ownership and registration history
- Detect mileage inconsistencies
- Preserve maintenance and inspection records
- Analyze vehicle listings and seller-provided information
- Provide transparent risk and confidence indicators
- Connect vehicle history with geographic information
- Support community contributions and independent data sources
- Give buyers a comprehensive vehicle transparency profile
Core Principles
- Transparency first
- Vehicle identity centered on the VIN
- Open source
- Modular design
- Vendor neutrality
- Data provenance
- Auditability
- Verifiable records
- User ownership of submitted information
- Privacy-conscious data handling
- Clear distinction between verified, reported, inferred, and unavailable information
- Community extensibility
- Replaceable data sources, models, and scoring systems
- No monolith lock-in
Core Modules
VIN-Centric Vehicle Identity
The VIN module establishes the canonical identity of each vehicle.
Features include:
- VIN validation
- VIN decoding
- Vehicle make, model, year, trim, and configuration identification
- Manufacturer information
- Production information where available
- VIN-to-record matching
- VIN mismatch detection
- VIN plate recognition where visible
- Vehicle identity confidence scoring
- Detection of conflicting vehicle specifications
Vehicle History Transparency
The vehicle history module creates a unified historical record from available sources.
Features include:
- Accident history
- Damage history
- Title history
- Ownership history
- Registration history
- Mileage history
- Recall history
- Lien information
- Service history
- Inspection history
- Insurance-related records where available
- Flood history
- Salvage history
- Rebuilt vehicle history
- Lemon vehicle indicators
- Historical listing information
- Record timestamps
- Source attribution
- Record provenance
- Data confidence indicators
Each record should identify its source and distinguish verified information from user-submitted, inferred, incomplete, or conflicting information.
Title Integrity
The title integrity module evaluates the legal and historical status of a vehicle title.
Supported status categories include:
- Clean
- Salvage
- Rebuilt
- Flood
- Lemon
- Other state-specific branded titles
- Unknown or unavailable
Features include:
- Title status timeline
- State-to-state title transfer analysis
- Title brand detection
- Title washing indicators
- Conflicting title record detection
- State-specific title interpretation
- Title record provenance
- Title confidence scoring
Ownership and Registration History
The ownership module provides a chronological representation of available ownership and registration information.
Features include:
- Ownership event tracking
- Registration event tracking
- Registration state history
- Ownership region tracking
- State-to-state movement
- Timeline visualization
- Unusual registration patterns
- Registration gaps
- Geographic consistency analysis
Personally identifying information should not be unnecessarily exposed.
Mileage Integrity
The mileage module evaluates the consistency of reported odometer readings over time.
Features include:
- Mileage timeline
- Odometer reading aggregation
- Mileage progression analysis
- Rollback detection
- Mileage anomaly detection
- Impossible mileage progression detection
- Service record mileage comparison
- Inspection mileage comparison
- Listing mileage comparison
- Cross-source mileage reconciliation
- Mileage confidence scoring
Maintenance Ledger
The maintenance ledger creates a chronological record of vehicle maintenance and repairs.
Features include:
- Maintenance record submission
- Owner-submitted service records
- Mechanic-submitted service records
- Timestamped maintenance events
- Mileage at service
- Service location
- Parts and components serviced
- Repair descriptions
- Inspection records
- Uploaded documentation
- Receipt records
- Maintenance verification
- Record provenance
- Maintenance completeness scoring
The ledger should preserve the distinction between documented maintenance and unverified user reports.
Accident and Damage Analysis
The accident module aggregates and evaluates available accident and damage information.
Features include:
- Accident event tracking
- Accident date
- Reported damage
- Damage severity classification
- Structural damage indicators
- Airbag deployment indicators
- Flood damage indicators
- Salvage indicators
- Insurance-related damage records where available
- Repair history
- Damage timeline
- Conflicting accident reports
- Missing accident information indicators
The system should avoid presenting unavailable information as proof that an accident did not occur.
Recall and Safety History
The recall module tracks manufacturer and regulatory recall information.
Features include:
- Open recall identification
- Completed recall identification
- Recall dates
- Recall descriptions
- Safety defect information
- Recall status
- VIN-specific recall matching where available
- Recall source attribution
- Recall history timeline
Lien and Financial Interest Records
The lien module tracks available information concerning outstanding financial interests in a vehicle.
Features include:
- Lien status
- Lien record identification
- Lienholder information where legally available
- Lien release records
- Lien timeline
- Conflicting lien information
- Lien verification status
AI-Powered Verification
The AI verification module analyzes vehicle records, listings, images, and documentation to identify inconsistencies and potential fraud indicators.
Listing Verification
- VIN validation and decoding
- Vehicle specification verification
- Duplicate listing detection
- Cross-marketplace listing comparison
- Incomplete listing detection
- Suspicious listing pattern analysis
Vehicle History Analysis
- Mileage rollback detection
- Ownership timeline validation
- Accident record consistency analysis
- Title history verification
- Maintenance record validation
- Lien status verification
- Recall status monitoring
Computer Vision
- Vehicle image authenticity verification
- Damage detection and classification
- Frame and body damage identification
- Photo manipulation detection
- Duplicate or reused image detection
- License plate consistency checks
- VIN plate recognition where visible
- Interior and exterior condition analysis
- Missing or altered component detection
Natural Language Processing
- Listing description analysis
- Misleading claim detection
- Conflicting claim detection
- Automatic feature extraction
- Vehicle specification matching
- Service record summarization
- Inspection report interpretation
Fraud Detection
- Title washing indicators
- Odometer fraud detection
- Identity mismatch detection
- Seller behavior analysis
- Suspicious pricing analysis
- Repeated fraudulent listing identification
- Cross-state registration anomaly detection
AI-generated findings must be presented as analysis or indicators rather than automatically treated as verified facts.
Transparency Scoring
The transparency scoring module converts available evidence into understandable vehicle information indicators.
Features include:
- Transparency Score
- Vehicle risk score
- Data confidence score
- Record completeness score
- Title confidence
- Mileage confidence
- Maintenance confidence
- Accident history confidence
- Ownership history confidence
- Source reliability indicators
- Missing information indicators
- Conflicting information indicators
- Buyer confidence indicators
Scoring methodologies should be documented and independently replaceable.
Marketplace Listings
The marketplace module provides a transparent vehicle listing environment.
Features include:
- Vehicle listings
- VIN-linked listings
- Seller profiles
- Seller verification
- Vehicle history display
- Transparency Score display
- Risk indicators
- Listing anomaly detection
- Price analysis
- Market comparisons
- Search and filtering
- Listing history
- Duplicate listing detection
- Seller-provided documentation
- Buyer questions and disclosures
Data Connector Framework
The connector module provides a standardized mechanism for integrating external vehicle information sources.
Potential sources include:
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall data
- National Motor Vehicle Title Information System data
- State motor vehicle agencies where available
- Inspection records
- Dealer records
- Insurance records where available
- Manufacturer information
- Private vehicle history sources
- Community-submitted records
- Public datasets
Connector outputs should preserve:
- Source identity
- Retrieval timestamp
- Record timestamp
- Data provenance
- Source confidence
- Data version
- Conflicting records
- Availability status
No single external provider should be required for the core specification.
Mapping and Location Intelligence
The mapping module connects vehicle history with geographic information.
Features include:
- Vehicle geographic history visualization
- Ownership region tracking
- Flood exposure identification
- Coastal salt exposure analysis
- Severe weather event correlation
- State-to-state title transfer timeline
- Previous registration locations
- Service and maintenance location mapping
- Recall and repair facility locations
- Vehicle location history timeline
- Map-based vehicle search
- Dealer and seller location mapping
- Regional market value comparisons
- Nearby inspection locations
- Geographic risk indicators for corrosion, flooding, and environmental exposure
Geographic analysis should identify whether information is verified, estimated, inferred, or unavailable.
Listing and Pricing Analysis
The pricing module evaluates vehicle listing information against available market data.
Features include:
- Regional market value comparisons
- Comparable vehicle analysis
- Price anomaly detection
- Undervalued vehicle indicators
- Overpriced vehicle indicators
- Vehicle condition adjustments
- Mileage adjustments
- Title-status adjustments
- Accident-history adjustments
- Geographic market differences
- Historical listing price tracking
Pricing analysis should provide supporting evidence rather than presenting estimates as guaranteed values.
Open API
The API module provides structured access to VINGuard information.
Features include:
- VIN queries
- Vehicle history queries
- Title status queries
- Accident history queries
- Maintenance record queries
- Recall queries
- Mileage history queries
- Ownership history queries
- Transparency Score queries
- Risk assessment queries
- Geographic history queries
- Listing data
- Source provenance
- Confidence metadata
- Community data submissions
API access should respect privacy, authorization, licensing, and applicable data-source restrictions.
Auditability and Provenance
The provenance module ensures that vehicle information can be traced to its source.
Features include:
- Source identification
- Record timestamps
- Submission timestamps
- Modification history
- Verification history
- Contributor attribution
- Evidence references
- Confidence levels
- Data conflict tracking
- Record versioning
- Audit trails
Information should not silently change without preserving an appropriate historical record.
Privacy and Data Protection
The privacy module limits unnecessary exposure of sensitive information.
Features include:
- Data minimization
- Privacy-preserving ownership records
- Controlled access to sensitive information
- Removal or masking of unnecessary personally identifying information
- Submission consent
- Data retention controls
- Access controls
- Privacy-aware geographic reporting
The system should provide useful vehicle transparency without unnecessarily exposing private individuals.
Optional Plugin Modules
Certified Inspection Plugin
Provides integration with independent vehicle inspection services.
Features include:
- Inspection scheduling
- Inspector verification
- Inspection reports
- Inspection photographs
- Damage documentation
- Mechanical condition reports
- Inspection timestamps
- Inspector reputation
- Inspection provenance
Mechanic Network Plugin
Creates a network of participating mechanics and repair professionals.
Features include:
- Mechanic profiles
- Service record submission
- Repair verification
- Maintenance history contributions
- Service location mapping
- Professional verification
- Reputation indicators
Seller Certification Plugin
Provides optional seller transparency and certification.
Features include:
- Seller identity verification
- Business verification
- Inventory verification
- Disclosure requirements
- Seller history
- Complaint indicators
- Certification status
- Seller transparency scoring
Escrow Plugin
Provides optional transaction protection functionality.
Potential features include:
- Transaction escrow
- Payment milestones
- Vehicle document verification
- Inspection requirements
- Buyer acceptance
- Seller acceptance
- Release conditions
- Transaction audit trail
Insurance Verification Plugin
Provides optional insurance-related verification.
Features include:
- Insurance history integration
- Damage event correlation
- Claim event correlation where available
- Claim-to-accident matching
- Insurance record confidence
- Historical claim timeline
Dealer Certification Plugin
Provides optional transparency certification for dealerships.
Features include:
- Dealer verification
- Inventory transparency
- Disclosure compliance
- Listing quality analysis
- Dealer history
- Vehicle certification
- Dealer transparency scoring
Cross-Border Vehicle History Plugin
Extends vehicle history beyond national borders.
Features include:
- International VIN records
- Import history
- Export history
- Cross-border title records
- International registration history
- Customs-related vehicle records where available
- International accident records
- Cross-border mileage reconciliation
Advanced Image Intelligence Plugin
Provides additional vehicle image analysis capabilities.
Features include:
- Advanced damage assessment
- Component identification
- Before-and-after image comparison
- Historical image comparison
- Image provenance
- Synthetic image detection
- Image manipulation analysis
- Vehicle identity matching across images
Weather and Environmental Risk Plugin
Correlates vehicle history with environmental conditions.
Features include:
- Flood event correlation
- Hurricane exposure
- Severe storm exposure
- Hail exposure
- Wildfire exposure
- Coastal salt exposure
- Corrosion risk indicators
- Environmental event timelines
Community Verification Plugin
Allows independent users and organizations to contribute verification evidence.
Features include:
- Community evidence submission
- Record challenges
- Verification requests
- Contributor reputation
- Evidence voting
- Dispute tracking
- Moderation
- Contributor history
Vehicle Inspection Marketplace Plugin
Connects buyers with nearby independent inspection providers.
Features include:
- Inspection provider discovery
- Geographic search
- Inspection service comparison
- Appointment requests
- Inspection reports
- Buyer reviews
- Inspection pricing
- Inspection verification
Vehicle Certification Plugin
Provides optional certification based on defined transparency and inspection criteria.
Features include:
- Certification requirements
- Certification levels
- Inspection requirements
- Documentation requirements
- Transparency thresholds
- Certification expiration
- Certification history
- Certification verification
Specification Branding License (SBL)
Standard
- Fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant system
- Copyleft enforced for network deployments
- Required attribution:
- Roxanne Ardary
- https://www.roxanneardary.com/
Optional
- Specification Branding License (SBL)
- Attribution-free commercial deployment
- Pricing based on scale, usage, and deployment scope
- https://roxanneardary.com/vinguard/
License & Notice Requirements
VINGuard is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).
By contributing to any Open Arsenal project, you agree that your contributions will also be released under this license.
Please note the following:
- All contributions must comply with the AGPL-3.0+ terms.
- Under Section 7 of the license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works must preserve attribution to:
Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com. - VINGuard specifications are free to use with attribution. A Specification Branding License can be negotiated upon request.
- The project’s notice.md file tracks attribution requirements and contributor acknowledgments. Any update that adds new contributors or modifies attribution should also update
notice.md. - When submitting a pull request, ensure that any new files maintain the attribution headers where applicable.
- Network-deployed versions of this software must also remain fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant, including exposure of source code modifications when applicable under the license.
For full legal details, please refer to the AGPL-3.0+ license and the project’s notice.md file.
Notice – VINGuard
Attribution Requirement: Under Section 7 of the AGPL 3.0+ license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works, including network-deployed versions of this project, must provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.
Contributors
This file tracks contributors and their specific contributions to the project.
- Roxanne Ardary, roxanneardary.com – May 10, 2026
Created the VINGuard repository and established the foundational architecture for a modular, open-source vehicle transparency platform focused on VIN-based verification, accident history clarity, and title integrity. - [Add other contributors here] – [Date]
[Describe contribution in one sentence]
License – VINGuard
This repository is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).
Key Points
- You are free to use, modify, and distribute the code.
- All redistributions, forks, and derivative works or network-deployed versions must also be licensed under AGPL-3.0+ and provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com as required under Section 7 of the license.
- The software is provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind.
For the full license text, see GNU AGPL-3.0 License.