Auto Auction Scout
Desktop application for scouting government vehicle auctions — complaint tracking, recall checking, difficulty scoring, map-based browsing, and watchlist management.
The Problem
Government vehicle auctions are one of the best-kept secrets for getting reliable vehicles at below-market prices. But the process is opaque: listings lack detailed history, there’s no easy way to check for safety recalls or NHTSA complaints, and you’re bidding against people who’ve been doing this for decades. Without proper research, you risk buying a vehicle with hidden mechanical issues, open recalls, or a history of complaints.
Auto Auction Scout was built to give auction buyers an intelligence advantage — aggregating vehicle data, complaint histories, recall status, and difficulty scores into a single desktop application with map-based browsing and watchlist tracking.
What We Built
Vehicle Dashboard
Central command for browsing auction inventory. Each vehicle displays a difficulty score, complaint count, recall status, and key specs. Filter by make, model, year, location, and auction date. Sort by score to find the best opportunities fast.
Complaint & Recall Intelligence
Automated scraping and aggregation of NHTSA complaint data and recall notices for every vehicle in the inventory. Complaint cards show the full text, component affected, and severity. Recall cards show campaign details and completion status. Vehicles with open recalls are flagged prominently.
Difficulty Scoring
A proprietary scoring system that evaluates each vehicle’s risk profile based on complaint volume, recall history, common failure patterns for that make/model/year, and auction-specific factors. High-difficulty vehicles get a warning; low-difficulty vehicles are highlighted as opportunities.
Map View
Interactive Leaflet-based map showing auction locations and vehicle inventory geographically. Browse by region, see cluster density, and plan auction trips based on vehicle concentration and travel distance.
Watchlist & My Cars
Save vehicles to a watchlist for tracking across auction dates. The “My Cars” section manages vehicles you’ve won — with valuation editing, export capabilities, and ongoing recall monitoring post-purchase.
Data Pipeline
Rust-powered backend with SQLite persistence. Tracks projects, auction dates, scraper sources, parse statistics (vehicles added, merged, skipped), and error rates. Multiple scraper support with source URL tracking for data provenance.
Application Pages
- Dashboard — Overview of current auction inventory with filtering and scoring
- Vehicle Detail — Deep dive on a specific vehicle: complaints, recalls, valuation, external links
- Map View — Geographic browsing of auctions and inventory
- My Cars — Manage won vehicles with valuation tracking
- Watchlist — Track vehicles across upcoming auctions
- Settings — Configure scrapers, data sources, and display preferences
Results
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