Methodology
How Kestrel works — and what it can't do
Trust shouldn't be asserted; it should be earned by showing the machinery. Here is exactly what happens when you ask Kestrel for a read, where the knowledge comes from, and the things we will never pretend to do.
What happens when you ask for a read
The free quick read
You give us the year, make, and model — or just paste a listing screenshot — plus the asking price and mileage. A fast AI model checks the price against its knowledge of what these vehicles typically sell for and lists the top documented issues for that exact year and model. It deliberately gives no buy/walk-away verdict, because an honest verdict needs more than a form's worth of information. Free, no account, no card.
The full report — $7.99
A more capable AI model reads everything you provided — the listing details, the seller's description, and up to 6 photos of the actual vehicle — and writes the full report: a BUY / NEGOTIATE / WALK AWAY verdict, fair-offer math with a negotiation script, known issues for that exact year and model ranked by wallet impact, inspection priorities, questions to ask the seller, ownership guidance, and financing posture. It's delivered by email, usually within minutes.
Every report is written fresh for the specific listing in front of you. Nothing is templated boilerplate except the structure.
Where the knowledge comes from
Reports are generated by AI — Claude, by Anthropic — reasoning over the information you provide against its knowledge of documented reliability patterns: owner reports, NHTSA complaints, manufacturer technical service bulletins, recalls, and class-action records.
The free vehicle guides are AI-generated against the same documented reliability patterns. We are working through them against public NHTSA complaint and recall records and correcting what does not hold up; that pass is not finished. Where a guide is thin, it means we have not done that work yet — not that the vehicle is clean. Those records are free and public, and worth checking yourself on any vehicle you are serious about.
3,908
known problems written up — 1,061 of them the expensive kind — across 1,140 vehicles from 1957 to 2023, spanning 180 makes. Read any of them free.
That count is generated from the guide itself, not typed in by us — and it counts write-ups, not correctness. It doesn't promise the homework is complete on any one vehicle.
About the pricing, honestly: fair-offer numbers are estimates from the model's knowledge of typical market pricing — not a live pricing feed. Local markets vary — sanity-check the number against comparable listings near you before you make an offer.
We never scrape live listings and we never talk to the seller. Kestrel only sees what you paste and photograph.
What Kestrel is not
- Not a mechanical inspection. Nobody puts hands on the car. Every report tells you to get a pre-purchase inspection from an independent mechanic — commonly $150–250, more for EVs, exotics, and on-site visits — and a report that told you to skip it would be lying to you.
- Not a title or history check. Kestrel cannot see this car's title brand, accident, or odometer history. Every report tells you to verify it yourself: NICB VINCheck is free (theft and total-loss records), and an NMVTIS-approved title report costs about $5–25. (That's the official government site — not an affiliate link. We don't have affiliate links.)
- Not financial advice. The financing section is posture and math discipline — it never quotes a rate and never names a lender, because we don't take money from anyone but you.
- Not infallible. The AI analyzes patterns; it is not a guarantee. Verify critical claims independently.
The fine-print version of this page lives in our Terms.
How we report numbers about ourselves
Every used-car site quotes a number at you. Almost none of them tell you what the number counts. These are the rules we follow, written down so you can hold us to them.
- No percentage without its denominator. A rate with no count behind it is an advertisement, not a measurement. If we ever tell you 94% of something, we tell you 94% of how many.
- No traffic number as the headline. Visitors are not buyers helped, and we won't dress one up as the other.
- No “accuracy” claim without a published definition. If we can't tell you how it was calculated and what it was calculated over, we don't get to claim it.
- Satisfaction, accuracy, and sales are three different things. A pile of happy customers is not evidence that Kestrel was right about your car, and we won't quote one as if it were the other.
- We'd rather publish nothing than publish theatre. The only number on this page is the one above, because it's the only one we can prove. When there are others worth your time, they'll show up with their definitions attached.
Corrections
When we get a fact wrong and someone tells us, the fix gets recorded here with the date — including the times we caught ourselves.
10 September 2026
This page said the free vehicle guides were “hand-curated” and that known problems were “written up by hand.” That was not true. The guides were generated by AI. We've corrected the wording above to say what actually happens, and we're working through the guides against public NHTSA complaint and recall records to check what they claim. Where a guide is thin, that means we haven't done the work yet — it does not mean the vehicle is clean. The recall and complaint databases are free and public, and they are worth checking yourself for any vehicle you're serious about.
See the machinery for yourself
Read a full report before you spend a dollar — or start with the free quick read. No account, no card.
No bullshit, no upsells, no affiliate links. One report, one price — we'll never charge you rent for your own thinking.
Think we got something wrong? Tell us — a real person reads every message.