# Vindex Vehicle Purchase Cost Calculator

> Vindex Vehicle Purchase Cost Calculator is a paid API for AI agents from api.vindexapi.dev, paid per call via x402, $0.02/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-13).

Calculates itemized drive-away costs (taxes, fees) for a vehicle purchase in a given US state or Canadian province

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://api.vindexapi.dev/v1/purchase-costs
- Price: $0.02/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-13
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/vindex-vehicle-purchase-cost-calculator-88d9ab33
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_lG5fCCo8q36Aj0bIC_710

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability vindex-vehicle-purchase-cost-calculator-88d9ab33
```

Example prompt: What are the total taxes and fees I'd pay buying a $32,000 car from a dealer in Ontario, Canada — can you break down every line item?

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when you need a structured, per-jurisdiction breakdown of all taxes and fees that make up the drive-away cost of a vehicle purchase in the US or Canada. It is purpose-built for automotive transactions, covering both private and dealer sales, trade-in tax credits, family gift exemptions, and plate-dependent fee variations — making it more accurate than generic tax calculators for vehicle purchases.

## Known failure modes

- Missing required 'state' when country=US — returns validation error
- Missing required 'province' when country=CA — returns validation error
- Price out of range (<=0 or >5,000,000) — returns validation error
- trade_in provided for Canadian transaction — ignored or rejected
- local_rate out of 0–15 range — returns validation error
- family_gift applied to a dealer sale — returns validation error or ignored
- Unsupported province/territory code — returns validation error

## How this service works

VIN decode, recalls, reliability, known issues, and drive-away costs across the US and Canada. Pay per call in USDC via x402 — no accounts, no API keys.

## Output

Returns an array of itemized cost lines (taxes, registration fees, etc.) each with an ID, human-readable label, amount in the jurisdiction's currency, a source URL, and a confidence rating. Also returns the country, province or state, total of all known costs, and the date the rules were last updated.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "required": [
  "input"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "country",
      "price",
      "sale_type"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "price": {
       "type": "number",
       "description": "Agreed sale price in the country's currency (> 0, ≤ 5,000,000)"
      },
      "state": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "US ONLY (required when country=US): two-letter state code, one of the 50 states or DC"
      },
      "country": {
       "enum": [
        "CA",
        "US"
       ],
       "type": "string",
       "description": "CA routes to Canadian per-jurisdiction rules, US to per-state rules"
      },
      "province": {
       "enum": [
        "BC",
        "AB",
        "SK",
        "MB",
        "ON",
        "QC",
        "NB",
        "NS",
        "PE",
        "NL",
        "YT",
        "NT",
        "NU"
       ],
       "type": "string",
       "description": "CANADA ONLY (required when country=CA): two-letter province/territory code"
      },
      "trade_in": {
       "type": "number",
       "description": "US ONLY — trade-in value in USD (≥ 0, < price); deducted from the tax base only for a dealer sale in a full-credit state"
      },
      "sale_type": {
       "enum": [
        "private",
        "dealer"
       ],
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Private sale or dealer sale"
      },
      "local_rate": {
       "type": "number",
       "description": "US ONLY — exact county/city surtax percentage (0–15)"
      },
      "family_gift": {
       "type": "boolean",
       "description": "CANADA ONLY, private sales only — applies the jurisdiction's family/related-individual gift exemption where one exists"
      },
      "buyer_has_plates": {
       "type": "boolean",
       "description": "CANADA ONLY — selects plate-dependent fee lines where the jurisdiction distinguishes them"
      }
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string"
    },
    "example": {
     "type": "object"
    }
   }
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "lines": [
   {
    "id": "rst",
    "label": "Retail Sales Tax (13%)",
    "amountCad": 3250,
    "sourceUrl": "https://www.ontario.ca/",
    "confidence": "high"
   }
  ],
  "country": "CA",
  "province": "ON",
  "rulesAsOf": "2026-07-04",
  "provinceName": "Ontario",
  "totalKnownCad": 3282
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/vindex-vehicle-purchase-cost-calculator-88d9ab33/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from api.vindexapi.dev](https://www.zero.xyz/host/api.vindexapi.dev/llms.txt)