FAQ
Is MotorAdvisor a MOTOR product?
No. MotorAdvisor is an independent proof of concept built by Product Detroit to demonstrate MOTOR's DaaS API as a natural-language surface. It is not built, operated, or endorsed by MOTOR Information Systems — MOTOR supplies the licensed vehicle data through its DaaS evaluation sandbox, and everything else here is Product Detroit's work. Questions about this deployment go to Product Detroit.
Why am I getting empty results?
The evaluation sandbox covers model years 2010, 2015, and 2016 only. A 2019 vehicle does not resolve: resolve_vehicle returns a MotorNotFoundError whose message lists the covered years and makes, and content queries for an uncovered vehicle come back empty. Neither is an outage. Clients should tell the user the vehicle is not covered rather than retrying.
What is the difference between baseVehicleId and vehicleId?
Vehicle resolution returns both, adjacently — and MOTOR content endpoints accept only BaseVehicleID. Passing a VehicleID fails upstream with error 400.110052. Every tool on this surface takes baseVehicleId only, and the parameter descriptions repeat the warning because the adjacency makes this the easiest mistake to make.
Why does the server answer a question with a question?
By contract. When vehicle resolution is ambiguous, when content alternatives hinge on one unknown attribute (needsConfiguration), or when a symptom arrives without a repair stage, the server returns a structured question instead of guessing. On production data trim ambiguity is common, and a confident answer about the wrong trim is the failure that destroys trust in a shop tool. Clients should relay the question and re-call with the answer.
Why won't the valuation tools tell me what the car is worth?
Vehicle valuations are licensed content (Black Book) and are not redistributed through this surface. The tools return a band — proceed, caution, uneconomic, unavailable — and deliberately no dollar figures or percentages: the caller supplies the repair cost, so any ratio would reconstruct the licensed figure exactly. The band is the answer, and assess_repair_economics exists so the comparison can be made without the figure leaving the licence boundary.
Does anything write to MOTOR?
No. MOTOR DaaS is read-only through this server without exception. The six write-capable tools write elsewhere: issue_invoice creates an invoice on the shop's own Stripe account — MotorAdvisor's payment provider; create_quote_snapshot, void_quote and capture_consent write MotorAdvisor's own quote and consent records; send_quote_notification and send_invoice_notification send a message through MotorAdvisor's email provider, to consented customers only. Every description says so explicitly, so no client can misread one as a vehicle-data write.
Can another account see my shop's invoices — or bill from my shop?
No. The billing tools take the shop from the verified bearer token, never from tool input. There is no argument shape that reads or writes another tenant's data.
Are bulletin PDFs and wiring diagrams available over MCP?
Not on this surface. Documents are referenced by id in content details, but binary retrieval is excluded from the MCP tool list for the POC — binary handling by an unknown client is undefined behaviour. The web app streams documents by reference.
What are the rate limits?
Developers are limited by their package, not by an administrator. Test includes 1,000 data calls and 50 repair plans a month and stops there — no overage, no surprise bill; the refusal arrives in-band as QuotaExceeded. Build and Scale include more and bill overage rather than stopping. Past 50,000 calls or 3,000 plans a month, self-serve ends and we size a licence with you. Licensed shop accounts keep an administrator-set per-account ceiling, which returns 429. Limits are per account, not per token.
Is my token forwarded to MOTOR?
Never. Token passthrough is spec-prohibited and tested against — the inbound bearer appears in no outbound URL or header. MOTOR credentials live server-side only.
How do I get access?
Two ways. Developers sign up, pick a package (Test, Build, or Scale), pay by card, and create an API key in the portal — every call is metered against the package. Licensed shops are provisioned by an administrator, who creates the account and enables the MCP grant; for them the OAuth login is the access gate. Either credential validates through the same path.