Auto Trader MCP server: let your AI agent search used cars in the UK
Wield is an MCP server that gives your AI agent one Auto Trader tool, autotrader.co.uk/search-cars. The tool searches used car listings on Auto Trader in the UK by make, model and postcode, with optional filters for price, year, mileage, fuel, gearbox and distance. It returns each car's title, price in pounds, price rating, mileage, year, location and link. The search runs in your own browser. A postcode is required.
Auto Trader UK Search used cars in the UK on Auto Trader
Read-only, no loginRuns in your browser only
Parameters (13)
What your agent gets
| Recipe | What it does | Login | Status (7 Nov 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
autotrader.co.uk/search-cars | Searches UK used car listings by make, model and postcode, with price, mileage, year and seller type | No | No status check is recorded yet |
The tool takes a required make, for example Volkswagen, Ford or BMW, and a required postcode, for example SW1A 1AA. The optional inputs are model, distance_miles, min_price, max_price in pounds, year_from, max_mileage, fuel, transmission, sort, page and include_ads.
The distance_miles input only works with a postcode. Leave it out for a national search. Auto Trader's radius is approximate, so a listing a mile further out can appear. The sort input accepts relevance, price low and high, newest, nearest, mileage and year. Sorting by nearest needs a postcode.
What a result contains
The result has total, pages, page and cars. The total is the number of matching listings, and pages is the number of result pages.
Each car has an id, a title, a make_model, a version, price_gbp, a price_rating from Auto Trader's own price badge, mileage, year, location, distance_miles, seller_type (trade or private), a highlight, a sponsored flag, an image and a url.
Promoted and featured listings are dropped by default. Set include_ads to true to keep them, and each one is marked sponsored.
How a request flows
- You ask your agent: "Find Ford Fiesta cars within 20 miles of SW1A 1AA under 8,000 pounds with a manual gearbox."
- The agent calls
find_recipe, thenrunwithautotrader.co.uk/search-cars,makeset toFord,modelset toFiesta,postcodeset toSW1A 1AA,distance_milesset to20,max_priceset to8000andtransmissionset toManual. wield-mcppasses the run through the local bridge to the Wield extension.- The extension sends the request from an autotrader.co.uk tab in your browser, so the search uses your own browser session.
- The listings go back to your agent. Nothing passes through wield.run.
A price filter without a postcode is refused by Auto Trader, with a "required filter" error. The recipe asks for a postcode for that reason, as the site does. We have not recorded a status check for this recipe yet, so the recipe is not marked healthy on the registry.
What leaves your computer
A search makes one read-only GraphQL request to www.autotrader.co.uk, the same request the results page sends for one search. It goes out from your browser. Wield logs the request on your computer only, with method, host, path, status and timing, and never logs bodies or query values. Telemetry is off by default. Wield never reads, copies or sends your cookies or passwords.
Auto Trader's terms, in plain words
Our notes say that robots.txt has no AI-agent rules: no group for Claude-User, ClaudeBot or anthropic-ai, and no Content-Signal, as checked on 7 November 2026. The robots.txt does disallow search URLs with ?postcode= and ?sort= for crawlers. This recipe does not request those URLs. It posts to the site's search gateway instead. The terms of use have not been reviewed for automated access yet, so we do not state what they allow. This recipe is user-initiated: you start each search yourself, in your own browser, with one search per call, one read-only request. It is not for bulk collection, and it never buys a car. Contacting sellers stays on autotrader.co.uk. Check Auto Trader's terms yourself before you use this recipe in any other way.
Limits and what is not working yet
- Read only. The recipe finds listings. Contacting a seller, reserving and buying stay on autotrader.co.uk.
- Postcode required. Every search needs a UK postcode, including national searches.
- Radius is approximate. Auto Trader may include cars a mile beyond
distance_miles. - Promoted listings are dropped. Set
include_adsto keep them, markedsponsored. - No status check yet. The recipe has no recorded health check on the registry.
- Run limits apply. A run has at most 12 steps, 40 requests, 5 MB per response and 60 seconds.
FAQ
Can the agent contact a seller or buy a car?
No. The recipe only searches. It never contacts a seller and never buys. Open the listing's url to view it on autotrader.co.uk.
Does it need a postcode?
Yes. A postcode is required for every search, because Auto Trader needs one for price filters and distances.
Are the prices in pounds?
Yes. price_gbp is the price in pounds, and max_price is also in pounds.
Does it need an Auto Trader login?
No. The search works without an account.
Where do the results go?
To your agent, on your own computer. The results never pass through wield.run.