VAN MCP Server Beta: Buy Center Data in Your AI Assistant
Vehicle Acquisition Network (VAN) is beta testing the VAN MCP server, a read-only Model Context Protocol connector that lets a dealership connect Claude to its own VAN account. Anyone on the team with a VAN login can then ask how the buy center is doing in plain English. How are my top buyers doing month to date? What did we buy in the last 90 days, with the VINs? Put your DMS report in the same chat and the assistant can line the cars up against it. As of November 2026 it is live with its first dealer group, and we are opening it to more.
Current VAN customers on any plan can ask their Acquisition Coach™ to add the store to the beta list. As far as we know, VAN is the first automotive acquisition tool to offer an MCP server.
What is an MCP server?
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol, an open standard that lets an AI assistant connect to another piece of software and work with its data. Think of the VAN MCP server as a read-only login you give the assistant. Today, if you want an assistant to look at your VAN numbers, someone exports a report and drops the file into the chat. With an MCP server the assistant signs in to VAN and pulls the numbers itself.
Tom Gregg, VAN's Founder and CEO, built the VAN MCP server and described it this way: "It's like an API, but it has context."
What can you ask the VAN MCP server?
The server is built for reporting. It reads the acquisition data already in your VAN account, the kind of reporting you see in VAN PACE™, plus the logged communication behind it. That includes:
- Cars acquired, with VINs, and lost opportunities
- Buyer-specific results and activity by hour
- The logged conversations between your buyers and sellers, so the assistant can summarize what was said on a lost deal
- Trends in the cars your buy center is buying
- Listings and their results
From there the assistant can match the answers to your DMS numbers, draft the Monday buy center recap, or compare one buyer's results to the buy center KPIs your coach holds buyers to.
How is one dealer group pairing VAN and DMS data?
The first account on the beta belongs to a Midwest dealer group whose operations manager was already using Claude for his acquisition reporting. A couple of times a week he exported VAN's acquisition report, dropped the file into a folder Claude could read, and had it match the cars against his DMS sales data to track front gross, back gross, total gross and recon cost on the cars his team bought through VAN.
With the MCP server connected, he can pull VAN data directly instead of exporting it. He is building a dashboard that combines VAN data with his DMS numbers, and he can ask follow-up questions in the same window. His note to Tom after the first few days: "The MCP has been great so far."
VAN records which cars your buyers acquired and how. The DMS knows whether each car retailed or went to the lane, and what it grossed. Lining the two up used to mean a spreadsheet and a chunk of somebody's afternoon. The VAN MCP server does not connect to your DMS, so the assistant does the matching.
What does the beta not do?
The VAN MCP server is read-only. It returns data and does not change anything in VAN, update a listing, message a seller, or make an offer. VAN intends to build a separate read-and-write version later.
The VAN MCP server is not an AI buyer. VAN uses trained AI to filter listings and decode plates into VINs, and people stay in the seller conversation.
The server is built to show only what is inside the VAN account you connect. It is a beta, and we are still hardening it. That account includes logged seller conversations, which can include seller names and contact details, so treat it like any other system that holds consumer information. Run it past your compliance officer or IT lead first. Connect it only to a business AI account your store controls, and check whether that plan saves chats or uses them to train models.
Who can join the VAN MCP beta?
The beta is open to current VAN customers on any plan, at no additional cost. The best fit is a store or group where someone already uses an AI assistant for reporting, because that is where it is most likely to save time. As of November 2026 the beta runs on Claude. If your team uses another assistant that supports MCP connectors, tell your Acquisition Coach™ so we can test it with you.
Setup takes a few steps. VAN sends connection details once you are on the list. Whoever manages your Claude account adds VAN as a custom connector. Whether you can do that depends on your Claude plan and admin settings. Then each person signs in to VAN through Claude. We check in with beta stores about what worked and what did not, and use that to decide what to build next.
Current customers can ask their Acquisition Coach™ to add the store to the beta list. If you are not on VAN yet, book a demo or call 855-952-4949 and we will show you the platform on live listings from your market.
Common questions about the beta
What is the VAN MCP server?
The VAN MCP server is a read-only Model Context Protocol connector, currently in beta, that lets a dealership connect Claude to query that dealership's own Vehicle Acquisition Network account for buy center reporting, including buyer performance, acquired vehicles with VINs, lost opportunities and logged seller communication.
Can I connect Claude to my dealership's VAN data?
Yes, if you are a current VAN customer, your store has been added to the beta list, and your Claude plan and admin settings allow custom connectors. VAN sends connection details, you add VAN as a custom connector in Claude, and you sign in to your VAN account.
Does the VAN MCP server cost extra?
No. The VAN MCP server is included at no additional cost on every VAN plan.
Which AI assistants work with the VAN MCP server?
As of November 2026, Claude is the only AI assistant VAN has set up and tested with the VAN MCP server.
Is my VAN data shared with other dealers?
No. The VAN MCP server is built to show only what is inside the VAN account you sign in with, not other dealers' accounts. It is a beta, and we are still hardening it. Your data, which can include logged seller conversations, does go to the AI assistant you connect, under your own login, and is governed by that assistant's terms, the same as any other connector you add to it.