Start an evaluation by VIN or plate

Creates an in-progress evaluation. The eval is not visible in the apps until /dcupdateeval marks it Complete.

Send a 17-character VIN, or a plate plus state. Two response shapes:

• A decoded vehicle with EvalID — continue to /dcupdateeval.
• Style options when the VIN is ambiguous. AU: an array whose item has options / VechielDescriptions and no EvalID; POST the chosen Description as desc to /manualcarentry. US: a single object { VIN, EvalID, descriptionSelect: true, descriptionOptions: [ { code, codeType, fullDescription, highlight } ] } — detect it with descriptionSelect === true, not by a missing EvalID (the US flow creates the eval first, so EvalID is always populated); POST evalid plus the chosen option's code and codeType to /manualcarentry. GCC: as US — echo the chosen option's code and codeType.
• Not accepted. Read the body rather than the status code: an undecodable VIN returns an object with an error string and neither EvalID nor a disambiguation payload, and it does so under a 2xx status (201 for a live decode, 200 for the canned AU sample VINs below). The API does not validate the VIN check digit; "invalid check digit" messages come from client-side validation.

Every evaluation response carries CreatedAt, CompletedAt (null until completed) and UpdatedAt as ISO-8601 UTC (2026-09-04T22:40:29Z). Prefer these over EntryDate, which has no zone designator.

Sample VINs: AU keys — 6G1EP5EH6AL460983, 1C6RR7FT6MS537299, MMAJLKL10PH006556 (ambiguous) and 5YJSB7E24JF257977 (single match), all answered from canned AU data. US keys — 1FTFW1EF2HFB45917, JF1VBAF62P9812865, 1C4RJFBG9KC749141 (single match), 4T1BZ1HK4KU025338, SALVP2BG6HH236343 (two styles each); do not use the AU list on a US key.