System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to improving data offloading in a mobile context by using indexes of the data to identify distributed devices that may include the data and selectively querying identified devices for the data. In one embodiment, a method includes, responsive to receiving a query for selected data stored among one or more distributed devices, identifying, by a query device, at least one target device of the distributed devices that matches the selected data using an index of vehicle data stored on the distributed devices. The method includes providing, by the query device, a request to the at least one target device to cause the at least one target device to retrieve the selected data stored locally at the target device. The method includes receiving the selected data from the target device. The method includes providing the selected data as an electronic output.