# API Cars

> An independent REST API for publicly listed Copart and IAAI vehicle lots.
> Built for dealers, vehicle-history products, VIN decoders, and resale
> analytics. API Cars is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by
> Copart, Inc. or IAA, Inc.

## What this service is

API Cars provides a developer-friendly HTTP/JSON interface to query publicly
listed Copart and IAAI vehicle lots, plus full historical sales records. We
index data that is openly published by each auction site to attract buyers;
we do not access data behind authentication, member-only fields, or bidder
identities. Coverage: ~10.4M records from Copart public listings
(US, CA, FI) and ~8.1M from IAAI public listings (US). New lots are typically
indexed within 6 minutes of publication on the source auction site.

The service offers a REST API and an OpenAPI 3.1 specification.

## Authentication

All authenticated requests require an API token. The primary method is the
`Authorization: Bearer <token>` HTTP header. As a legacy fallback for older
integrations, the same token is also accepted as the `?api_token=<token>`
query-string parameter; both forms resolve to the same account. Sign up at
https://apicars.auction/register — new accounts get a free demo token (10 requests /
hour).

## Base URL

Production: https://apicars.auction

The same host serves two concurrent versions:
- v2 (current production, POST, Bearer token) — under /api/v2/*
- v1 (POST, Bearer token)                     — under /api/v1/*

## Endpoints — v2 (current production)

POST + `Authorization: Bearer <token>` (legacy `?api_token=` query also accepted). Page-based pagination (page, per_page).

- POST /api/v2/get-auctions             — List of auctions
- POST /api/v2/get-cars                 — Vehicles with full trading history
- POST /api/v2/get-active-lots          — Active lots
- POST /api/v2/vin-decoding             — VIN decoder
- POST /api/v2/get-original-photos      — Photo URLs (passthrough, not re-hosted)

## Endpoints — v1

POST + `Authorization: Bearer <token>` (legacy `?api_token=` query also accepted). Page-based pagination (page, per_page).

- POST /api/v1/get-makes
- POST /api/v1/get-models
- POST /api/v1/get-series
- POST /api/v1/get-vehicles-type
- POST /api/v1/get-body-classes
- POST /api/v1/get-model-by-make/{makeId}
- POST /api/v1/get-series-by-model/{modelId}
- POST /api/v1/get-car-vin
- POST /api/v1/get-car-lot
- POST /api/v1/get-cars
- POST /api/v1/get-car-count-history
- POST /api/v1/buy-now-cars

## Specification & tooling

- OpenAPI 3.1 (single document covers v1+v2): https://apicars.auction/openapi.yaml
- Markdown reference:                         https://apicars.auction/docs

## Use cases the API is built for

1. Dealer storefronts — VIN search widgets backed by Copart/IAAI sale history & photos
2. Vehicle-history reports — consumer-grade VIN lookup products
3. Resale & residual-value analytics — pricing models, depreciation curves
4. Inventory monitoring — daily / hourly polling of active lots for buyer agents
5. LLM agents — agents that query auction data over plain REST + JSON as a tool

## Abuse protection

- Card-on-file at signup (Stripe Radar pre-screens fraudulent cards).
- Device fingerprinting — the same device cannot register more than one Free account.
- IP-bound rate limit independent of the API token.

## Compliance &amp; trademarks

API Cars is an independent service. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by,
or sponsored by Copart, Inc. or IAA, Inc. "Copart" and "IAAI" are trademarks
of their respective owners and are used on this site solely to identify the
public data sources we index (nominative fair use). The names appear
without their styled logos.

We do not redistribute third-party copyrighted media. Auction photographs are
served as URL passthroughs to the original source — not re-hosted by us.

Notice &amp; takedown requests from rights holders are handled at
legal@apicars.auction with a 5-business-day response commitment. We maintain
a permanent VIN opt-out registry for owners who request removal.

Full statement: https://apicars.auction/legal

## Documentation

- Quickstart:        https://apicars.auction/docs#quickstart
- Authentication:    https://apicars.auction/docs#authentication
- Endpoints:         https://apicars.auction/docs#endpoints
- Errors:            https://apicars.auction/docs#errors
- Rate limits:       https://apicars.auction/docs#rate-limits
- Status:            https://apicars.auction/status

## Contact

- Support:           support@apicars.auction