Cars.com Scraper — Vehicle Listings, VIN & Dealer Data 🚗

💰 From $1.5 per 1,000 results — price, VIN, mileage, trim, dealer contact info, deal rating, and CARFAX/AutoCheck availability, extracted as clean structured JSON.

Scrape used, new, and certified pre-owned car listings from Cars.com — built on the Apify platform with API access, scheduling, proxy rotation, and monitoring included. Searches by make, model, ZIP code, year, price, and mileage, then extracts every listing on the results pages.

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Why use this actor?

• 💸 Fast & affordable — from $1.5 per 1,000 results, powered by a lightweight CheerioCrawler (plain HTTP, no browser).
• 🔍 Deep data on every listing — year/make/model/trim, VIN, MSRP, mileage, body style, fuel type, colors, engine, transmission, and drivetrain.
• 📞 Dealer intelligence — dealer name, phone, address, distance, and deal rating on every record.
• 📸 Rich media — full photo gallery and feature list when detail scraping is enabled.
• 🕓 Listing dynamics — days on market, price drops, and listing date, so you can track how inventory moves over time.
• 📋 Vehicle history links — CARFAX and AutoCheck availability and report URLs where offered.
• 🔒 Safe to run — traffic routes through a rotating US proxy; schedule daily/weekly runs directly from Apify Console.

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Use cases

Market analysis

Analysts and investors tracking used-car pricing, inventory, and days-on-market across regions. Input: make/model + ZIP + filters · Output: price, mileage, days on market, deal rating · Use: build regional pricing dashboards and inventory trend reports.

Dealer intelligence

Dealers monitoring competitors' stock, pricing strategy, and deal ratings. Input: ZIP or make/model search around a competitor's location · Output: full listing set with pricing and deal ratings · Use: benchmark your pricing against nearby competitors.

Price-tracking SaaS

Builders feeding a recurring schedule to detect price drops and new listings. Input: scheduled daily/weekly runs · Output: structured JSON with priceDrop and listedAt · Use: power price-alert tools or inventory-change notifications.

Arbitrage & deal-hunting

Buyers and resellers finding underpriced vehicles by deal rating and price-vs-MSRP gap. Input: filtered search by price/mileage/year · Output: dealRating, price, msrp · Use: surface "Great Deal" listings automatically across regions.

CRM enrichment

Sales and finance teams appending VIN, photos, and dealer contact data to existing records. Input: VIN-matched or targeted search · Output: full vehicle + dealer record · Use: enrich CRM entries without manual lookup.

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How to use

1. Open the actor in Apify Console and click Try for free / Start.
2. Fill in the input form — at minimum a ZIP code (or a make/model). Set filters like max price, max mileage, year range, and stock type.
3. Click Start. Watch the live run log, then open the Dataset tab to browse results.
4. Download the dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML, or pull it via the Apify API into your own pipeline.

Example input:

{
  "make": "Honda",
  "model": "Civic",
  "zip": "78701",
  "maximumDistance": 50,
  "stockType": "used",
  "yearMin": 2019,
  "priceMax": 25000,
  "maxItems": 100,
  "includeDetails": true
}

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Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
startUrls	array	—	Optional custom cars.com search-results URLs to start from
make	string	—	Vehicle make, e.g. Honda
model	string	—	Vehicle model, e.g. Civic (used together with make)
keyword	string	—	Free-text keyword search
zip	string	—	Search center ZIP code
maximumDistance	integer	50	Search radius in miles
yearMin / yearMax	integer	—	Model year range
priceMin / priceMax	integer	—	List price range in USD
mileageMax	integer	—	Maximum odometer reading
stockType	string	used	used, new, cpo or all
sort	string	listed_at_desc	Sort order (newest, price, mileage, distance, year…)
maxItems	integer	100	Max listings to scrape (free users capped at 10)
includeDetails	boolean	true	Fetch detail pages for richer data (falls back to search data on failure)
proxyConfiguration	object	US proxy group	Apify proxy settings

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Output

Each dataset item is one vehicle listing:

{
  "listingId": "1234567890",
  "url": "https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/1234567890/",
  "title": "Used 2019 Honda Civic EX",
  "year": 2019,
  "make": "Honda",
  "model": "Civic",
  "trim": "EX",
  "vin": "1HGCV1F34LA012345",
  "price": 18999,
  "msrp": 22000,
  "mileage": 45000,
  "bodyStyle": "Sedan",
  "fuelType": "Gasoline",
  "stockType": "used",
  "cpo": false,
  "exteriorColor": "Modern Steel Metallic",
  "interiorColor": "Black",
  "engine": "1.5L I4 16V GDI DOHC Turbo",
  "transmission": "CVT",
  "drivetrain": "FWD",
  "dealerName": "Honda of Austin",
  "dealerPhone": "(512) 555-0100",
  "dealerAddress": "123 Main St",
  "dealerCity": "Austin",
  "dealerState": "TX",
  "dealerZip": "78701",
  "distanceMiles": 5,
  "daysOnMarket": 12,
  "listedAt": "2026-08-01T10:00:00Z",
  "priceDrop": null,
  "dealRating": { "label": "Great Deal", "variant": "great-deal", "description": "Below market" },
  "carfaxAvailable": true,
  "autocheckAvailable": false,
  "carfaxUrl": "https://www.carfax.com/vehiclehistory/abc",
  "autocheckUrl": null,
  "images": ["https://images.cstatic-images.com/1.jpg"],
  "imageCount": 3,
  "primaryImage": "https://images.cstatic-images.com/thumb.jpg",
  "features": ["Blind Spot Monitor", "Apple CarPlay", "Backup Camera"],
  "updatedAt": "2026-08-19 10:00:00",
  "isShippable": false,
  "shipPrice": null,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-20T10:00:00.000Z"
}

You can download the dataset as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

Data table

Field	Description
listingId, url	Listing identifier and detail-page URL
title, year, make, model, trim	Vehicle identity
vin	Vehicle identification number
price, msrp	List price and original MSRP
mileage	Odometer reading
bodyStyle, fuelType, stockType, cpo	Vehicle attributes
exteriorColor, interiorColor, engine, transmission, drivetrain	Specs (enriched from detail page)
dealerName, dealerPhone, dealerAddress, dealerCity, dealerState, dealerZip	Selling dealer info
distanceMiles	Distance from search ZIP
daysOnMarket, listedAt, priceDrop, dealRating	Listing dynamics
carfaxAvailable, autocheckAvailable, carfaxUrl, autocheckUrl	Vehicle history report availability
images, imageCount, primaryImage, features	Media and options

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Integration examples

JavaScript / Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('ahmed_jasarevic/cars-com-scraper').call({
  make: 'Honda',
  model: 'Civic',
  zip: '78701',
  maxItems: 100,
  includeDetails: true,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items[0]);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_TOKEN')

run = client.actor('ahmed_jasarevic/cars-com-scraper').call(run_input={
    'make': 'Toyota',
    'model': 'Camry',
    'zip': '90001',
    'maxItems': 200,
    'includeDetails': True,
})

for item in client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).iterate_items():
    print(item)

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ahmed_jasarevic~cars-com-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"make":"Honda","model":"Civic","zip":"78701","maxItems":100,"includeDetails":true}'

Automation workflows (n8n / Zapier / Make)

1. Trigger: schedule or webhook
2. HTTP Request: call the actor API
3. Process: parse the JSON results, filter by priceDrop or dealRating
4. Action: save to a sheet/DB, send price-drop alerts, or feed into a CRM

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Pricing / cost estimation

How much does it cost to scrape Cars.com? At $1.5 per 1,000 results, the actor uses a lightweight CheerioCrawler (plain HTTP, no browser), so runs stay cheap. A 100-listing run typically finishes in a few minutes and costs a fraction of a compute unit. Free Apify users get a 10-item preview; paid users can scrape up to 5,000 listings per run. Proxy traffic is included in your Apify plan.

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Tips and advanced options

• Use a ZIP code — Cars.com results are distance-based; without one you get nationwide results.
• Set maxItems to bound run time and cost.
• Disable includeDetails for a faster, cheaper run when you only need search-page data.
• Schedule it in Apify Console (e.g. daily) to track price drops and new inventory over time.
• Combine filters (make + model + year range + price cap) to keep result sets small and focused.

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FAQ

How much does it cost? $1.5 per 1,000 results. Free users get a 10-item preview to test before scaling up.

Do I need a proxy? Included by default via a rotating US proxy group. Very large runs may benefit from the residential proxy group if Cars.com rate-limits your requests.

What's the difference with includeDetails on vs off? Off: fast, cheap search-page data (price, mileage, dealer basics). On: additionally visits each detail page for full photo gallery, dealer phone/address, vehicle-history links, and features — slower and uses more proxy bandwidth. Falls back to search-page data if a detail page fails.

Can I scrape new, used, and CPO listings? Yes — set stockType to used, new, cpo, or all.

How many listings can I scrape per run? Free users: 10-item preview. Paid users: up to 5,000 listings per run.

What output formats are supported? JSON, CSV, Excel, and HTML — all exportable directly from the Apify dataset.

Is scraping Cars.com legal? Scraping public data for personal or analytical use is generally acceptable, but you are responsible for complying with Cars.com's Terms of Service and applicable laws. This actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by Cars.com.

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Known limitations

• Cars.com rate-limits and blocks some clients on detail pages; the actor gracefully falls back to search-page data when a detail page fails.
• Very large runs may need the residential proxy group.

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Support

Report issues or request features on the Issues tab of this actor. Need a custom scraper? Contact the author for tailored solutions.