Cars.com Extractor

Turn any Cars.com search into clean, structured vehicle data. Give the actor a search (by ZIP and make, or a full Cars.com URL) and it returns one row per listing with price, MSRP, mileage, VIN, year, make, model, trim, dealer, and photos. Export to JSON, CSV, or Excel, or pipe it straight into a spreadsheet, a pricing model, or a CRM.

Cars.com lists millions of new and used vehicles across thousands of dealers. Reading that inventory by hand is slow and does not scale. This actor walks the search results for you, reads every listing card, and hands back a flat table you can actually work with.

Why use this actor

• Full listing detail per row. Price, MSRP, mileage, VIN, trim, drivetrain, fuel type, color, dealer, and photo URLs, all in one record.
• Two ways to search. Paste exact Cars.com search URLs, or just enter a ZIP and make and let the actor build the search.
• Filters that match the site. New, used, or certified pre-owned, distance radius, and sort order.
• Handles pagination for you. The actor pages through results until it hits your item cap, deduplicating by listing ID as it goes.
• Clean, predictable schema. Every field is typed and documented. Numbers come back as numbers, not strings.
• Ready for automation. Run on a schedule, connect to Google Sheets or a webhook, or call it through the Apify API.

Use cases

• Competitor and market pricing. Track how a make or model is priced across a region and how prices shift over time.
• Inventory monitoring. Watch how long specific trims sit on the lot and when new stock appears.
• Dealer lead generation. Build a list of dealers carrying the inventory you care about, with names and ZIP codes.
• Valuation and analytics. Feed real listing data into a pricing model, a dashboard, or a market report.
• Deal alerts. Schedule a search and get notified when a matching car is listed or a price drops.

Input

Run a search one of two ways. Provide one or more full Cars.com search URLs, or fill in a ZIP code (optionally with makes) and let the actor construct the search. If both are given, the URLs are used.

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
searchUrls	array	No*	[]	Full Cars.com shopping result URLs. Use when you already have the exact search link.
zipCode	string	No*	60606	ZIP the search is centered on. Required if no search URLs are given.
makes	array	No	["audi"]	Makes to filter by, for example toyota, ford. Leave empty for all makes.
maximumDistance	integer	No	50	Search radius in miles from the ZIP (10 to 500).
stockType	select	No	all	Condition filter: all, new, used, or cpo.
sort	select	No	best_match_desc	Result order: best match, price, mileage, year, best deal, or distance.
maxItems	integer	No	20	Cap on listings collected per run (1 to 1000).
requestTimeoutSecs	integer	No	30	Per-request timeout in seconds (5 to 120).

*Provide either searchUrls, or a zipCode. One of the two is required.

Example: search by ZIP and make

{
    "zipCode": "60606",
    "makes": ["audi"],
    "maximumDistance": 50,
    "stockType": "all",
    "sort": "best_match_desc",
    "maxItems": 20
}

Example: search by URL

{
    "searchUrls": [
        "https://www.cars.com/shopping/results/?makes[]=audi&zip=60606&maximum_distance=50&sort=best_match_desc"
    ],
    "maxItems": 200
}

Output

Each vehicle listing becomes one dataset record. Results are available as JSON, CSV, Excel, or through the Apify API.

Field	Type	Description
listingId	string	Cars.com listing identifier
vin	string	Vehicle identification number
stockType	string	New, Used, or certified
year	integer	Model year
make	string	Manufacturer
model	string	Model name
trim	string	Trim level
bodyStyle	string	Body type, for example SUV or Sedan
drivetrain	string	Drivetrain, for example All-wheel Drive
fuelType	string	Fuel type
exteriorColor	string	Exterior color
price	integer	Listed price in USD
msrp	integer	Manufacturer suggested price when shown
mileage	integer	Odometer reading
cpo	boolean	Certified pre-owned flag
dealerName	string	Selling dealer
dealerZip	string	Dealer ZIP code
primaryImage	string	Main listing photo URL
listingImages	array	All photo URLs on the card
imageCount	integer	Number of photos captured
detailUrl	string	Link to the full listing page
searchUrl	string	The search this listing came from
rankingPosition	integer	Position in the collected results
scrapedAt	string	UTC timestamp of the run (ISO 8601)

Example output record

{
    "listingId": "107ec708-5b14-41af-a1f7-bcff77627403",
    "vin": "WA15AAGU7T2048258",
    "stockType": "New",
    "year": 2026,
    "make": "Audi",
    "model": "Q5",
    "trim": "Premium Plus",
    "bodyStyle": "SUV",
    "drivetrain": "All-wheel Drive",
    "fuelType": "Gasoline",
    "exteriorColor": "green",
    "price": 57815,
    "msrp": 60425,
    "mileage": 10,
    "cpo": false,
    "dealerName": "The Audi Exchange Highland Park",
    "dealerZip": "60035",
    "primaryImage": "https://platform.cstatic-images.com/in/v2/.../6Ayd029p3xVD1S5YnPc7Y5HTzWU.jpg",
    "listingImages": [
        "https://platform.cstatic-images.com/large/in/v2/.../6Ayd029p3xVD1S5YnPc7Y5HTzWU.jpg",
        "https://platform.cstatic-images.com/large/in/v2/.../BB1wyloUtnPIeM_H3uYuJZLhRl4.jpg"
    ],
    "imageCount": 6,
    "detailUrl": "https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/107ec708-5b14-41af-a1f7-bcff77627403/",
    "searchUrl": "https://www.cars.com/shopping/results/?makes[]=audi&zip=60606&maximum_distance=50&sort=best_match_desc",
    "rankingPosition": 1,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-08-13T12:00:00+00:00"
}

How to run

From Apify Console

1. Open the actor in Apify Console.
2. Enter a ZIP and make, or paste one or more Cars.com search URLs.
3. Set maxItems to how many listings you want.
4. Click Start. When the run finishes, open the Dataset tab and export as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

On a schedule

Attach a schedule in Apify to run the search every hour, day, or week. Combine it with a webhook or a Google Sheets integration to keep a live inventory feed without touching the actor again.

How it works

The actor sends each search page through built-in bypass infrastructure, so you do not manage proxies or headers. It reads the structured listing data embedded in each result card, normalizes the fields, and pages through the results until it reaches your maxItems cap. Listings are deduplicated by their Cars.com listing ID, so the same car never lands in your dataset twice.

Tips

• Start small. Run with maxItems: 20 to check the output shape, then raise the cap for a full pull.
• To compare several makes or regions in one run, add multiple entries to searchUrls.
• Sort by list_price_asc to surface the cheapest inventory first, or mileage_asc for the lowest-mileage cars.
• Some fields depend on what Cars.com shows for a listing. MSRP, for example, is common on new cars and often absent on used ones.

FAQ

Do I need a Cars.com account or login? No. The actor reads only public search-result pages. It does not log in or submit any forms.

Can I scrape used and certified pre-owned cars? Yes. Set stockType to used or cpo, or leave it on all to include everything.

How many listings can I collect per run? Up to 1000, set with maxItems. The default is 20.

What format is the data? JSON, CSV, or Excel from the Dataset tab, or JSON through the API.

Why is a field empty on some records? Cars.com does not show every field on every listing. When a value is not present on the card, that field is left null rather than guessed.

Legal

Use this actor for public data collection in line with Cars.com terms and applicable law. You are responsible for how you use the data you collect. This actor reads publicly visible listing pages only.