# Cars.co.za Used Cars Scraper (`rainminer/cars-co-za-scraper`) Actor

Scrape public used car listings from Cars.co.za across South Africa. Export title, price, year, mileage, location, dealer name, and listing URLs to JSON or CSV for automotive market research, inventory monitoring, and dealer lead generation.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/rainminer/cars-co-za-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [rainminer](https://apify.com/rainminer) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce, Travel
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.74 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

### What does Cars.co.za Used Cars Scraper do?

Cars.co.za Used Cars Scraper extracts public vehicle listings from [Cars.co.za](https://www.cars.co.za/), focused on South African used cars. Add a Cars.co.za search URL and get structured data with title, price, year, mileage, location, dealer, and listing URL.

Use it to monitor South African vehicle inventory, compare dealer asking prices, collect public used car leads, or feed Cars.co.za market data into spreadsheets, dashboards, and valuation workflows. Results can be exported as JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML, or accessed through the Apify API.

### What Cars.co.za data can you extract?

| Field      | Description                             |
| ---------- | --------------------------------------- |
| `title`    | Vehicle title or make/model summary     |
| `price`    | Asking price as a number when available |
| `currency` | Currency, usually ZAR                   |
| `year`     | Vehicle year                            |
| `mileage`  | Mileage parsed as a number              |
| `location` | Public listing location                 |
| `dealer`   | Dealer or seller name when available    |
| `url`      | Public Cars.co.za listing URL           |

### How to scrape Cars.co.za used cars

1. Open the Actor input tab.
2. Add one or more public Cars.co.za search URLs, for example `https://www.cars.co.za/search/`.
3. Set `maxItems` to control how many listings are saved per start URL.
4. Run the Actor and download the dataset.

The Actor only extracts public listing data. It does not require Cars.co.za account credentials.

### How much does scraping Cars.co.za cost?

This Actor uses pay-per-result pricing when monetization is enabled. You pay for each vehicle listing saved to the dataset, keeping test runs affordable and larger monitoring jobs predictable.

Apify adds scheduling, API access, dataset storage, webhooks, and integrations, so Cars.co.za market tracking can run automatically.

### Input example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.cars.co.za/search/" }],
  "maxItems": 25,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
  "title": "2021 Toyota Corolla 1.8 XS",
  "price": 279900,
  "currency": "ZAR",
  "year": 2021,
  "mileage": 64000,
  "location": "Gauteng, Pretoria",
  "dealer": "Example Motors",
  "url": "https://www.cars.co.za/for-sale/used/example/123456/",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-30T00:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### FAQ

#### Is it legal to scrape Cars.co.za?

This Actor extracts public web data only. Make sure your use case has a lawful basis and respects applicable regulations.

#### Does the Actor scrape private contact details?

No. It focuses on public listing fields such as vehicle data, dealer name, location, and URL.

#### Why is Apify Proxy enabled by default?

Cars.co.za may challenge direct automated requests. Proxy routing is enabled by default for more reliable cloud runs and can be adjusted in the input.

### Image Credit

Image credit: [Cars.co.za](https://www.cars.co.za/)

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Public search or category URLs for this scraper.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of listings to return per start URL.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Proxy settings. Apify Proxy is enabled by default because Cars.co.za can challenge direct automated traffic.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.cars.co.za/search/"
    }
  ],
  "maxItems": 5,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "startUrls": [
        {
            "url": "https://www.cars.co.za/search/"
        }
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("rainminer/cars-co-za-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.cars.co.za/search/" }],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("rainminer/cars-co-za-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.cars.co.za/search/"
    }
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call rainminer/cars-co-za-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=rainminer/cars-co-za-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/RlIUEkHXZmb1Xi5Ya/builds/AAYePY34VyQS2cUFk/openapi.json