Cars.com Scraper

What does Cars.com Scraper do?

Cars.com Scraper collects public vehicle listings from Cars.com into a structured Apify dataset. Provide a Cars.com search-results URL, choose how many listings to collect, and receive vehicle details such as price, mileage, VIN, dealer, location, images, and the direct listing URL. It is built for automotive market research, inventory monitoring, price comparison, vehicle-data enrichment, and reporting workflows.

Use either a filtered Cars.com results URL or the individual GraphQL-backed filters to control the vehicles in your dataset. You can target vehicles by ZIP code, distance, condition, make, and model. The Actor preserves the selected search scope while giving you a clean, exportable collection of listing records.

Why use Cars.com Scraper?

• Create usable vehicle datasets - Replace manual listing copy-paste with structured records that can be searched, compared, and reused.
• Monitor inventory and pricing - Run the same Cars.com search again to compare available vehicles, asking prices, mileage, and dealers over time.
• Research local or national markets - Use the supported Cars.com search filters to focus on a ZIP code, distance radius, make, model, or vehicle condition.
• Support automotive workflows - Use the results for dealer inventory analysis, valuation research, competitive offer tracking, buyer research, and vehicle-record enrichment.
• Work with your preferred tools - Download datasets in JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML, schedule recurring runs, connect webhooks, or access results through the Apify API.

What data can you extract from Cars.com?

Each Cars.com listing can include the following fields when that information is publicly available on the source listing.

Field	Description
listingId	Unique Cars.com listing identifier
title	Vehicle title, such as year, make, model, and trim
year, make, model, trim	Core vehicle identification details
vin	Vehicle identification number when published
stockType	Vehicle condition, such as new, used, or certified pre-owned
price, msrp, shipPrice	Listing price and related price values when available
mileage	Odometer reading
bodyStyle, fuelType	Vehicle body style and fuel type
dealer, location	Dealer name and location label when available
sellerZip, sellerCustomerId	Seller location and identifier values when published
imageUrl, imageCount, galleryImages	Primary vehicle image, image count, and available gallery image URLs
url	Direct Cars.com vehicle-detail page URL
scrapedAt	ISO timestamp showing when the record was collected

Some listings also include availability, financing, delivery, attribution, and position metadata. Fields are omitted when Cars.com does not publish a value for that particular vehicle.

How to scrape Cars.com vehicle listings

1. Choose one search mode: provide a full public Cars.com results URL in searchUrl, or leave it empty and use the individual filter fields.
2. For filter mode, provide location as a ZIP code and optionally choose stockType, maxDistance, make, and model.
3. Choose maxListings and run Cars.com Scraper.
4. Review the dataset preview.
5. Export the results or connect the dataset to your spreadsheet, database, alerting, or reporting workflow.

When searchUrl is supplied, its location, distance, stock type, make, and model filters take precedence over the individual filter fields. Price, year, mileage, and other URL-only filters are not sent to the GraphQL search.

For a quick test, use a limit of 20 listings. Once the dataset has the vehicles and fields you expect, increase the limit or schedule a repeat run for monitoring.

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
searchUrl	String	No	New-vehicle Cars.com results near ZIP 60606	A public Cars.com search-results URL. Its location, distance, stock type, make, and model filters take precedence over the individual filter fields.
location	String	No	—	ZIP code used as the search location when searchUrl is not provided.
stockType	String	No	all	Vehicle condition: all, new, used, or cpo.
maxDistance	String	No	50	Search radius in miles from location.
make	String	No	—	Vehicle manufacturer, such as Toyota or Honda.
model	String	No	—	Vehicle model, such as Camry or Civic. Use with make in direct filter mode; the actor converts both to a Cars.com make-model slug.
maxListings	Integer	No	20	Maximum number of vehicle listings to save. Use 0 to collect all available results.

Output Data

Field	Type	Description
listingId	String	Cars.com listing identifier
title	String	Display title for the vehicle
year	Number	Model year
make	String	Vehicle manufacturer
model	String	Vehicle model
trim	String	Vehicle trim when available
vin	String	Vehicle identification number when published
stockType	String	New, used, or certified-pre-owned classification
price	Number	Listing price when published
msrp	Number	MSRP when published
mileage	Number	Vehicle mileage when published
bodyStyle	String	Vehicle body style
fuelType	String	Fuel type
dealer	String	Dealer name when available
location	String	Listing location when available
sellerZip	String	Seller ZIP code when available
imageUrl	String	Primary vehicle image URL
imageCount	Number	Number of images indicated for the listing
galleryImages	Array	Available vehicle image URLs
url	String	Direct vehicle-detail page URL
scrapedAt	String	ISO timestamp of collection

Usage Examples

Basic Cars.com search

Collect the first 20 listings from a Cars.com search-results page.

{
  "searchUrl": "https://www.cars.com/shopping/results/?stock_type=new&zip=60606&maximum_distance=50",
  "maxListings": 20
}

API filter search

Use the individual input fields instead of building a Cars.com URL. The actor sends the location, condition, make, and model filters directly to Cars.com GraphQL, avoiding broad page-by-page scans.

{
  "location": "10001",
  "stockType": "used",
  "maxDistance": "50",
  "make": "Toyota",
  "model": "Camry",
  "maxListings": 20
}

Location and condition search

Use direct filters when you want the actor to send a narrow search to GraphQL without loading the Cars.com results page first.

{
  "location": "60606",
  "stockType": "new",
  "maxDistance": "25",
  "maxListings": 50
}

Make and model inventory monitoring

Collect a larger snapshot of a focused make and model search to compare inventory across runs.

{
  "searchUrl": "https://www.cars.com/shopping/results/?stock_type=new&zip=90210&maximum_distance=100&makes%5B%5D=Toyota&models%5B%5D=Toyota-Camry",
  "maxListings": 200
}

Sample Output

{
  "listingId": "b0751a25-37b6-4d50-a55b-8e4a22184584",
  "title": "Used 2024 Subaru Outback Limited",
  "year": 2024,
  "make": "Subaru",
  "model": "Outback",
  "trim": "Limited",
  "vin": "4S4BTANC3R3114509",
  "bodyStyle": "SUV",
  "fuelType": "Gasoline",
  "stockType": "Used",
  "price": 27994,
  "mileage": 49385,
  "dealer": "Example Dealer",
  "location": "Bolingbrook, IL",
  "sellerZip": "60440",
  "imageUrl": "https://platform.cstatic-images.com/large/in/v2/example.jpg",
  "imageCount": 16,
  "galleryImages": [
    "https://platform.cstatic-images.com/large/in/v2/example.jpg"
  ],
  "url": "https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/b0751a25-37b6-4d50-a55b-8e4a22184584/",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-03T10:30:00.000Z"
}

Tips for best results

• Start from a Cars.com results page - A public search URL is a convenient way to transfer its supported location, distance, stock type, make, and model filters into the Actor.
• Keep early runs small - Set maxListings to 20 or 50 first, then inspect the dataset before running a larger collection.
• Use focused searches - Narrow by ZIP code, distance, condition, make, or model when you need a comparable set of vehicles.
• Plan for optional values - Prices, VINs, dealer details, specifications, and images vary by listing. Missing fields usually mean that the source listing did not provide them.
• Schedule recurring searches - Save a stable filtered URL and schedule the Actor to create regular inventory and price snapshots.
• Report source changes - Public listing pages can change. If a saved search stops returning expected fields, report the issue through the Actor's Issues tab with the affected public search URL.

Integrations and exports

• Google Sheets - Export vehicle listings for price comparisons, market summaries, and team review.
• Webhooks - Send completed run data to a downstream application or alerting workflow.
• Make or Zapier - Add new inventory records to no-code automations.
• Apify API - Retrieve datasets programmatically for dashboards, databases, and internal applications.
• CSV, Excel, JSON, and XML - Download the dataset in a format suitable for analysis, reporting, or data exchange.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I export Cars.com data to CSV or Excel?

Yes. Apify datasets can be downloaded in CSV, Excel, JSON, XML, and other supported formats after the run completes.

Can I collect a specific make or model?

Yes. Provide make and optionally model with a location ZIP code. The actor converts a model such as Camry plus make Toyota into the Cars.com GraphQL slug toyota-camry.

Can I run Cars.com Scraper on a schedule?

Yes. Create an Apify schedule for the Actor to refresh your vehicle dataset hourly, daily, weekly, or at another interval.

Why are price, VIN, or dealer fields missing for some vehicles?

Cars.com listings do not all publish the same details. A missing field means the relevant value was not available for that listing at collection time.

Is this Actor suitable for non-technical users?

Yes. Copy a public Cars.com results URL into the input form, choose a listing limit, run the Actor, and download the completed dataset.

Is it legal to scrape Cars.com?

Collecting public web data can be lawful, but you are responsible for complying with applicable laws, Cars.com terms, privacy obligations, and any restrictions that apply to your use of the data.

Related Actors

• Bid.cars Scraper - Collect auction vehicle listings, lot details, damage information, bids, and images from Bid.cars.
• Yallamotor Cars Scraper - Collect used-car listings and vehicle details from YallaMotor.

Support

For issues, feature requests, or custom Actor work, use the Issues tab on the Cars.com Scraper page or contact the developer through Apify.

Legal Notice

Cars.com Scraper is intended for legitimate collection of publicly available vehicle-listing data. Users are responsible for complying with applicable laws, Cars.com terms, and privacy requirements when collecting, storing, sharing, or using data.