# Rental Cars Scraper — Car Rental Prices & Availability (`studio-amba/rental-cars-scraper`) Actor Compare car rental prices from Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Enterprise, and more. Scrape availability, prices, and vehicle details from RentalCars.com. - **URL**: https://apify.com/studio-amba/rental-cars-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Studio Amba](https://apify.com/studio-amba) (community) - **Categories:** E-commerce - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per usage This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-usage ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use 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 ## Rental Cars Scraper Compare car rental prices from 900+ suppliers including Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Enterprise, Budget, Sixt, and more. Scrape real-time availability, prices, and vehicle details from RentalCars.com -- the world's largest car rental comparison platform with 60,000+ locations. ### Why use this actor? **Travel agencies, price comparison tools, and market researchers** need car rental pricing data across multiple suppliers without manually checking each one. This actor automates the search on RentalCars.com and extracts all available offers with prices, vehicle specs, and supplier ratings in a single run. Perfect for building price alerts, comparing rates across dates, or feeding travel booking aggregators. ### Input | Field | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|----------|-------------| | `pickupLocation` | String | Yes | City, airport, or location name (e.g., "Brussels Airport", "Paris CDG") | | `pickupDate` | String | No | Pick-up date in YYYY-MM-DD format (default: 7 days from now) | | `dropoffDate` | String | No | Drop-off date in YYYY-MM-DD format (default: 14 days from now) | | `pickupTime` | String | No | Pick-up time in HH:MM format (default: "10:00") | | `dropoffTime` | String | No | Drop-off time in HH:MM format (default: "10:00") | | `driverAge` | Integer | No | Driver age, affects pricing (default: 30) | | `maxResults` | Integer | No | Maximum results to return (default: 50, max: 500) | | `proxyConfiguration` | Object | No | Proxy settings (residential proxies recommended) | ### Output Each result contains: | Field | Type | Example | |-------|------|---------| | `supplier` | String | `"Hertz"` | | `carName` | String | `"Volkswagen Golf"` | | `carType` | String | `"Compact"` | | `transmission` | String | `"Automatic"` | | `seats` | Number | `5` | | `doors` | Number | `4` | | `bags` | Number | `2` | | `priceTotal` | Number | `342.50` | | `pricePerDay` | Number | `48.93` | | `currency` | String | `"EUR"` | | `pickupLocation` | String | `"Brussels Airport"` | | `dropoffLocation` | String | `"Brussels Airport"` | | `pickupDate` | String | `"2026-04-10"` | | `dropoffDate` | String | `"2026-04-17"` | | `fuelPolicy` | String | `"Full to full"` | | `mileagePolicy` | String | `"Unlimited"` | | `rating` | Number | `8.2` | | `reviewCount` | Number | `1542` | | `imageUrl` | String | Car image URL | | `url` | String | Direct link to the offer | | `scrapedAt` | String | `"2026-04-03T14:30:00.000Z"` | ### Example output ```json { "supplier": "Europcar", "carName": "Renault Clio", "carType": "Economy", "transmission": "Manual", "seats": 5, "doors": 4, "bags": 2, "priceTotal": 215.80, "pricePerDay": 30.83, "currency": "EUR", "pickupLocation": "Brussels Airport", "dropoffLocation": "Brussels Airport", "pickupDate": "2026-04-10", "dropoffDate": "2026-04-17", "fuelPolicy": "Full to full", "mileagePolicy": "Unlimited", "rating": 7.8, "reviewCount": 2341, "imageUrl": "https://cdn.rcstatic.com/images/car_images/web/renault/clio_lrg.jpg", "url": "https://www.rentalcars.com/...", "scrapedAt": "2026-04-03T14:30:00.000Z" } ```` ### Use cases - **Price monitoring** -- Track car rental prices over time for specific routes - **Travel aggregators** -- Feed rental car data into booking platforms - **Market research** -- Compare supplier pricing strategies across locations - **Price alerts** -- Get notified when rental prices drop below a threshold - **Academic research** -- Study pricing dynamics in the car rental industry ### Cost estimate This actor uses Playwright (headless browser) and approximately **0.5-1.0 compute units per search**. At standard Apify pricing, that's roughly **$0.25-0.50 per search** depending on the number of results and proxy usage. ### Tips for best results - **Use residential proxies** -- RentalCars.com has AWS WAF anti-bot protection. Residential proxies significantly improve success rates. - **Search dates in the future** -- Use dates at least 3-7 days in the future for the best availability. - **Airport locations work best** -- Airport codes (e.g., "Brussels Airport BRU") tend to have the most consistent autocomplete results. ### Limitations - Requires JavaScript rendering (Playwright-based) -- uses more compute units than simple HTTP scrapers - AWS WAF may occasionally block requests -- residential proxies recommended - Maximum ~500 results per search (platform limitation) - Drop-off location is same as pick-up (one-way rentals not yet supported) - Data is scraped from the public website and may change without notice # Actor input Schema ## `pickupLocation` (type: `string`): City, airport, or location name for pick-up. Examples: 'Brussels Airport', 'Paris Charles de Gaulle', 'Barcelona', 'London Heathrow'. ## `pickupDate` (type: `string`): Pick-up date in ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD). Defaults to 7 days from now. ## `dropoffDate` (type: `string`): Drop-off date in ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD). Defaults to 14 days from now (7-day rental). ## `pickupTime` (type: `string`): Pick-up time in HH:MM format (30-minute intervals). Default: 10:00. ## `dropoffTime` (type: `string`): Drop-off time in HH:MM format (30-minute intervals). Default: 10:00. ## `driverAge` (type: `integer`): Age of the driver. Affects pricing and availability. Default: 30. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of rental car offers to return. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Proxy settings. Residential proxies recommended — RentalCars.com uses AWS WAF anti-bot protection. ## Actor input object example ```json { "pickupLocation": "Brussels Airport", "pickupTime": "10:00", "dropoffTime": "10:00", "driverAge": 30, "maxResults": 50 } ``` # 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 '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "pickupLocation": "Brussels Airport" }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("studio-amba/rental-cars-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 '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "pickupLocation": "Brussels Airport" } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("studio-amba/rental-cars-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 '{ "pickupLocation": "Brussels Airport" }' | apify call studio-amba/rental-cars-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=studio-amba/rental-cars-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Rental Cars Scraper — Car Rental Prices & Availability", "description": "Compare car rental prices from Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Enterprise, and more. Scrape availability, prices, and vehicle details from RentalCars.com.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "uwwxlmsYDONpOyrng" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/studio-amba~rental-cars-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-studio-amba-rental-cars-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/studio-amba~rental-cars-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-studio-amba-rental-cars-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/studio-amba~rental-cars-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-studio-amba-rental-cars-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "pickupLocation" ], "properties": { "pickupLocation": { "title": "Pick-up Location", "type": "string", "description": "City, airport, or location name for pick-up. Examples: 'Brussels Airport', 'Paris Charles de Gaulle', 'Barcelona', 'London Heathrow'." }, "pickupDate": { "title": "Pick-up Date", "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$", "type": "string", "description": "Pick-up date in ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD). Defaults to 7 days from now." }, "dropoffDate": { "title": "Drop-off Date", "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$", "type": "string", "description": "Drop-off date in ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD). Defaults to 14 days from now (7-day rental)." }, "pickupTime": { "title": "Pick-up Time", "pattern": "^\\d{2}:\\d{2}$", "type": "string", "description": "Pick-up time in HH:MM format (30-minute intervals). Default: 10:00.", "default": "10:00" }, "dropoffTime": { "title": "Drop-off Time", "pattern": "^\\d{2}:\\d{2}$", "type": "string", "description": "Drop-off time in HH:MM format (30-minute intervals). Default: 10:00.", "default": "10:00" }, "driverAge": { "title": "Driver Age", "minimum": 18, "maximum": 99, "type": "integer", "description": "Age of the driver. Affects pricing and availability. Default: 30.", "default": 30 }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Results", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 500, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of rental car offers to return.", "default": 50 }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy Configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Proxy settings. Residential proxies recommended — RentalCars.com uses AWS WAF anti-bot protection." } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```