# Rentalcars Search API (per-search) (`studio-amba/rentalcars-search-api`) Actor Private client build of the RentalCars.com scraper, billed per executed search instead of per result. Not published on the Apify Store. - **URL**: https://apify.com/studio-amba/rentalcars-search-api.md - **Developed by:** [Studio Amba](https://apify.com/studio-amba) (community) - **Categories:** Travel - **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 92.3% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $6.00 / 1,000 search executeds 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. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.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/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 ## RentalCars.com Scraper with Pay Per Search Pricing Scrape and compare car rental prices from RentalCars.com, the world's largest car rental comparison platform (owned by Booking.com). Extract offers from Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Sixt, Enterprise, Budget, and dozens more suppliers in one run. No login or cookies required. **You pay per search, not per car.** One search costs $0.01 and returns every offer for that destination and date range — up to 500 cars. Scrapers priced per result make high-volume price monitoring expensive fast: a single airport search returning 300 cars costs $2.40 at a typical $0.008-per-item price. Here that same search costs one cent. ### Why pay per search? If you monitor rental prices across many destinations and dates, your cost scales with the number of searches you run, not with how many cars each search happens to return. The math at typical volumes: | Your usage | Searches/month | Cost/month | |------------|----------------|------------| | One city, weekly check | 4 | $0.04 | | 10 destinations, weekly | 40 | $0.40 | | 50 destinations, 5 date pairs, refreshed 10x | 2,500 | $25.00 | Users on higher Apify plans pay less per search (volume discounts are built into the event pricing). ### How it works 1. Enter a pickup location (city, airport, or station), for example `Barcelona Airport` — or a list of them for batch runs 2. Optionally set pickup and drop-off dates (defaults: 30 days from now, 7-day rental) 3. Optionally set the driver age and a per-search result limit 4. Start the actor The actor resolves each location through the RentalCars location search, runs the search through the same JSON API the site itself uses, and returns structured offers in seconds per search. No browser automation, no form filling. #### Batch runs Pass up to 100 pickup locations in one run via `pickupLocations` — one billed search per location, all with the same date pair. For a grid of destinations × dates, run one batch per date pair (schedules or API calls make this trivial). Batch runs are restart-safe: if the platform migrates the run mid-batch, completed searches are never re-executed or re-billed. ### Input | Field | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|----------|-------------| | `pickupLocation` | String | No | City, airport, or station for a single search. Default: `Barcelona Airport` | | `pickupLocations` | Array | No | Batch mode: a list of locations, one billed search each (max 100 per run). Overrides `pickupLocation`. | | `pickupDate` | String | No | `YYYY-MM-DD`. Defaults to 30 days from now. Past dates are replaced by that default. | | `dropoffDate` | String | No | `YYYY-MM-DD`. Defaults to a 7-day rental. | | `driverAge` | Integer | No | Driver age, affects pricing (default: 30) | | `maxResults` | Integer | No | Maximum number of offers to return per search (default: 500, max: 500). The search costs the same either way, so leave it high. | | `currency` | String | No | ISO 4217 code (`EUR`, `GBP`, `USD`, `CHF`, `PLN`, ...) to price results in. Leave empty to auto-detect from the destination's country. | | `countryOfResidence` | String | No | Advanced. ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code sent as the location-search locale (default `gb`). Does not affect pricing currency — use `currency` for that. | | `searchUrl` | String | No | Advanced: a RentalCars search-results URL. The location name and dates are extracted from it. | | `proxyConfiguration` | Object | No | Proxy settings. **Residential proxies strongly recommended** due to AWS WAF protection. | #### Currency handling By default, results are priced in the destination's local currency: a Spanish or German airport returns `EUR`, a UK airport returns `GBP`, a US airport returns `USD`, and so on. This is derived automatically from the resolved pickup location's country — you don't need to set anything. Set the `currency` input to force a specific currency regardless of destination — useful if you're quoting a customer in their home currency (e.g. price a Spanish rental in `USD` for a US-based client). RentalCars' search API accepts an explicit `currency` parameter independent of pickup/drop-off location; if you pass an unsupported code it falls back to `EUR`. ### 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` | | `totalPrice` | Number | `287.50` | | `dailyPrice` | Number | `41.07` | | `currency` | String | `"EUR"` | | `fuelPolicy` | String | `"Full to Full"` | | `mileagePolicy` | String | `"Unlimited"` | | `rating` | Number | `8.2` | | `reviewCount` | Number | `1543` | | `imageUrl` | String | Car image URL | | `url` | String | Search results URL | | `scrapedAt` | String | `"2026-04-07T14:30:00.000Z"` | ### Example output ```json { "supplier": "Europcar", "carName": "Volkswagen Golf", "carType": "Compact", "transmission": "Manual", "seats": 5, "doors": 4, "bags": 2, "totalPrice": 287.50, "dailyPrice": 41.07, "currency": "EUR", "fuelPolicy": "Full to Full", "mileagePolicy": "Unlimited", "rating": 7.8, "reviewCount": 2341, "imageUrl": "https://cdn.rcstatic.com/images/car_images/web/europcar/golf_lrg.jpg", "url": "https://www.rentalcars.com/search-results?...", "scrapedAt": "2026-04-07T14:30:00.000Z" } ```` ### Use cases - **Price comparison** — Compare rental prices across all suppliers for a given location and date range - **Price monitoring** — Schedule daily runs to track pricing trends and find the cheapest booking window - **Travel agencies** — Aggregate rental car data across destinations for client recommendations - **Market research** — Analyze supplier pricing strategies, availability patterns, and seasonal trends - **Fleet analysis** — Track which car models are available at specific airports and cities ### Integrations This actor can be combined with Apify's built-in integrations to: - **Schedule runs** to monitor prices daily or weekly - **Export to Google Sheets** for easy analysis and sharing - **Send webhook notifications** when prices drop below a threshold - **Connect to Zapier/Make** for custom automation workflows - **Use the API** to integrate car rental data into your applications ### Pricing You are charged $0.01 per executed search (the `search-executed` event). A search that fails — bad location, blocked request — is never charged. There is no per-result charge and no charge for starting the actor: a search returning 500 cars costs exactly the same cent as one returning 20. If you prefer per-result billing for small one-off lookups, the same data is available in our [RentalCars Scraper](https://apify.com/studio-amba/rentalcars-scraper) priced per car. ### Cost estimate Each search makes two HTTP requests (location lookup + search) and finishes in a few seconds. A 50-location batch run completes in a few minutes. ### Proxy requirements RentalCars.com uses AWS WAF anti-bot protection that blocks datacenter IPs. **Residential proxies are required** for reliable results — the actor defaults to Apify residential proxies. ### Limitations - All searches in one run share the same pickup/drop-off dates — run one batch per date pair for a date grid - One-way rentals (different drop-off location) are not supported yet - Anti-bot protection may occasionally block requests even with residential proxies - Data is scraped from the public website and may change without notice - Some fields may not be available for all car offers ### How to scrape RentalCars.com data 1. Go to this actor's page on the [Apify Store](https://apify.com/store). 2. Click **Try for free** to open it in Apify Console. 3. Configure your search query or URL, set the maximum number of results, and adjust proxy settings if needed. 4. Click **Start** and wait for the run to finish. 5. Download your data in JSON, CSV, Excel, or connect it to your workflow via API. You can also schedule regular runs, set up webhooks for real-time notifications, or integrate the results directly into your application using the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api). # Actor input Schema ## `pickupLocation` (type: `string`): City, airport, or station to pick up the car. The actor resolves this via the RentalCars location search and uses the best match. Example: "Barcelona Airport", "Brussels", "Malaga". For multiple destinations in one run, use Pickup Locations (batch) below instead. ## `pickupLocations` (type: `array`): Run many searches in one go: one billed search per location, all with the same dates. Overrides the single Pickup Location field. Up to 100 locations per run — split bigger grids across runs (e.g. one run per date pair). ## `pickupDate` (type: `string`): Pickup date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Leave empty to default to about 30 days from now. Dates in the past are automatically replaced by that default. ## `dropoffDate` (type: `string`): Drop-off date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Leave empty to default to a 7-day rental. ## `driverAge` (type: `integer`): Driver age (affects pricing and availability). ## `currency` (type: `string`): ISO 4217 currency code to price results in (e.g. EUR, GBP, USD, CHF, PLN). Leave empty to auto-detect from the pickup destination's country — a Spanish airport returns EUR, a UK airport returns GBP, etc. Set this to force a specific currency regardless of destination (e.g. price a Spanish rental in USD for a US customer). ## `countryOfResidence` (type: `string`): ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code (e.g. "gb", "es", "us") sent as the location-search locale. Affects location-suggestion ordering only — it does NOT control pricing currency (use the Currency field above for that). Leave empty to use the default "gb". ## `searchUrl` (type: `string`): Optional. A RentalCars.com search-results URL. The actor extracts the location name and dates from it (query params like locationName, puDay/puMonth/puYear). Most users should leave this empty and use the pickup location and dates above instead. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of car rental offers to return per search. Results beyond this are dropped; the search still costs the same, so leave it high to get everything your $0.01 already paid for. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Proxy settings. Residential proxies are strongly recommended for RentalCars.com due to AWS WAF protection. ## Actor input object example ```json { "pickupLocation": "Barcelona Airport", "driverAge": 30, "maxResults": 5, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "GB" } } ``` # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "pickupLocation": "Barcelona Airport", "maxResults": 5, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "GB" } }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("studio-amba/rentalcars-search-api").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${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": "Barcelona Airport", "maxResults": 5, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True, "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"], "apifyProxyCountry": "GB", }, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("studio-amba/rentalcars-search-api").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": "Barcelona Airport", "maxResults": 5, "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true, "apifyProxyGroups": [ "RESIDENTIAL" ], "apifyProxyCountry": "GB" } }' | apify call studio-amba/rentalcars-search-api --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=studio-amba/rentalcars-search-api", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Rentalcars Search API (per-search)", "description": "Private client build of the RentalCars.com scraper, billed per executed search instead of per result. Not published on the Apify Store.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "M2Dtfk8uOSeyOQfYK" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/studio-amba~rentalcars-search-api/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-studio-amba-rentalcars-search-api", "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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/studio-amba~rentalcars-search-api/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-studio-amba-rentalcars-search-api", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/studio-amba~rentalcars-search-api/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-studio-amba-rentalcars-search-api", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$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", "properties": { "pickupLocation": { "title": "Pickup Location", "type": "string", "description": "City, airport, or station to pick up the car. The actor resolves this via the RentalCars location search and uses the best match. Example: \"Barcelona Airport\", \"Brussels\", \"Malaga\". For multiple destinations in one run, use Pickup Locations (batch) below instead." }, "pickupLocations": { "title": "Pickup Locations (batch)", "type": "array", "description": "Run many searches in one go: one billed search per location, all with the same dates. Overrides the single Pickup Location field. Up to 100 locations per run — split bigger grids across runs (e.g. one run per date pair).", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "pickupDate": { "title": "Pickup Date", "type": "string", "description": "Pickup date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Leave empty to default to about 30 days from now. Dates in the past are automatically replaced by that default." }, "dropoffDate": { "title": "Drop-off Date", "type": "string", "description": "Drop-off date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Leave empty to default to a 7-day rental." }, "driverAge": { "title": "Driver Age", "minimum": 18, "maximum": 99, "type": "integer", "description": "Driver age (affects pricing and availability).", "default": 30 }, "currency": { "title": "Currency", "enum": [ "", "EUR", "GBP", "USD", "CHF", "PLN", "CZK", "HUF", "RON", "SEK", "NOK", "DKK", "CAD", "AUD" ], "type": "string", "description": "ISO 4217 currency code to price results in (e.g. EUR, GBP, USD, CHF, PLN). Leave empty to auto-detect from the pickup destination's country — a Spanish airport returns EUR, a UK airport returns GBP, etc. Set this to force a specific currency regardless of destination (e.g. price a Spanish rental in USD for a US customer)." }, "countryOfResidence": { "title": "Country of Residence (advanced)", "type": "string", "description": "ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code (e.g. \"gb\", \"es\", \"us\") sent as the location-search locale. Affects location-suggestion ordering only — it does NOT control pricing currency (use the Currency field above for that). Leave empty to use the default \"gb\"." }, "searchUrl": { "title": "Search Results URL (advanced)", "type": "string", "description": "Optional. A RentalCars.com search-results URL. The actor extracts the location name and dates from it (query params like locationName, puDay/puMonth/puYear). Most users should leave this empty and use the pickup location and dates above instead." }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max Results Per Search", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 500, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of car rental offers to return per search. Results beyond this are dropped; the search still costs the same, so leave it high to get everything your $0.01 already paid for.", "default": 500 }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy Configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Proxy settings. Residential proxies are strongly recommended for RentalCars.com due to AWS WAF 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 } } } } } } } } } } ```