Build slug-addressable manufacturer and model-group navigation. All catalog list routes paginate with a default limit of 50 and are capped at offset 5000 — a deeper page is a 400 naming the limit. They carry page, page_size and max_page.
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openapi: 3.2.0
info:
title: TheCarApi — Public Catalog API
version: '2026-08-19'
summary: Multi-source vehicle auction inventory API
description: 'Normalized vehicle auction inventory from Auto1, OpenLane, Schadeautos, Copart Germany,
eCarsTrade, Encar and the Japanese auction houses, plus a European retail classifieds network.
A vehicle is addressed by the pair site_name + auction_id_str, for example encar/38112900.
Primary envelopes carry contract_version, request_id, server_time and data_updated_at; a handful of routes omit those.
Price fields are JSON numbers, never strings.
Full documentation: https://thecarapi.com/docs'
contact:
name: TheCarApi API support
email: api@thecarapi.com
url: https://thecarapi.com/contact
termsOfService: https://thecarapi.com/terms
servers:
- url: https://api.thecarapi.com
description: Production
security:
- apiKeyHeader: []
- bearerAuth: []
tags:
- name: Catalog
description: Build slug-addressable manufacturer and model-group navigation. All catalog list routes paginate with a default limit of 50 and are capped at offset 5000 — a deeper page is a 400 naming the limit. They carry page, page_size and max_page.
externalDocs:
url: https://thecarapi.com/docs/catalog
paths:
/api/catalog/manufacturers:
get:
operationId: get_api_catalog_manufacturers
summary: Paginated manufacturer catalog with inventory counts
description: Paginated manufacturer catalog with inventory counts.
tags:
- Catalog
security:
- apiKeyHeader: []
- bearerAuth: []
x-scope: catalog
x-examples:
- GET https://api.thecarapi.com/api/catalog/manufacturers?country=DE&limit=20
- GET https://api.thecarapi.com/api/catalog/manufacturers?page=2&page_size=25
parameters:
- name: country
in: query
required: false
description: 'Restrict to a country or europe. Value comes from: /api/countries -> country_details[].code'
schema:
type: string
example: DE
- name: limit
in: query
required: false
description: 'Standard pagination. Default limit 50. Value comes from: Pagination state in your application.'
schema:
type: integer
example: '20'
- name: offset
in: query
required: false
description: 'Standard pagination. Default limit 50. Value comes from: Pagination state in your application.'
schema:
type: integer
example: '20'
- name: page
in: query
required: false
description: 'Standard pagination. Default limit 50. Value comes from: Pagination state in your application.'
schema:
type: integer
example: '20'
- name: page_size
in: query
required: false
description: 'Standard pagination. Default limit 50. Value comes from: Pagination state in your application.'
schema:
type: integer
example: '20'
responses:
'200':
description: Success.
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
example:
success: true
results:
- slug: bmw
name: BMW
inventory_count: 1543
brand_id: 12
total: 96
limit: 50
offset: 0
total_pages: 2
max_page: 2
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
/api/catalog/manufacturers/{slug}:
get:
operationId: get_api_catalog_manufacturers_slug
summary: Resolve one manufacturer by slug
description: 'Resolve one manufacturer by slug.
Returns 404 when the slug is unknown.'
tags:
- Catalog
security:
- apiKeyHeader: []
- bearerAuth: []
x-scope: catalog
x-examples:
- GET https://api.thecarapi.com/api/catalog/manufacturers/bmw
- GET https://api.thecarapi.com/api/catalog/manufacturers/bmw?country=DE
parameters:
- name: slug
in: path
required: true
description: 'Manufacturer slug. Value comes from: /api/catalog/manufacturers -> results[].slug'
schema:
type: string
example: bmw
- name: country
in: query
required: false
description: 'Optional country restriction. Value comes from: /api/countries -> country_details[].code'
schema:
type: string
example: DE
responses:
'200':
description: Success.
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
example:
success: true
manufacturer:
slug: bmw
name: BMW
inventory_count: 1543
brand_id: 12
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
/api/catalog/manufacturers/stats:
get:
operationId: get_api_catalog_manufacturers_stats
summary: Return aggregate manufacturer statistics
description: 'Return aggregate manufacturer statistics.
Aggregate manufacturer statistics. Optional country filter. The reference does not pin a field list for this body — treat extra keys as operational, not contract.'
tags:
- Catalog
security:
- apiKeyHeader: []
- bearerAuth: []
x-scope: catalog
x-examples:
- GET https://api.thecarapi.com/api/catalog/manufacturers/stats
- GET https://api.thecarapi.com/api/catalog/manufacturers/stats?country=DE
parameters:
- name: country
in: query
required: false
description: 'Optional country restriction. Value comes from: /api/countries -> country_details[].code'
schema:
type: string
example: DE
responses:
'200':
description: Success.
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
example:
success: true
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
/api/catalog/model-groups:
get:
operationId: get_api_catalog_model_groups
summary: Paginated model groups for one manufacturer
description: Paginated model groups for one manufacturer.
tags:
- Catalog
security:
- apiKeyHeader: []
- bearerAuth: []
x-scope: catalog
x-examples:
- GET https://api.thecarapi.com/api/catalog/model-groups?manufacturer__slug=bmw&search=320
- GET https://api.thecarapi.com/api/catalog/model-groups?manufacturer__slug=bmw&country=DE&page=2&page_size=20
parameters:
- name: manufacturer__slug
in: query
required: true
description: 'Parent manufacturer slug. Value comes from: /api/catalog/manufacturers -> results[].slug'
schema:
type: string
example: bmw
- name: search
in: query
required: false
description: 'Substring filter on model name. Value comes from: Free text entered by your user.'
schema:
type: string
example: '320'
- name: country
in: query
required: false
description: 'Optional country restriction. Value comes from: /api/countries -> country_details[].code'
schema:
type: string
example: DE
- name: limit
in: query
required: false
description: 'Standard pagination. Default limit 50. Value comes from: Pagination state in your application.'
schema:
type: integer
example: '20'
- name: offset
in: query
required: false
description: 'Standard pagination. Default limit 50. Value comes from: Pagination state in your application.'
schema:
type: integer
example: '20'
- name: page
in: query
required: false
description: 'Standard pagination. Default limit 50. Value comes from: Pagination state in your application.'
schema:
type: integer
example: '20'
- name: page_size
in: query
required: false
description: 'Standard pagination. Default limit 50. Value comes from: Pagination state in your application.'
schema:
type: integer
example: '20'
responses:
'200':
description: Success.
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
example:
success: true
results:
- slug: 320d
name: 320d
inventory_count: 210
manufacturer_slug: bmw
total: 34
limit: 50
offset: 0
total_pages: 1
max_page: 1
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
/api/catalog/model-groups/{slug}:
get:
operationId: get_api_catalog_model_groups_slug
summary: Resolve one model group by slug
description: Resolve one model group by slug.
tags:
- Catalog
security:
- apiKeyHeader: []
- bearerAuth: []
x-scope: catalog
x-examples:
- GET https://api.thecarapi.com/api/catalog/model-groups/320d?manufacturer__slug=bmw
- GET https://api.thecarapi.com/api/catalog/model-groups/320d?manufacturer__slug=bmw&country=DE
parameters:
- name: slug
in: path
required: true
description: 'Model-group slug. Value comes from: /api/catalog/model-groups -> results[].slug'
schema:
type: string
example: 320d
- name: manufacturer__slug
in: query
required: false
description: 'Manufacturer slug for disambiguation. Value comes from: /api/catalog/manufacturers -> results[].slug'
schema:
type: string
example: bmw
- name: country
in: query
required: false
description: 'Optional country restriction. Value comes from: /api/countries -> country_details[].code'
schema:
type: string
example: DE
responses:
'200':
description: Success.
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
example:
success: true
model_group:
slug: 320d
name: 320d
inventory_count: 210
manufacturer_slug: bmw
'400':
$ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest'
'401':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized'
'403':
$ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden'
'404':
$ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'
'429':
$ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimited'
components:
responses:
Forbidden:
description: Revoked key, or scope, IP, or origin denial.
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
success:
type: boolean
enum:
- false
error:
type: string
description: Sanitized failure message.
RateLimited:
description: Authentication lockout or quota exceeded. Honour Retry-After.
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
success:
type: boolean
enum:
- false
error:
type: string
description: Sanitized failure message.
BadRequest:
description: Invalid filter, pagination, source, parameter, or request body.
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
success:
type: boolean
enum:
- false
error:
type: string
description: Sanitized failure message.
NotFound:
description: Source-aware resource not found.
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
success:
type: boolean
enum:
- false
error:
type: string
description: Sanitized failure message.
Unauthorized:
description: Missing, invalid, or expired API key.
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
success:
type: boolean
enum:
- false
error:
type: string
description: Sanitized failure message.
securitySchemes:
apiKeyHeader:
type: apiKey
in: header
name: X-API-Key
bearerAuth:
type: http
scheme: bearer
externalDocs:
description: API reference
url: https://thecarapi.com/docs