Carsandbids APIcarsandbids.com ↗
Access live Cars & Bids auction listings via API. Get vehicle titles, current bids, end times, mileage, location, and more for enthusiast car auctions.
What is the Carsandbids API?
The Cars & Bids API exposes live enthusiast car auction listings through a single list_auctions endpoint, returning up to 9 fields per auction object including title, current bid, auction end time, mileage, location, and direct auction URL. The response also includes a total count of all live auctions, making it straightforward to paginate through the full active inventory using limit and offset parameters.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/f44a2812-e883-42bd-9961-ac2a1644dcce/list_auctions?sort=ending_soon&limit=10&offset=0' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Typed, relational, agent-ready
A generated client with real types, enums, and the links between objects — the structure a flat JSON response can't carry. Autocompletes in your editor and reads cleanly to coding agents.
- Fully typed · autocompletes
- Objects link to objects
- Typed errors & pagination
Typed Python client. Set up the SDK in your uv project, then pull this API’s typed client:
uv add parse-sdk uv run parse init uv run parse add --marketplace carsandbids-com-api
uv run parse add --marketplace pulls a pinned snapshot of this canonical API — it won’t change underneath you. To customize it, subscribe and swap to your own copy.
"""Walkthrough: Cars & Bids SDK — bounded, re-runnable; every call capped."""
from parse_apis.carsandbids_com_api import CarsAndBids, Sort, InvalidInput
client = CarsAndBids()
# List auctions ending soonest
for auction in client.auctions.list(sort=Sort.ENDING_SOON, limit=3):
print(auction.title, auction.current_bid, auction.location)
# Page through results using offset
for auction in client.auctions.list(sort=Sort.NEWLY_LISTED, offset=5, limit=2):
print(auction.title, auction.auction_end, auction.mileage)
# Get a single auction using .first()
top = client.auctions.list(sort=Sort.NO_RESERVE, limit=1).first()
if top:
print(top.title, top.no_reserve, top.auction_url)
# Typed error handling
try:
for a in client.auctions.list(sort=Sort.LOWEST_MILEAGE, limit=2):
print(a.title, a.current_bid, a.mileage)
except InvalidInput as e:
print("invalid input:", e)
print("exercised: auctions.list")
Retrieve live auctions from Cars & Bids. Returns vehicle details including title, current bid, auction end time, location, mileage, and auction URL. Results are sorted by the chosen criteria. The response includes a total count so callers can paginate through all available auctions by advancing the offset.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| sort | string | Sort order for auction results. |
| limit | integer | Maximum number of auctions to return per request (1–100). |
| offset | integer | Number of auctions to skip for pagination. Use with limit to page through results. |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"count": "number of auctions returned in this response",
"total": "total number of live auctions available",
"auctions": "array of auction objects with vehicle details"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"count": 3,
"total": 257,
"auctions": [
{
"id": "3yy1aoOE",
"title": "2024 Lexus LC 500 Coupe",
"seller": "John Doe",
"mileage": "5,300 Miles",
"featured": true,
"location": "Charlottesville, VA 22903",
"subtitle": "5k Miles, 5.0-Liter V8, Bespoke Build Package, Ultrasonic Blue Mica",
"image_url": "https://media.carsandbids.com/9004500a220bf3a3d455d15ee052cf8c332606f8/photos/LexusLC5002024002/edit/05CLk.jpg?t=178311352277",
"no_reserve": false,
"auction_end": "2026-07-14T17:30:00.000+00:00",
"auction_url": "https://carsandbids.com/auctions/3yy1aoOE",
"current_bid": 105000
}
]
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the Carsandbids API
What the API Returns
The list_auctions endpoint returns an array of live auction objects from Cars & Bids, a platform focused on enthusiast and modern-era collector vehicles. Each auction object includes the vehicle title, current bid amount, auction end time, seller-reported mileage, vehicle location, and a direct URL to the auction listing. The response envelope also carries a count (auctions in this page) and total (all live auctions available), which lets callers determine how many pages to request.
Filtering and Pagination
The endpoint accepts three optional parameters. sort controls the ordering of results — useful for surfacing auctions ending soonest or sorted by bid amount. limit caps results per request between 1 and 100. offset skips a specified number of records, enabling classic offset-based pagination. For example, to retrieve the second page of 25 auctions, pass limit=25 and offset=25.
Coverage Scope
The API reflects only live (active) auctions at the time of the request. It covers the core listing fields visible on the Cars & Bids browse page: vehicle identity, current bidding state, timing, and location. Completed auction history, sold prices from past auctions, and individual bid histories are not part of the current response shape.
The Carsandbids API is a managed, monitored endpoint for carsandbids.com — not a raw scraper you maintain. Every endpoint is automatically health-checked on a schedule, and when carsandbids.com changes and a check fails, the API is automatically queued for repair and re-verified. It is built to keep working as the site underneath it changes.
This isn't an official carsandbids.com API — it's an independent, maintained REST wrapper over public data. Where the source has no official API (or only a limited one), Parse gives you a stable contract over a source that never promised one, and keeps it current. Need a new endpoint or field? You can revise it yourself in plain English and the agent rebuilds it against the live site in minutes — contributing the change back to the shared API is free.
Will this API break when the source site changes?+
Is this an official API from the source site?+
Can I fix or extend this API myself if I need a new endpoint or field?+
What happens if I call an endpoint that has an issue?+
- Track the current bid and end time of active enthusiast car auctions for a deal-monitoring tool
- Build an auction calendar that surfaces Cars & Bids listings ending within the next 24 hours using the end time field
- Aggregate mileage and location data across live listings to analyze regional inventory distribution
- Create price-tracking dashboards that log the current bid field over time for specific vehicle makes or models
- Feed live auction URLs into a notification system that alerts subscribers when a watched vehicle type appears
- Power a vehicle discovery app by paginating through all live auctions with limit and offset parameters
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 100 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.