StartMyCar APIstartmycar.com ↗
Access car makes, models, owner reviews, fuse box diagrams, maintenance guides, reported problems, and service manuals from StartMyCar.com via a structured API.
What is the StartMyCar API?
The StartMyCar API covers 13 endpoints exposing vehicle data from StartMyCar.com, including owner reviews, fuse box diagrams, maintenance guides, reported problems, and service manuals. The get_fusebox_detail endpoint returns panel-level fuse breakdowns with type, number, and description for each fuse, while search_problems lets you query owner-reported issues across all makes and models by keyword.
No input parameters required.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/f57ae734-c738-4956-9082-88c07d4ff46b/get_all_makes' \ -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 startmycar-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.
"""StartMyCar API — browse makes, models, fuse diagrams, guides, and problems."""
from parse_apis.startmycar_api import StartMyCar, ModelNotFound
client = StartMyCar()
# List all car makes and pick the first popular one.
makes = client.makes.list(limit=5)
for make in makes:
print(make.name, make.slug, make.popular)
# Drill into a make's models via the sub-resource.
ford = client.make(slug="ford")
first_model = ford.models.list(limit=1).first()
if first_model:
print(first_model.name, first_model.slug)
# Search problems across all vehicles.
results = client.problemsearchresults.search(query="battery drain", limit=3)
for result in results:
print(result.title, result.car_info, result.tags)
# Get fuse box diagram details for a specific model/version.
detail = client.fuseboxdetails.get(make_slug="ford", model_slug="focus", version_slug="2012")
for panel in detail.panels[:2]:
print(panel.panel_name, len(panel.fuses))
# Handle a not-found error gracefully.
try:
client.modeloverviews.get(make_slug="ford", model_slug="nonexistent-xyz")
except ModelNotFound as exc:
print(f"Not found: {exc}")
print("exercised: makes.list / make.models.list / problemsearchresults.search / fuseboxdetails.get / modeloverviews.get")
List all car makes/manufacturers available on the site. Returns popular makes (with logos) and all other makes. No pagination — the full catalog is returned in one call.
No input parameters required.
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"makes": "array of Make objects with name, slug, logo_url, and popular boolean"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"makes": [
{
"name": "ford",
"slug": "ford",
"popular": true,
"logo_url": "https://static.startmycar.com/images/logos-transparent/ford.png?v=366bb6"
},
{
"name": "Abarth",
"slug": "abarth",
"popular": false,
"logo_url": null
}
]
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the StartMyCar API
Vehicle Coverage and Navigation
Start with get_all_makes to retrieve the full list of car manufacturers, each with a name, slug, logo_url, and a popular flag. Pass any make_slug into get_models_by_make to get both popular_models and all_models arrays. From there, get_model_overview returns metadata fields such as idModelo, marca, and locales, plus a sections array pointing to available content areas for that model.
Fuse Box and Manual Data
get_fusebox_list returns all available diagram versions for a model as fusebox_versions objects with year, label, slug, and url. Pass a version_slug into get_fusebox_detail to get a panels array where each panel contains a fuses array of objects with type, number, and description — useful for programmatically answering "what is fuse 15 in the engine bay box" questions. Owner's manuals are accessible via get_owner_manuals (organized by year) and service/repair documents via get_service_repair_manuals, which includes metadata covering file size, page count, and language.
Guides, Reviews, and Problems
get_model_guides_list returns guide objects with title, category, url, and slug. Retrieve the full structured content of any guide through get_guide_detail, which returns a content array of typed blocks (h2, h3, p, li) plus a summary string. get_model_reviews surfaces owner reviews with author, an integer rating (1–5), comment, and an average_rating field. get_model_problems and search_problems both expose owner-submitted problem reports; the search endpoint adds tags and a total count and accepts free-text queries like battery drain or engine light.
Model Comparisons
get_model_comparisons returns a comparisons array of objects with title and url, pointing to side-by-side comparison pages for a given model. These are navigational links rather than structured comparison data fields.
The StartMyCar API is a managed, monitored endpoint for startmycar.com — not a raw scraper you maintain. Every endpoint is automatically health-checked on a schedule, and when startmycar.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 startmycar.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?+
- Build a fuse lookup tool that answers which fuse controls a specific circuit, using
get_fusebox_detailpanel and fuse data. - Aggregate owner-reported problems by make and model using
get_model_problemsandsearch_problemsto surface reliability trends. - Index maintenance and troubleshooting guides by category using
get_model_guides_listandget_guide_detailcontent blocks. - Display owner review scores and comments in a vehicle research app via
get_model_reviewsand itsaverage_ratingfield. - Generate a manual catalog for a given model year using
get_owner_manualswith year-organized entries. - Populate a make-and-model selector UI with logo assets and popularity flags from
get_all_makesandget_models_by_make. - Surface service manual metadata including file size and language using
get_service_repair_manualsfor a parts or repair platform.
| 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.
Does StartMyCar.com offer an official developer API?+
What does `get_fusebox_detail` return and how granular is the fuse data?+
get_fusebox_detail returns a panels array for the requested version_slug. Each panel has a panel_name and a fuses array where every entry includes type (e.g. fuse or relay), number, and a plain-text description of what it protects. Coverage depends on what diagrams are available for that model and year on StartMyCar.com.Does the API expose vehicle specifications such as engine displacement, horsepower, or trim levels?+
Does `search_problems` support filtering by make, model, or year?+
search_problems accepts only a free-text query string and returns a total count plus results objects with title, car_info, description, tags, author, and url. Make- and model-scoped problem data is available through get_model_problems instead, which takes make_slug and model_slug as inputs.Are all makes and models available in every language or region?+
get_model_overview response includes locales and countries fields in the metadata object, indicating that some content is locale-specific. Not every model will have guides, reviews, or fuse diagrams available in all languages. Data availability reflects what is published on StartMyCar.com for that make and model.