GENERAL CONCEPTS

Introduction

The following datasets have been made available through the Dealer.com Vehicle Consumer Display API. Once you register for a key, you will be able to access the following:

Dataset Description
Vehicle Data Vehicles that dealerships have available for sale.
Equipment Data Data for vehicle equipment.
Price Data Data for vehicle price.

Data Constraints

1. The Dealer.com Inventory API’s dealer and vehicle datasets are limited to Dealer.com clients.
2. Each API consumer’s available dataset is limited by the accounts they have been authorized to access.
3. The API is focused on delivering data for vehicles that are available for sale by dealerships in United States and Canada only.

Base URL

All endpoints for this API use the following base URL: https://api.dealer.com

Versioning

Current version is 1.0

URI Format

All API calls follow this format: {protocol}://api.dealer.com/{endpoint}?api_key={API key}

Name Description Required Default value
protocol HTTPS Yes https
endpoint path to API resource Yes Varies per call. Endpoints are documents under each API’s resources.
API key Authorized API key Yes Varies per API consumer. Must be provided in either query string or request header.

URI Examples

https://api.dealer.com/vehicles?api_key=abc123456def
https://api.dealer.com/vehicles/id/{uuid}?api_key=abc123456def
https://api.dealer.com/vehicles/equipment?api_key=abc123456def
https://api.dealer.com/vehicles/equipment/id/{uuid}?api_key=abc123456def

Rate Limit

All API keys are issued with a default quota of 2 API calls/second and 5000 API call/day. We do increase rate limits on a case-by-case basis.

Authentication

Requests to the API are authenticated using API key authentication. Simply provide the key in query string parameter and requests will be authenticated as the corresponding consumer.

Available Resources

Available API's Resource Name Description
Dealer API Dealership Information Get dealership details and location information for single dealership or a list of dealerships.
Inventory API Vehicle Lookup Get vehicle details, dealership details and more by VIN# and Stock#.
Vehicle Listings Get a list of inventory available for a dealership or group of dealership.

Error Codes & Handling

Here is a list of common error and ways to troubleshoot them.

HTTP Status Description Troubleshooting
400 Bad Request Check the URL to make sure it has proper syntax.
401 Unauthorized You are using the wrong API key or the key isn't active.
403 Forbidden You are not authorized to access this resource.
404 Not Found Check the URL path for typos.
502 Bad Gateway If this persists, check our API Status. It might be an issue we’re addressing
503 Service Unavailable If this persists, check our API Status. It might be an issue we’re addressing.
504 Gateway Timeout If this persists, check our API Status. It might be an issue we’re addressing.