Vehicles.dev

Car makes and models API

Make, model, year and trim resolved from a VIN, with trim-level specifications and make/model-filtered marketplace listings built on the same identifiers.

Worth stating plainly: this API resolves the make and model of a vehicle you have. It does not publish a browsable catalogue of every make and model in existence.

Endpoints this uses

EndpointPathWhat it contributes
VIN DecodeGET /v1/vehicles/vin/{vin}Returns make, model, year and trim for any VIN.
Vehicle SpecificationsGET /v1/vehicles/specifications/{vin}Trim-level detail once the model is known.
Search Vehicle ListingsGET /v1/vehicles/listingsFilter live listings by make and model.

Which of the two you need

There are two different products people mean by "makes and models API". One is a reference catalogue you browse to populate a dropdown. The other resolves the make and model of a particular car. This API is the second.

If you need a dropdown of every make and model, a static reference dataset is a better fit and cheaper to serve than a per-call API. If you need to know what a specific vehicle is — and then price it, check its recalls, or project its running costs — that is what these endpoints do.

Pricing

The free Starter plan includes 1,000 calls a month shared across all eleven synchronous vehicle data APIs, plus $10 of one-time credit for usage after that allowance.

Credits never expire and are spent per successful call.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an endpoint that lists all makes and models?
Not as a standalone reference endpoint. Make, model, year and trim are returned by the VIN decode and specifications endpoints, and the listings endpoint can be filtered by make and model — but there is no endpoint that enumerates every make and model in the catalogue.
How do I get a vehicle's make and model?
Decode a VIN. The response names the make, model, year and trim, which is what most applications actually need at the point they have a specific vehicle in hand.