CarsXE Vehicle Data API
✓ Official Vendor SpecData EnrichmentData TransformationapiKey9 EndpointsREST
For Agents
Decode VINs and plates internationally, value vehicles, pull recalls and history reports, fetch images, and OCR a VIN from a photo via nine endpoints.
Use for: I need to decode this 17-character VIN into make, model, and year, Find the vehicle attached to license plate ABC1234 in California, Get the current market value of a 2019 Toyota Camry, List all open recalls for a specific VIN
Not supported: Does not handle vehicle telematics, real-time location, or insurance quoting — use for VIN/plate decoding, market value, recalls, history, images, and VIN OCR only.
CarsXE Vehicle Data API exposes a suite of vehicle intelligence services across nine endpoints: VIN-based specifications, international VIN decoding, license plate decoding (v1 and v2), market value estimation, recall lookup, vehicle history, vehicle images, and VIN OCR from a photo. It serves automotive marketplaces, dealerships, insurers, and used-car buyers that need to validate, value, and visualise a vehicle from a VIN, plate, or image. Authentication is an API key passed as the `key` query parameter.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the CarsXE Vehicle Data API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the CarsXE Vehicle Data API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with CarsXE Vehicle Data API.
Get full vehicle specifications from a VIN, including international VINs
Resolve a license plate to its vehicle record (v1 GET or v2 POST flow)
Estimate the market value of a vehicle for valuation and pricing flows
Look up open and historical recalls by VIN
Pull a vehicle history report by VIN
Retrieve vehicle images by VIN for listing pages and condition reporting
Run VIN OCR on a submitted photo to extract the 17-character VIN
Use Cases
Patterns agents use CarsXE Vehicle Data API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Used Car Marketplace Listing Enrichment
Enrich every used car listing with VIN-decoded specifications, current market value, recall status, and stock images. The CarsXE endpoints together cover the full enrichment pipeline: GET /v1/specifications and POST /v2/market-value populate the listing card, GET /v1/vehicle-recalls highlights safety concerns, and GET /v1/images provides visuals when seller photos are missing.
For VIN 1HGCM82633A123456, fetch specifications, market value, and recalls, then return a listing-ready summary.
Insurance Underwriting Vehicle Lookup
Power an insurance quote engine that needs full vehicle context from a VIN or plate. /v1/specifications returns make, model, year, body, and engine; /v1/history returns prior accident and ownership context; /v1/vehicle-recalls flags outstanding safety items. Plate decoding (v1 GET or v2 POST) lets the agent start from a plate when the policyholder has not provided the VIN.
Given plate ABC1234 in CA, decode it to a VIN, then fetch specifications and history and return a structured underwriting record.
VIN Capture from Photo with OCR
Let users submit a photo of a vehicle's dashboard or door jamb and have the API extract the VIN automatically. POST /v1/vin-ocr accepts an image and returns the parsed VIN string, which can then be passed into the other CarsXE endpoints to retrieve specifications, recalls, history, and value in a single workflow.
Upload a dashboard photo to /v1/vin-ocr, take the returned VIN, and call /v1/specifications on it.
AI Agent Vehicle Intelligence via Jentic
Plug CarsXE into an agent through Jentic so a question like 'tell me everything about this VIN' triggers a coordinated set of calls behind a single tool surface. Jentic returns each operation's schema, holds the API key in its vault, and lets the agent chain VIN decoding, market value, and recall lookups without managing the URL key parameter.
Through Jentic, decode VIN 1HGCM82633A123456, fetch market value, and return a one-paragraph summary.
Key Endpoints
9 endpoints — carsxe vehicle data api exposes a suite of vehicle intelligence services across nine endpoints: vin-based specifications, international vin decoding, license plate decoding (v1 and v2), market value estimation, recall lookup, vehicle history, vehicle images, and vin ocr from a photo.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/v1/specifications
Get vehicle specifications by VIN
GET
/v1/international-vin-decoder
Decode an international VIN
GET
/v1/plate-decoder
Decode a license plate (v1)
POST
/v2/plate-decoder
Decode a license plate (v2)
POST
/v2/market-value
Get vehicle market value
GET
/v1/vehicle-recalls
Get vehicle recalls by VIN
GET
/v1/history
Get vehicle history report
POST
/v1/vin-ocr
Extract VIN from a photo
GET
/v1/specifications
Get vehicle specifications by VIN
GET
/v1/international-vin-decoder
Decode an international VIN
GET
/v1/plate-decoder
Decode a license plate (v1)
POST
/v2/plate-decoder
Decode a license plate (v2)
POST
/v2/market-value
Get vehicle market value
GET
/v1/vehicle-recalls
Get vehicle recalls by VIN
GET
/v1/history
Get vehicle history report
POST
/v1/vin-ocr
Extract VIN from a photo
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
CarsXE API keys are stored encrypted in Jentic's vault. Agents receive scoped execution rights only — the key is injected into the `key` query parameter at request time and never enters the agent's prompt or chat logs.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent (e.g., 'decode a vin' or 'get vehicle market value') and Jentic returns the matching CarsXE operation with its input schema, so the agent picks the right endpoint without parsing docs.
Time to first call
Direct CarsXE integration: 1 day for auth, parameter handling, and chained OCR-plus-lookup flows across nine endpoints. Through Jentic: under 30 minutes — search, load, execute.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using CarsXE Vehicle Data API through Jentic.
What authentication does the CarsXE Vehicle Data API use?
CarsXE uses an API key passed as the `key` query parameter on every request. Through Jentic the key is stored encrypted in the credential vault and injected at request time, so the raw key never enters the agent's prompt or chat history.
What's the difference between the v1 and v2 plate decoder endpoints?
GET /v1/plate-decoder is the legacy endpoint that takes plate and state as query parameters. POST /v2/plate-decoder is the newer flow that accepts a JSON body and supports a richer parameter set. New integrations should default to v2; v1 remains for backwards compatibility.
Can CarsXE decode VINs registered outside the United States?
Yes. GET /v1/international-vin-decoder is dedicated to non-US VINs and returns make, model, year, and trim details for international registrations. Use GET /v1/specifications for US-registered VINs where the standard specification dataset applies.
How do I extract a VIN from a photo with CarsXE?
Submit the image to POST /v1/vin-ocr; the response contains the parsed 17-character VIN string. Pass that VIN into GET /v1/specifications, GET /v1/vehicle-recalls, or GET /v1/history to chain the OCR result into a full vehicle intelligence workflow.
What are the rate limits for the CarsXE API?
The OpenAPI specification does not declare numeric rate limits. CarsXE applies per-key throttling at its gateway based on plan tier; if you receive 429 responses, slow concurrency and check the dashboard at https://api.carsxe.com/docs for the limits attached to your account.
How do I value a vehicle through Jentic?
Run `pip install jentic`, then use Jentic's search to find the market-value operation with the query "get vehicle market value", load the schema, and execute with `{"vin": "1HGCM82633A123456"}`. Jentic posts to /v2/market-value with your CarsXE key from the vault and returns the estimated value as structured output.
Does CarsXE return vehicle images?
Yes. GET /v1/images takes a VIN and returns a set of image URLs for that vehicle, useful for listing pages or condition reporting when seller-supplied photos are missing or low quality.
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