US Car Models API

About the US Car Models API

Data is sourced from the EPA's official fuel economy database (fueleconomy.gov) and updated weekly. Covers all passenger vehicles certified for sale in the US market.

What people use it for

Auto Marketplace Filtering

When buyers search an online dealership, populate make and model dropdowns to prevent invalid vehicle selections across vintage and modern model years.

Fleet Fuel Budgeting

Fleet operators estimate monthly operating costs by matching company vehicles to official combined fuel economy ratings and engine specifications on paid plans.

Electric Vehicle Comparisons

Publish side-by-side electric vehicle range and city efficiency figures across competing manufacturers to guide prospective car shoppers through model comparisons.

Insurance Policy Rating

To calculate accurate policy premiums, underwriting systems verify the exact vehicle make, model, and year entered during online driver onboarding flows.

Ways to call it

One endpoint, many ways in — REST with JSON, XML, YAML and CSV, plus GraphQL and an MCP interface for AI agents.

JSON

Default REST response

XML

Markup format

YAML

Human-readable

CSV

Tabular export

Beta

GraphQL

Query language

New

MCP

For AI agents

Request parameters — GET /v1/carmodels

Sent in the query string. Premium parameters are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them. Anything not listed here is dropped rather than passed through.

Required

Optional

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curl "https://api.apiverve.com/v1/carmodels?make=Toyota&year=2024&model=Camry&trim=Hybrid" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Authentication

Send your key in the x-api-key header. That is the only auth step — no token exchange, and no per-endpoint scope to configure.

Response — GET /v1/carmodels

Every APIVerve endpoint returns the same three top-level keys, so one response handler covers your whole integration: status, error and data. Only data changes shape.

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{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "count": 4,
    "filteredOn": [
      "year",
      "make",
      "model"
    ],
    "cars": [
      {
        "Make": "Acura",
        "CityMPG": "30",
        "CityELEC": "0",
        "CombMPG": "33",
        "CombELEC": "0",
        "Cyl": "4",
        "Displace": "1.5",
        "Drive": "Front-Wheel Drive",
        "Fuel": "Premium",
        "HighwELEC": "0",
        "HighwMPG": "37",
        "Trans": "Automatic (AV-S7)",
        "Size": "Large Cars",
        "Year": "2024",
        "Trim": "Integra",
        "Model": "Integra"
      },
      {
        "Make": "Acura",
        "CityMPG": "21",
        "CityELEC": "0",
        "CombMPG": "24",
        "CombELEC": "0",
        "Cyl": "4",
        "Displace": "2",
        "Drive": "Front-Wheel Drive",
        "Fuel": "Premium",
        "HighwELEC": "0",
        "HighwMPG": "28",
        "Trans": "Manual 6-spd",
        "Size": "Large Cars",
        "Year": "2024",
        "Trim": "Integra",
        "Model": "Integra"
      },
      {
        "Make": "Acura",
        "CityMPG": "26",
        "CityELEC": "0",
        "CombMPG": "30",
        "CombELEC": "0",
        "Cyl": "4",
        "Displace": "1.5",
        "Drive": "Front-Wheel Drive",
        "Fuel": "Premium",
        "HighwELEC": "0",
        "HighwMPG": "36",
        "Trans": "Manual 6-spd",
        "Size": "Large Cars",
        "Year": "2024",
        "Trim": "Integra A-Spec",
        "Model": "Integra"
      },
      {
        "Make": "Acura",
        "CityMPG": "29",
        "CityELEC": "0",
        "CombMPG": "32",
        "CombELEC": "0",
        "Cyl": "4",
        "Displace": "1.5",
        "Drive": "Front-Wheel Drive",
        "Fuel": "Premium",
        "HighwELEC": "0",
        "HighwMPG": "36",
        "Trans": "Automatic (AV-S7)",
        "Size": "Large Cars",
        "Year": "2024",
        "Trim": "Integra A-Spec",
        "Model": "Integra"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Response headers

Every response carries your balance, so your own code always knows where it stands without polling anything. All four are exposed to browsers through CORS.

Errors

Read the HTTP status first, then error for the specific reason. The body names the parameter that has to change.

What a call costs — 2 credits per call

Credits are shared across every APIVerve API — one balance, one key, one bill. Failed requests never count against it, so a rejected input costs nothing.

Calls are what the credits buy at this API's rate — spend them here, on any of the other APIs, or across both. Nothing is reserved per endpoint.

Zero-code embed — one snippet, no backend

Drop an interactive US Car Models form onto any page. The widget calls the API for you, so no key ever appears in your markup and there is nothing to deploy.

Changelog — US Car Models API

Every change to this endpoint, newest first. Breaking changes ship as a new version and the previous one keeps serving — response fields are added, never removed or retyped in place, so an integration written against v1 keeps working.

Currently v1