PistonHeads Scraper: UK Used, Classic & Performance Cars

Scrape PistonHeads.com car listings at scale with this actor that reads the site's own pagination API and extracts 30+ structured fields per vehicle, including GBP price, engine specs, CO2 emissions, fuel consumption, seller phone, and location data. Built for UK car dealerships, automotive data teams, and market researchers who need comprehensive classified ad data from one of the UK's most active enthusiast car marketplaces.

What you get

Listing info

• url: direct link to the listing on PistonHeads.com
• condition: New or Used
• status: active/sold

Vehicle specs

• manufacturer, model, version
• registration_year
• body_type, transmission, fuel_type
• engine_size, engine_power
• co2_emissions, fuel_consumption
• doors, seats
• exterior_colour
• number_of_owners

Pricing

• price: numeric GBP value
• formatted_price: display string (e.g., "£24,995")
• currency: GBP

Mileage

• mileage: odometer reading

Location

• city, county, postcode, country

Seller

• seller_name
• seller_type: Private or Dealer
• seller_phone

Sample output

{
  "url": "https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/12345678",
  "manufacturer": "Porsche",
  "model": "911",
  "version": "Carrera S",
  "registration_year": 2019,
  "condition": "Used",
  "price": 89995,
  "formatted_price": "£89,995",
  "currency": "GBP",
  "mileage": 22000,
  "body_type": "Coupe",
  "transmission": "Automatic",
  "fuel_type": "Petrol",
  "engine_size": "3.0L",
  "engine_power": "450bhp",
  "co2_emissions": "205g/km",
  "fuel_consumption": "30mpg",
  "doors": 2,
  "seats": 4,
  "exterior_colour": "Guards Red",
  "number_of_owners": 2,
  "city": "London",
  "county": "Greater London",
  "postcode": "SW1A 1AA",
  "country": "England",
  "seller_name": "Porsche Centre London",
  "seller_type": "Dealer",
  "seller_phone": "+44 20 1234 5678"
}

Use cases

• UK car dealerships tracking competitor pricing for performance and prestige vehicles on PistonHeads
• Automotive market researchers building pricing indices for specialist and enthusiast vehicles in the UK
• Classic and performance car brokers monitoring market availability and price trends by make and model
• Data aggregators feeding specialist vehicle platforms with fresh PistonHeads listings
• Insurers and financiers tracking residual values for prestige vehicles by age and mileage band
• Individual buyers monitoring specific makes and models across the UK by price and location

Pricing

Pay per result, plus a small monthly base fee. The current rates are shown on this Actor's Store page.

First results are free, so test before subscribing.

How it works

• Input one or more PistonHeads.com search URLs (any make, model, price, or year filter)
• Every filter in the URL is honoured, because the Actor reads the exact filter set the search page itself resolved
• Listings are paged through the site's own results API, which reports the total number of matches
• max_pages caps the depth per search URL at 16 listings per page, and the run stops early once the search runs out of results
• Each listing is fetched and 30+ fields extracted from the page and API response
• Results are available in JSON, CSV, or Excel from the Apify dataset

Why this scraper

• Uses PistonHeads' own results API for paging, so no page is missed and no page is fetched twice
• Extracts CO2 emissions and fuel consumption, fields most generic scrapers skip but valuable for fleet/tax analysis
• Returns seller phone number per listing, direct contact data that many alternatives omit
• Includes number_of_owners, a key value indicator for used car buyers and analysts
• No proxy configuration needed; Apify proxy handles rotation by default

Input example

{
  "start_urls": [
    { "url": "https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/search?distance=20&price=9000&price=10000&year=2021&year=2025" }
  ],
  "max_pages": 3
}

FAQ

Does the scraper handle all vehicle types on PistonHeads? Yes. Provide any PistonHeads search URL, whether cars, classic vehicles, or project cars.

Does it include seller contact details? Yes. Seller name, type (private or dealer), and phone number are extracted per listing.

What output formats are available? JSON, CSV, and Excel, available from the Apify dataset UI and via REST API.

Can I limit how many pages it scrapes? Yes. max_pages caps the depth per search URL, one page being 16 listings. Set it high to take everything a search returns: the run stops as soon as the results are exhausted, so a large value never costs extra time.

Does it support scheduling? Yes. Use Apify's built-in scheduler for daily or weekly automated runs.

Can I use this via API or MCP? Yes. Callable via the Apify REST API and available as an MCP server for AI agents (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor).

What if the site structure changes? Contact via the Issues tab or reach out at automationbyexperts.com.

Use via API or MCP

Call this actor via the Apify REST API or as an MCP server for AI agents (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor):

https://mcp.apify.com/actors/fayoussef/pistonheads

Full API docs: https://docs.apify.com/api/v2

Need a custom scraper?

Need PistonHeads data combined with AutoTrader UK or Motors.co.uk, scheduled daily, or pushed to a database? Visit automationbyexperts.com for custom builds, retainers, and data-as-a-service.