# Cars & Bids Scraper (`parseforge/carsandbids-scraper`) Actor

Scrapes vehicle auction listings from Cars & Bids. Collects active and past auctions with full specs, final sale prices, optional bid history, and photo galleries. Returns each listing as a flat row.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/parseforge/carsandbids-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ParseForge](https://apify.com/parseforge) (community)
- **Categories:** E-commerce, Lead generation, Other
- **Stats:** 27 total users, 4 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $11.99 / 1,000 result items

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

[![ParseForge](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ParseForge/apify-assets/main/banner.jpg)](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp)

### Cars & Bids Scraper

**Scrape vehicle auction data from Cars & Bids, including active and past listings with full specs, bids, and photos.** Collect every detail from the enthusiast auction platform, from the final sale price and bid history to the seller's notes and known flaws. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Cars & Bids is a curated online auction platform for modern enthusiast cars, but manually tracking listings, sale prices, and vehicle specs across hundreds of auctions is slow and error-prone. This scraper reads the public auction feeds directly, collecting complete data on active and past listings without needing an API key. It returns structured data on every vehicle, from the final bid to the seller's description of known flaws.

| Who uses it | What they scrape Cars & Bids for |
|---|---|
| Car enthusiasts and collectors | Track sale prices for specific makes and models to inform their next purchase or sale. |
| Automotive market analysts | Monitor auction trends, average selling prices, and market demand for enthusiast vehicles. |
| Dealerships and resellers | Identify undervalued models and understand which vehicle specs command a premium at auction. |
| Data journalists | Compile datasets on collector car valuations and market shifts over time. |

### What it does

This Actor collects vehicle auction listings from Cars & Bids by active auctions, past sales, or specific detail URLs, and returns each one as a flat row with full specs, bid data, and optional photo galleries.

- 🚗 **Active auctions:** Collect every currently live listing with its current high bid, time remaining, and full vehicle details.
- 🏁 **Past auctions:** Gather completed and sold listings to analyze final sale prices, bid history, and which cars met their reserve.
- 🔍 **Detail mode:** Provide a list of specific auction URLs to scrape exactly the listings you care about, one by one.
- 📸 **Photo gallery:** Optionally include every image URL from the listing's photo gallery for visual analysis or cataloging.
- 📝 **Full descriptions:** Capture the seller's structured notes, including highlights, equipment, known flaws, and modifications.
- 💰 **Bid history:** Retrieve the complete bid log for each auction, with bidder usernames, amounts, and timestamps.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

### What you can do with Cars & Bids data

**📈 Track market values for a specific model.**

A collector runs the Actor in 'past' mode weekly for a saved search to monitor final sale prices and decide when to list their own car.

**🔎 Audit a vehicle before bidding.**

A buyer scrapes the detail URL of an active auction they are watching to extract the full known flaws and equipment list before placing a bid.

**📊 Build a price guide for enthusiast cars.**

An analyst collects all past auction results monthly, filters by make and transmission, and publishes a market report on average selling prices.

**🖼️ Catalog auction photos for research.**

A restorer scrapes past listings for a specific model with the photo option enabled to build a reference library of original condition details.

### Why choose this scraper

|  | What you get |
|---|---|
| **No API key required** | Reads the public auction pages directly, so you can start scraping immediately without registration or approval. |
| **Three scraping modes** | Target currently live auctions, completed past sales, or a hand-picked list of specific auction detail URLs. |
| **Complete vehicle data** | Every row includes the year, make, model, mileage, transmission, drivetrain, VIN, and final sale price. |
| **Seller transparency** | Captures the seller's own notes on highlights, equipment, known flaws, and modifications. |
| **Bid-level granularity** | Optionally pull the full bid history with every bid amount, bidder, and timestamp for deep analysis. |

### How it compares

No other Store actor targets Cars & Bids the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

| | Cars & Bids Scraper | Build it in-house | By hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup | Run it now, zero config | Days of engineering | None, but hours per pull |
| When Cars & Bids changes | Maintained for you | You fix it | You re-learn the page |
| Proxies, retries, anti-bot | Built in | Your problem | Browser only |
| Output | Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export | Whatever you build | Copy-paste |
| Cost | Pay per result | Engineering time | Analyst hours |

### Configure the run

Drive the Actor by selecting active listings, past auctions, or a custom list of detail URLs, and toggle options to include photo galleries, full descriptions, and bid history as each listing is processed. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

```json
{
  "mode": "active",
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

A larger pull:

```json
{
  "mode": "active",
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

### Pricing

Pay-per-result: **$0.01599 per result** collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $1.60 |
| 1,000 results | $15.99 |
| 10,000 results | $159.90 |

**Optional bid history:** with `includeBidHistory` on, each auction that comes back with at least one bid adds a `bid-history` event at **$0.005** ($5 per 1,000). Leave it off and you pay only the per-result price above.

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

### Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. [Upgrade your Apify plan](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp) to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

### Run it

1. [Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit](https://console.apify.com/sign-up?fpr=vmoqkp).
2. Open the [Cars & Bids Scraper](https://apify.com/parseforge/carsandbids-scraper?fpr=vmoqkp).
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click **Start**.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the **Dataset** tab.

Run it programmatically through the [Apify API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) (`run-sync-get-dataset-items`) or the [ApifyClient](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js) for JavaScript and Python.

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Cars & Bids through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=parseforge/carsandbids-scraper"
```

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

### Troubleshooting

**Why am I getting no results?**

Check that you have selected the correct mode. In 'detail' mode, verify that the URLs in startUrls are valid Cars & Bids auction pages and are not redirected or removed. For 'active' or 'past' mode, the site may have no listings matching the current state.

**The run is taking a long time.**

Bid history retrieval adds an extra request per auction. If speed is critical, disable the 'Include Bid History' option. You can also lower the maxItems count to limit the number of listings collected.

**Some fields are empty in my output.**

Not every listing includes all data. Sellers may omit known flaws, or a vehicle may not have a VIN displayed. Empty fields reflect missing information on the original auction page, not a scraper error.

**I received a timeout or error during the run.**

The website may be temporarily slow or blocking automated requests. Try reducing the maxItems count or running the Actor at a less busy time. Apify's platform automatically retries failed requests.

### FAQ

| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Can I scrape both active and past auctions in one run? | No, each run uses one mode. To collect both, run the Actor twice, once in 'active' mode and once in 'past' mode, and combine the datasets afterward. |
| Does this scraper require a Cars & Bids login? | No. The Actor reads the publicly visible auction pages and does not need an account, login, or API key. |
| What data is included in the output? | Each row includes the vehicle year, make, model, mileage, transmission, drivetrain, VIN, title status, location, seller, current or final bid price, auction status, and timestamps. Optional fields include photo URLs, full description sections, and bid history. |
| How do I scrape a specific list of auctions? | Select 'detail' mode and paste the full URLs of the auctions you want into the startUrls field. The Actor will visit only those pages. |
| Does the bid history option slow down the run? | Yes. Enabling bid history makes an extra API call for each auction, which increases the total run time. Use it only when you need the full bid log. |
| Can I filter by make, model, or price? | The Actor collects all listings in the selected mode. Apply filters to the resulting dataset after the run completes using a tool like Excel, Python, or a database. |
| What export formats are supported? | You can export your dataset in CSV, JSON, Excel, XML, or RSS from the Apify dataset tab. |
| Is it legal to scrape Cars & Bids? | This Actor only accesses publicly available pages. You are responsible for complying with the website's terms of service and applicable laws in your jurisdiction. |

### Related actors

Browse the full [ParseForge collection](https://apify.com/parseforge?fpr=vmoqkp) for more scrapers.

🆘 **Need help?** Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ **Disclaimer.** This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Cars & Bids, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Choose what auctions to collect:

- active: Currently live auctions
- past: Completed/sold auctions
- detail: Scrape specific auction URLs

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of auctions to collect

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

Specific auction URLs to scrape. Only used in 'detail' mode.

Example: https://carsandbids.com/auctions/36GvZ42A/2005-honda-s2000

## `includePhotos` (type: `boolean`):

Include full photo gallery URLs for each listing. Adds an array of image URLs to each result.

## `includeDescription` (type: `boolean`):

Include the full listing description sections (highlights, equipment, known flaws, seller notes).

## `includeBidHistory` (type: `boolean`):

Include the full bid history for each auction (all bids with amounts, bidders, and timestamps). Increases run time as it requires an extra API call per auction.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "active",
  "maxItems": 10,
  "includePhotos": false,
  "includeDescription": true,
  "includeBidHistory": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `auctions` (type: `string`):

Complete dataset with all scraped auction listings including vehicle specs, bid data, and photos

## `overview` (type: `string`):

Overview view of auction listings with key fields displayed in a table format

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "mode": "active",
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("parseforge/carsandbids-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "mode": "active",
    "maxItems": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("parseforge/carsandbids-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "mode": "active",
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call parseforge/carsandbids-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,parseforge/carsandbids-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/nvNtc7Kbr7GljJa0R/builds/HepizZhMydnLecXDG/openapi.json