vAuto API
vAuto's APIs live inside Cox Automotive's partner-gated platform: inventory, pricing, and the 2,800+ field Deal API. Access means the API Storefront approval process, partner agreements, per-rooftop dealer authorization, and Cox-issued credentials. No public spec or sandbox exists.
Frequently asked questions
vAuto scores F on the API Report Card. vAuto's APIs live inside Cox Automotive's partner-gated platform: inventory, pricing, and the 2,800+ field Deal API. Access means the API Storefront approval process, partner agreements, per-rooftop dealer authorization, and Cox-issued credentials. No public spec or sandbox exists.
Without a usable official API, teams fall back on manual exports, file drops, or one-off vendor integrations. The other option is an unofficial API layer like Supergood that automates the authenticated web app directly.
vAuto is the dealer-inventory-management arm of Cox Automotive (the parent of Manheim, Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, Dealer.com, VinSolutions, Dealertrack and Xtime).
Auto Dealer Management. A used-car buyer at a dealership opens Stockwave to scan Manheim, ADESA and 300+ other wholesale sources, filtered by ProfitTime investment-score rules, and acquires vehicles that match the store's stocking strategy.
Very high. vAuto is the dominant used-vehicle inventory management platform in North America, publicly cited at 14,000+ dealer customers, and is the default inventory layer for most franchise dealer groups using anything in the Cox Automotive ecosystem.
vAuto holds the inventory operating record of a car dealership: every used and new vehicle in stock with full cost basis, acquisition source (auction, trade, street purchase), recon spend and time-to-line, live and historical market comps (KBB, Manheim Market Report, regional retail comps), ProfitTime investment scores, appraisal and trade-in history (including IDs of customer-facing appraisals tied to deals), syndication feeds going out to Autotrader, Cars.com, CarGurus, Dealer.com and the dealer's own site, photo and 360-spin assets, merchandising descriptions, and Stockwave wholesale sourcing activity across 300+ auction lanes.
Mature. vAuto was founded in 2005, acquired by AutoTrader Group/Cox in 2010, and has spent 15+ years being expanded through acquisitions and internal builds (Provision, Stockwave, Conquest, iRecon, ProfitTime GPS, Merchandising tooling).
Cox Automotive developer portal exposes only a generic landing page; substantive vAuto API documentation is gated behind partner registration and the I/O Docs interactive site. Legacy Mashery-hosted I/O Docs site is the de facto API reference, but requires Cox-issued credentials to test endpoints and has no public sandbox. Full sourced list under Sources below.
Common alternatives include Dealerslink, MAX Digital (FirstLook), VINCUE, DealerSocket Inventory+, CDK Inventory (Elead Inventory), HomeNet (Cox Automotive sibling). Graded alternatives appear under "More from the report card" below.
Grades measure one thing: can a customer's engineering team get their own data out programmatically? We check six things (whether a real API exists, how access is gated, data coverage, auth quality, docs and developer experience, and stability) and roll them into a letter grade. Grades get re-verified, and they only move on evidence.
Yes. Supergood maintains an unofficial vAuto API and MCP server so AI agents and internal tools can read and write vAuto data. See the vAuto integration docs at supergood.ai/docs/vauto-api.