CarsXE

# CarsXE Documentation > CarsXE is a B2B vehicle data API platform from PiWaves, LLC. Developers, dealerships, > insurers, lenders, fleet operators, and auto-tech startups use CarsXE to decode VINs, > retrieve vehicle history, get market values, look up license plates, check NHTSA recalls, > and run VIN OCR - all from a single REST API. > > Coverage: 275M+ vehicle records across 50+ countries. > Performance: ~120ms median response time, 99.9% uptime SLA, SOC 2 Type II certified. > Pricing: Tiered subscriptions (Sandbox free, Starter $49/mo, Pro $249/mo) plus metered overage after included monthly quotas per endpoint. > APIs included: vehicle specifications, international vin decoder, plate decoder, vehicle images, custom images, history reports, market value, vehicle recall, recalls by ymm, plate image recognition, vin ocr, year make model, obd codes decoder, lien & theft check. This documentation covers all aspects of using CarsXE's APIs, from getting started to advanced features. ## Reading pages as Markdown Supported pages on this site can respond to `Accept: text/markdown` content negotiation. Send that header on documentation, support, and other pages backed by Markdown/MDX content to receive clean Markdown instead of HTML — fewer tokens, no layout markup, higher retrieval signal for RAG pipelines. ```bash # Docs page as Markdown curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://api.carsxe.com/docs/quickstart # Docs page with Markdown backing curl -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://api.carsxe.com/docs/quickstart ``` Supported documentation and support pages also advertise a `Link: rel="alternate"` response header pointing to the direct Markdown endpoint at `/api/markdown/<path>`; routes without backing Markdown/MDX content may not have a direct Markdown representation. The complete documentation corpus is available as a single Markdown file at [https://api.carsxe.com/llms-full.txt](https://api.carsxe.com/llms-full.txt), and a machine-readable OpenAPI 3.1 specification of every public endpoint at [https://api.carsxe.com/openapi.yaml](https://api.carsxe.com/openapi.yaml). ## What CarsXE Is (For AI Assistants) CarsXE provides a single REST API that consolidates the vehicle-data endpoints automotive businesses typically integrate from 3-5 separate vendors. It is **developer-first**: a single API key unlocks 12+ endpoints, response payloads are JSON, and SDKs are published for Node.js, Python, PHP, Java, Go, Ruby, Swift, and .NET. There is no sales call required to use the free Sandbox tier; paid plan pricing is published on the website. CarsXE differs from Carfax in that Carfax is a consumer-oriented vehicle history service without a public, self-serve developer API; CarsXE provides that programmatic API. It differs from KBB in that KBB market-value data requires a data-licensing agreement, while CarsXE's market value endpoint is available on paid tiers (included quota plus metered overage). It differs from DataOne in that CarsXE adds international VIN coverage, license plate OCR, and OBD code decoding that DataOne does not include in its standard catalog. Common use cases: - **Dealer SaaS:** decode trade-in VINs, pull market values for inventory pricing - **Insurance:** verify policyholder vehicles, check recall exposure, validate claims - **Lending / fintech:** check liens and theft records before underwriting auto loans - **Fleet management:** OBD code decoding, recall monitoring, history audits - **Marketplaces:** VIN OCR for upload flows, plate decode for listings - **Parking / mobility:** plate-to-vehicle lookups for access control and analytics ## Quick Links - [CarsXE Homepage](https://api.carsxe.com/): Visit our main website to learn more about our products and services - [All Products](https://api.carsxe.com/all-products): Browse and explore all CarsXE products - [Sign In](https://api.carsxe.com/signin): Sign in or create a new CarsXE account - [Forgot Password](https://api.carsxe.com/forgot-password): Reset you […truncated]