Car Image API

Use cases

Use cases for a car image API

Where studio renders of real vehicles go to work: quotes, claim files, fleet pages, lease offers, auction lots, listings, wrap previews and stock records. Each page comes with the calls, the framing, the costs and the code.

DocsCustomer stories

Build guides

Each guide is written from the API's documented behavior and names no customer: the calls, the framing, the costs and the code for one kind of product.

InsuranceGuide

Car images for insurance claims and quotes

A quote or a claim names the vehicle by its VIN. Decode it for free, keep the vehicle id on the policy, and show one studio view of that model on the claim file and the quote, labelled as the model, never as the insured car.
VIN decode
Free
Per delivered image
1 credit
Longest a signed URL renews
365 days
Read the guide
Car rentalGuide

Car images for rental fleet pages

A class is rented as “or similar”, so the picture shows one representative model and the words make the promise. Render every class in the same box, view and paint, then cache the files or the URLs.
Camera views, framed alike
8
Named paint presets
15
Longest signed URL lifetime
7 days
Read the guide
LeasingGuide

Car images for leasing quotes and offers

A lease offer is one model year in one paint at one monthly price. Render that model year by id in the manufacturer's exact paint, put it in the quote PDF through a signed URL, and give the configurator a 3D model.
A paint by hex
1 credit, like a preset
3D model per vehicle and color
100 credits, once
3D model, each further paint
1–2 minutes
Read the guide
AuctionsGuide

Car images for auction listings

Lots go live before the photographer reaches them. Show each lot's model year as a labelled catalog render, mint its URL once per lot with an Idempotency-Key, and let the URL expire with the sale.
Longest signed URL lifetime
7 days
Per delivered image
1 credit
Model years in the catalog
1990–2027
Read the guide

Already running on the API

Most customer renders end up in one of three kinds of product. Each has a story drawn from the integrations running on the API: the shape of the work, the credit math and the code.

Marketplaces and catalogs

How to put a studio car image on every marketplace listing

A listing needs a picture before the seller uploads one. Marketplaces backfill a whole catalog with one angle and one paint, then keep the same request shape for every new model year.
Read the story

Wrap, tint and PPF shops

How to preview a wrap, tint or PPF on the customer's exact car

A customer wants to see the wrap on their car, not on someone else's. Shops render the exact model year in white, composite the material over it, match a paint by hex, and order a 3D model for the turntable.
Read the story

Dealer, import and VIN tools

How to turn a VIN or a stock sheet into a photo for every vehicle in dealer software

A stock record has a VIN and a stock number long before it has a photo. Dealer tools decode the VIN for free, keep the vehicle id on the record, and show one consistent view in the CRM through signed URLs.
Read the story

Building for another industry, or running one of these on the API and willing to be named? Write to support@carimage.dev. We publish the integration, and quote you only in words you approve in writing.