I'm looking into developing a used cars web app, but I've searched and I cannot find any avaliable database for download (paid or free) that contains all the makers and models of automobiles.
How should I go about this? Should I scrap someone else's website? What guarantees do I have that the said website is updated frequently? Where do they get it from?
Does anyone knows where can I find such data?
While looking for a solution to this, keep in mind that auto manufacturers often sell the same car branded under a different model name in different markets. Also, different markets will get different car models entirely. Depending on the scope of your application, this may or may not be a problem for you.
If you can't find someone willing to vender you their database of this info, then you may be forced to just data entry it. Maybe pick up one of the blue books and just pound away at it. Better yet, hire an intern to do it for you!
You might like to checkout the free databases from the EPA.
"This website provides links to EPA's test vehicle fuel economy data. The data has been collected by Model Year since 1984 and been formatted to downloadable and comma-delimited files for import into databases or spreadsheets."
You may want to key off of the VIN. You can get the database from SAE for $500 a year.
There are such commercial databases, I've seen a few. Unfortunatelly, its names escape me. Try looking for a database of spare parts and engine numbers ... I gotta warn you, they're not free, not even cheap.
I worked in the used cars sales world and we have evaluated a number of commercial car databases. I can't remember the names of them but they were not cheap and not so easy as you would think to integrate. We even didn't buy one of them. After some research, we found out that 80% of the cars we offered on our site, were a list of 200 types of cars (and with type I mean, not only the model and brand of the car, but also a list of options in common). We decided then to create a templating system (based on chassis number), that we could use to enter a car of common brand/model/type into our system. This saved a lot of work with relatively little effort.
Another option would be to load the data from an RDF data source like dbpedia.org or freebase.com (e.g. have a look at DBpedia Compact Cars, DBpedia Mid Size Cars or Freebase Automobile Make). Simply parsing out the information from the RDF resources will be much more reliable than html scrapping and easier to update. If you have the time and don't fear a steep learning curve you could also look into using some more powerful semantic web techniques like SPARQL querying to implement this :)
Mitchell International is considered to be the gold standard for collision repair databases. As their database contains information about all the parts on a vehicle, they also maintain a list of Year, Manufacturer, Make, Model and Style.
Here is the page about their database.
They make their data available for private label use as a subscription service.
(I became aware of Mitchell when I worked in the Auto Glass industry and we used their "NAGS" database for auto glass numbering.)
Should you go with the DIY route, there are some design considerations you should make. The main table is going to be the Make table as sometimes a vehicle make is shifted between manufacturers (the Geo Metro and Dodge Neon in the US for example). One might assume it is a hierarchy but it is not. The table structure might look like this:
Manufacturer
|
Year --- Make --- Model --- Style
Read up on how a VIN is constructed. There is a list of VINs as well as a decoder at decodethis.com or you can scrape from manufacturer web sites like this one at Ford.
My biz partner and I developed a website that aggregated used and new cars for sale.
You'll most likely want to determine this information from the VIN. However, note that there is no one ultimate authority for VINs. (See wikipedia for more info on VINs)
We researched free databases and for pay services that would handle VIN decoding. Using a free database was eventually discarded as you aren't guaranteed the information is accurate and up to date.
We considered DataOneSoftware and Vinquery. DataOne didn't post their pricing tiers like Vinquery but Josh Pereira was very helpful and responsive.
Furthermore, I found this GA post which is contains a list of VIN service providers we weren't aware of at the time. http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/592533.html
Like I said in my comment earlier. Free data is hard to find. Not to mention the maintenance up keeping it updated. You'll have to keep hunting information of new models. It's better off getting a subscription and spend the saved time on another project. Here is a link
In the UK I would speak to the DVLA and see what they have to offer.
I work in the automotive sector, and I can tell you that this is a nut that has yet to be cracked!
I've made a couple of integrations with such databases.
One of them is JATO. They provide you with a database with such information. I know they have a team of people working full time on updating that database... We receive daily updates and they are sometimes big! And I know they aren't cheap either. Here's a demo. I know they also have pictures of every make and model.
Another is Eurotax which is used to do used vehicle valuation, so they have a big history of such data. They have a webservice (which isn't free) that can be used to query the data you need (and also valuate used cars). European based though...
You won't get it for free. You should use chrome They store historical data for vins, and also have a lot of services for new cars.
You can buy Vehicle data and pricing from Kelly Blue book, BlackBook and Nada.
You can try to get Year, Make, Model, Trim from the VIN number since they are unique but you will run into problems doing this because sometimes the manufacture will reuse models.
Free data - www.vehicle-data.com Disclaimer: My site
Data is FREE, I just ask for a backlink.
1/4 million records from 3 countries dating back to early '90s. Twice that much data in staging.
Alix,
I was wondering what solution you finally went with. I am building a car dealer's web site and I need the year, make, model info. Any insight you have would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!
There is a great Vehicle Make Model database that comes with dependent drop downs ready to use in forms. They have an upgrade program too. Great price and validated data.
Its called TheVehicleList.com