Past Inventory Search

The Past Inventory Search API provides access to expired and inferred sold dealer listings from the past 90 days across United States and Canadian markets. This powerful historical dataset has recent inventory data from thousands of dealerships, delivering access to approximately 250 million expired records for advanced market analysis.

With sophisticated filtering, sorting, and analytics capabilities identical to the Inventory Search API, this tool enables dealers, analysts, and automotive professionals to understand market trends, analyze pricing history, track inventory turnover, and gain insights into sales patterns and dealer performance.

Overview

• Access a comprehensive dataset of approximately 250 million expired and sold dealer listings from the past 90 days
• Inferred sales data for sold vehicles, where the sale is attributed to a specific source and VIN. Read more about Inferred Sales
• De-duplication of listings by VIN, with options to include all listings for a VIN across all sources. Read more about Understanding Attribution
• Data updates are published daily, at the same time as the Inventory Search API, by 11:00 AM UTC
• Follows same interface conventions, so units and conventions are also consistent with the Inventory Search API

Key Differences from Active Inventory:

• Historical Data Only: This API exclusively returns expired listings from the past 90 days
• Inferred Sales: Includes sophisticated sold vehicle identification and attribution
• Performance Restrictions: Geographic or dealer scoping required due to large data volume
• Analytical Focus: Optimized for market trend analysis and dealer performance tracking

Attribution & Sold Listings:

• A VIN (by extension, a vehicle) can have multiple listings over time at a single source website. Refer to Listing Lifecycle for understanding how listings are created, updated, and expired
• By default, only one listing per VIN is returned across all sources to avoid duplicates, unless you're searching within a specific dealer's past inventory (using source or dealer_id like parameters). Refer to Understanding Attribution for more details
• To include all listings for a VIN, you can use the nodedup=true parameter, which will return all listings for a VIN across all sources, including duplicates from the same source
• For a sold vehicle/VIN, its attributed (i.e. searchable) listing is marked as sold, to ensure correct attribution of sale as well
• Refer to Inferred Sales for more details on how sales are inferred and attributed
• All sold listings are expired listings, but not all expired listings are sold. Expired listings VINs can be active in the market, with new listing created for the same VIN at a later date

Performance Restrictions:

Given the large volume of data, the endpoint has some performance restrictions:

• Request must include at least one of the following parameters: city, state, zip, latitude & longitude, radius, dealer_id, source to limit the search scope
• Only one of facets, stats, or range_facets parameters can be used per request
• Only one field allowed per facet/stats per request
• Maximum allowed radius is smaller of 100 miles or your subscription's maximum radius

Default behavior, currency and units, request/response structure, and filtering parameters match those in the Inventory Search API overview.

Base Path

GET https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents

The following example demonstrates a basic search request with common parameters:

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    car_type: 'used',
    state: 'CA',
    sold: 'true',
    year: '2023',
    make: 'toyota',
    rows: '2'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Explore the full range of parameters available for filtering, sorting, and configuring search results in the Request section below.

Request

The Past Inventory Search API provides extensive filtering and search capabilities for historical automotive inventory listings. You can search by vehicle specifications, geographic location, pricing ranges, dealer types, date ranges, and numerous other criteria to analyze expired and sold vehicles.

All filtering, sorting, analytics, and pagination capabilities match those in the Inventory Search API, with additional parameters specific to historical data analysis.

Parameters

Defaults

• country: Defaults to us for United States market
  • When searching Canadian data, explicitly pass country=ca in each call
  • To search both US and Canadian data, use country=all
• dedup: Defaults to true - only unique listings per VIN are returned, removing duplicates from the dataset
  • Use nodedup=true to include all listings, even duplicates

Special Parameters

sold

• Use sold=true to filter results to only include vehicles that have been marked as sold
• All sold listings are expired, but not all expired listings are sold
• Sold determination requires a 7-day period after expiration for accuracy

expired

• Use expired=true to filter for expired VINs (VINs that have no active listings)
• Not all expired VINs are sold, but all sold VINs are expired
• Helps identify vehicles that left the market without being sold

active_inventory_date_range

• Filter VINs that were active between specific dates
• Format: YYYYMMDD-YYYYMMDD (either end can be omitted using *)
• Based on first_seen_at_source and last_seen_at_source timestamps
• Example: active_inventory_date_range=20250501-20250531

Performance Requirements

Due to the large volume of historical data, requests must include at least one geographic or dealer-specific parameter:

Required Scoping Parameters (at least one):

• city - Specific city name
• state - State or province code
• zip - ZIP or postal code
• latitude & longitude - Geographic coordinates
• radius - Distance from coordinates (max 100 miles)
• dealer_id - Specific dealer identifier
• source - Specific marketplace source

Analytics Restrictions:

• Only one of facets, stats, or range_facets per request
• Only one field allowed per facet/stats operation
• Maximum radius limited by subscription (up to 100 miles)

Pagination

Past Inventory Search API supports the same pagination capabilities as the Inventory Search API. API response includes num_found property indicating the total number of listings matching the search criteria.

Parameters:

• start - Offset from which listings are returned (starts at 0)
• rows - Number of listings per page (maximum 50, default 10)

Refer to the Inventory Search API pagination documentation for complete details and examples.

Sorting

The Past Inventory Search API supports sorting results by a single numeric or date field at a time, with the same functionality as the Inventory Search API.

Sort Parameters:

• sort_by - Field name to sort by
• sort_order - Sort direction (asc or desc)

Refer to the Inventory Search API sorting documentation for complete field reference and examples.

Core Features & Functionality

Past Inventory Search supports all major features from the Inventory Search API with identical functionality:

• Facets - Build dynamic filters and analyze market distribution
• Range Facets - Statistical distribution for numeric fields
• Stats - Comprehensive market analytics
• Spatial Search - Location-based discovery

Response Schema

The response schema for Past Inventory Search is identical to the Inventory Search API, providing a consistent structure for results. Refer to the Inventory Search API response schema for complete field definitions and examples.

Use Cases & Examples

Find Recent Sold Vehicles

To find recently sold vehicles, you can use the sold=true parameter. This will filter results to only include vehicles that have been marked as sold in the past 90 days.

Example:

Here in this example, we search for sold vehicles in the state of California, with a price range of $10,000 to $30,000, and sorted by the most recent sale date.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    state: 'CA',
    sold: 'true',
    price_range: '10000-30000',
    sort_by: 'last_seen',
    sort_order: 'desc',
    rows: '2'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Filter for Expired VINs

• All listings in this endpoint are expired listings, but not all VINs are expired.
• To find expired VINs (i.e. vehicles that have no active listings), you can use the expired=true parameter.
• Not all expired VINs are sold, but all sold VINs are expired.

Example:

Here in this example, we search for expired VINs in area of San Francisco, California

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    city: 'San Francisco',
    state: 'CA',
    expired: 'true',
    rows: '2'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Typical Days to Sell

• To find the typical days to sell a vehicle, you can use the stats parameter with either dom_active or dos_active fields.
• Based on the use case, you can choose the appropriate field to get the desired statistics.
  • dom_active gives you the days on market for the VIN across all sources. So you can use this to get the average days on market for a VIN across all sources.
  • dos_active gives you the days on site for the VIN on a specific source. So you can use this to get the average days it took for a dealer to sell this vehicle on a specific source.

Example:

Here in this example, we search for the average days to sell a vehicle in the state of California, across all sources using the dom_active field.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    state: 'CA',
    sold: 'true',
    stats: 'dom_active',
    rows: '0'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Example:

Here in this example, we search for the average days to sell a vehicle for a specific dealer, using the dos_active field.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    source: 'carmax.com',
    state: 'CA',
    sold: 'true',
    stats: 'dos_active',
    rows: '0'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Average Sale Prices

• Using the stats parameter, you can retrieve average sale prices for vehicles in the past N days.
• This can be done for all vehicles or filtered by make, model, year, etc.

Example:

Here in this example, we search for the average sale prices of vehicles similar to a specific VIN in the past 30 days, around a specific location.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    zip: '90210',
    radius: '50',
    vins: '5FPYK3F51PB005034',
    match: 'year,make,model,trim',
    sold: 'true',
    last_seen_days: '30-*',
    stats: 'price',
    rows: '0'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Listings Active Between Two Dates

• All listings in this endpoint are expired listings, to find listings that were active between two dates, you can use the last_seen_range and first_seen_range parameters.
• For a listing to be considered active, it must have been seen in the market within the specified date range.
  • This means that the last_seen timestamp must be greater than or equal to the lower bound of the date range
  • And the first_seen timestamp must be less than or equal to the upper bound of the date range
• Both last_seen_range and first_seen_range parameters accept a date range in the format YYYYMMDD-YYYYMMDD, where the first date is the lower bound and the second date is the upper bound.
• Either end of the range can be omitted (by using a *) to indicate no limit on that side of the range.
• As mentioned earlier, only attributed (i.e. searchable) listings are returned by default, but in this case, the nodedup=true parameter can be used to return all listings for a VIN across all sources, including duplicates from the same source that were active during the specified date range.

Example:

Here in this example, we search for listings that were active between 1st May 2025 and 31st May 2025 including all listings across all sources for each VIN, around a specific location.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    zip: '90210',
    radius: '50',
    last_seen_range: '20250501-*',
    first_seen_range: '*-20250531',
    nodedup: 'true',
    rows: '2'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

VINs Active Between Two Dates

• To find VINs that were active between two dates, you can use the active_inventory_date_range parameter.
• This parameter accepts a date range in the format YYYYMMDD-YYYYMMDD, where the first date is the lower bound and the second date is the upper bound.
• Either end of the range can be omitted (by using a *) to indicate no limit on that side of the range.
• The active_inventory_date_range parameter filters the results to only include VINs that had at least one listing active during the specified date range.
• By default, only attributed (i.e. searchable) listings are returned, but you can use the nodedup=true parameter to return all listings for a VIN across all sources, including duplicates from the same source.
• Key thing to understand is that this parameter filters the listings based on first_seen_at_source and last_seen_at_source timestamps, which are the timestamps when the listing was first and last seen on the source website respectively.

Example:

Here in this example, we search for VINs that were active between 1st May 2025 and 31st May 2025.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    zip: '90210',
    radius: '50',
    active_inventory_date_range: '20250501-20250531',
    nodedup: 'true',
    rows: '2'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Track Dealer Performance

• To track dealer performance, you can use the dealer_id or source parameters to filter results by a specific dealer or source website along with stats parameter to retrieve aggregated data
• This allows you to analyze how a dealer's inventory performance compares to the market, including average sale prices, days to sell, and more
• When using the dealer_id or source parameters, the results will include only listings from that specific dealer or source website. Attribution is disabled, so all listings from that dealer or source will be returned, including duplicates for the same VIN
• If you want to include only those VINs that were attributed to that dealer or source, you can use the owned=true parameter, which will return only those listings that were attributed to that dealer or source

Example:

Here in this example, we search for a specific dealer's performance in the state of California, including average sale price.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    rows: '0',
    dealer_id: '1035095',
    sold: 'true',
    stats: 'price'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Example:

Here in this example, we search for a specific source's performance, including average sale prices but only for cars that were attributed to that source.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    rows: '0',
    source: 'longotoyota.com',
    sold: 'true',
    stats: 'price'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Find Most Popular Makes and Models

• To find the most popular makes and models in the past 90 days, you can use the facets parameter to retrieve aggregated data along with sold=true to include only sold vehicles
• This allows you to analyze the distribution of makes and models in the market, including the number of sold vehicles

Example:

Here in this example, we search for the most popular makes and models in the state of California, including only sold vehicles.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    state: 'CA',
    sold: 'true',
    facets: 'make|0|100',
    rows: '0'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Find Top Dealers by Sales Volume

• To find the top dealers by sales volume, you can use the facets parameter to retrieve aggregated data along with sold=true to include only sold vehicles
• This allows you to analyze the distribution of dealers in the market, including the number of sold vehicles

Example:

Here in this example, we get aggregated data for the top dealers by sales volume in the state of Texas, including only sold vehicles.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    state: 'TX',
    sold: 'true',
    facets: 'source|0|1000',
    rows: '0'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Inventory Turnover Analysis

Analyze how quickly different vehicle segments move through the market by comparing days on market across various categories.

Example:

Here we're analyzing inventory turnover rates for different body types to understand which vehicle categories sell fastest.

First we'll get valid body types using the facets parameter, then we'll use the stats parameter to get the average days on market for each body type.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    state: 'CA',
    sold: 'true',
    facets: 'body_type|0|100',
    rows: '0'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Next, we'll use the stats parameter to get the average days on market for each body type. One example is shown below, where we analyze the average days on market for SUVs in the state of California.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    state: 'CA',
    sold: 'true',
    body_type: 'SUV',
    stats: 'dos_active',
    rows: '0'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Seasonal Market Trends

Track seasonal patterns in vehicle sales by analyzing sold vehicles within specific time periods and comparing across different months or seasons.

Example:

Here we're analyzing seasonal trends by looking at sold vehicles during a specific month to understand market patterns.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    state: 'FL',
    sold: 'true',
    last_seen_range: '20250501-20250531',
    stats: 'price',
    rows: '0'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Market Share Analysis by Region

Analyze brand and dealer market share within specific geographic regions using sold vehicle data.

Example:

Here we're analyzing market share by examining the distribution of sold vehicles by make within a specific metropolitan area.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/search/car/recents',
  params: {
    api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    city: 'Los Angeles',
    sold: 'true',
    facets: 'make',
    rows: '0'
  },
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

See Also

• Inventory Search
• Private Party Search
• Auction Search
• VIN History
• VIN Decode