# Vehicle Imagery

> The car image API for studio-quality automotive imagery. Request any make, model, year, variant and trim and get a signed CDN URL back: eight exterior angles plus interior views, any factory colour, transparent or grounded, at the exact size and format a layout needs. 65,000+ vehicle models across 74+ brands, current and past model years.

## What the API is

- Base URL: https://api.vehicleimagery.com. Every request authenticates with an `x-api-key` header. Keys and plans: https://website-dta.pages.dev/pricing.
- The catalogue is a path: `/api/{brand}/{model}/{year}/{variant}/{trim}/{view}`. A GET on any shorter prefix lists the next level (brands, models, years, variants, trims, views), so the whole tree is discoverable by walking it. A requested year snaps to the nearest available model year.
- Every configuration also has a permanent id: `GET /api/id/{id}` returns every available view, `GET /api/id/{id}/{view}` a single one. Ids survive catalog updates and renames, so they are safe to store.
- `GET /api/search` is a forgiving free-text search across brands and models; nicknames, misspellings and odd spacing still resolve. Vehicles can also be resolved from a VIN or a licence plate, see https://website-dta.pages.dev/vin-plate-search.
- Views: front, front_left, front_right, left, right, rear, rear_left, rear_right, plus interior views such as center_console where available. Renders are produced at a 3:2 aspect ratio in identical studio framing across all vehicles.
- Delivery options are query parameters on the image endpoint: `format` (png, webp, jpeg, avif), `width`, `ratio`, `resolution`, `color`, `transparency`, `shadow`, `ground`, `mirroring`. An option the car or plan does not support falls back to the closest valid value and is reported in `errornotes` instead of failing, so a request never breaks a page.
- Colours: five house colours available on every vehicle (black, blue, orange, white, wine_red) plus each brand's own catalogue paints. A colour change repaints the actual studio shot, so metallic reads as metallic.
- Backgrounds: transparent cut-out (`transparency=true`), studio drop shadow (`shadow=true`), contact grounding (`ground=true`) or a reflective showroom floor (`mirroring=true`).
- Images are served as signed URLs from a global CDN and cached per configuration; embedding the URL in an `<img>` tag is the whole integration.
- Machine-readable spec: https://api.vehicleimagery.com/api/openapi.json. Interactive reference: https://api.vehicleimagery.com/api/docs.
- Client tooling: the `vehicleimagery` package on npm and an MCP server at https://github.com/vehicleimagery/vehicleimagery-mcp, which gives AI agents direct access to the catalogue.

## Quickstart

Three requests from nothing to an image:

```
# 1. Find the vehicle (fuzzy search over brand and model; returns catalogue paths)
curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_KEY" "https://api.vehicleimagery.com/api/search?q=vw+golf"

# 2. See what exists for the configuration (views, colours, features, one call)
curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_KEY" "https://api.vehicleimagery.com/api/Volkswagen/Golf/2024/Basis/base/all"

# 3. Resolve a signed image URL, with any options you need
curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_KEY" "https://api.vehicleimagery.com/api/Volkswagen/Golf/2024/Basis/base/front_left?format=webp&width=1200&ground=true"
```

The response of step 3 is JSON with the vehicle metadata, the applied settings, an `errornotes` list for anything that fell back, and the signed `image_url` to embed.

## Who it is for

One API serves thirteen documented use cases: dealer groups, marketplaces and classified portals, leasing and configurators, car rental, car brokers, mobile apps, automotive marketing, insurance, fleet management, auctions and remarketing, auto financing, automotive publishers, and car subscription. Each has its own page under Use cases below, with the workflow, an FAQ and a contact form.

Company: Vehicle Imagery, founded by Jason Lohre. Contact: info@vehicleimagery.com, https://website-dta.pages.dev/contact. Live uptime: https://website-dta.pages.dev/status.

## API documentation

- [Overview](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation): Overview of the API: base URL, the catalogue path, delivery options and a first request.
- [Authentication](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/authentication): How to authenticate: every request carries an x-api-key header.
- [List all brands](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-brands): GET /api/brands. All brands available to your key (alphabetical). Start here, then drill into a brand.
- [Models for a brand](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-models): GET /api/{brand}. Every model under one brand. Drill into a model name to get its available years.
- [Years for a model](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-years): GET /api/{brand}/{model}. Available model years (generations) for one model. A requested year you pass later snaps to the nearest one here.
- [Variants for a year](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-variants): GET /api/{brand}/{model}/{year}. Body variants (e.g. saloon, coupé, cabrio) offered in that model year.
- [Trims for a variant](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-trims): GET /api/{brand}/{model}/{year}/{variant}. Trim levels for that variant — the last catalog step before you pick a view and resolve an image.
- [Views for a config](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-views): GET /api/{brand}/{model}/{year}/{variant}/{trim}. Which views exist for this exact car. true = available. Feed a view name into the image endpoint.
- [Colors for a config](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-config-colors): GET /api/{brand}/{model}/{year}/{variant}/{trim}/colors. Colors shown for this car, kept deliberately compact: the Vehicleimagery house colors (available on every car) plus the colors of this car's own brand. Any active catalog color can still be requested …
- [Features for a config](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/get-config-features): GET /api/{brand}/{model}/{year}/{variant}/{trim}/features. Whether shadow / transparency / mirroring are available for this exact car (and allowed by your plan).
- [Everything for a config (one call)](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/get-config-all): GET /api/{brand}/{model}/{year}/{variant}/{trim}/all. Views + features + colors for one car in a single response — saves three round-trips. The colors list is the car's shown set (house colors + its brand's colors), like the /colors endpoint.
- [Resolve a signed image URL](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/resolve-image): GET /api/{brand}/{model}/{year}/{variant}/{trim}/{view}. The core endpoint. Returns metadata plus a signed image_url you embed directly in an <img>.
- [Bulk dump of all configurations](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/get-all): GET /api/getall. Every configuration available to your key in one response — one entry per car (brand/model/year/variant/trim). Colors are not expanded here; each entry carries a colors_available boolean (true = the …
- [Everything by stable id](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/resolve-by-id): GET /api/id/{id}. Resolve a configuration by its stable id (returned by every catalog endpoint; never changes). Returns one entry per available view — each identical to the single-view image response, including the …
- [Single view by stable id](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/resolve-image-by-id): GET /api/id/{id}/{view}. Exactly the single-view image endpoint, addressed by the stable config id instead of names. All options and fallbacks behave identically.
- [Deliverable formats](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-formats): GET /api/formats. Image formats your plan can request.
- [Width ladder + quality range](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-sizes): GET /api/sizes. Allowed widths (an explicit width snaps to the nearest of these) and the quality bounds. Also available at /api/widths.
- [Aspect-ratio presets](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-ratios): GET /api/ratios. Ratios you can pass as ?ratio=.
- [Resolution presets](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-resolutions): GET /api/resolutions. Named size/quality presets you can pass as ?resolution=.
- [All delivery options bundled](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/get-options): GET /api/options. Everything you can request, plan-filtered, in one call: formats, widths, quality, ratios, resolutions, the color option and the modifier flags (shadow/transparency/ground/mirroring/watermark) with …
- [Errornotes code reference](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/get-errornotes): GET /api/errornotes. Every non-fatal code the image endpoint can put into errornotes, with its plain-English meaning.
- [All view names](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-all-views): GET /api/views. Every view name in the catalog, tagged flat (front/rear/left/right), three_quarter (front_left…rear_right) or other (interior). Per-car availability is in the config /features or /views.
- [All color names](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-all-colors): GET /api/colors. Every active catalog color as color_name + color_make pair, plan-filtered. Vehicleimagery colors (house colors) appear in every car's /colors; make colors only for cars of that make. Per-car …
- [Fuzzy search brands + models](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/search): GET /api/search. Fuzzy-match a free-text query against all brand model combinations. Pure worker + database — never starts the image container. Returns ranked matches with a ready path to drill in.
- [What this key can do](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/get-me): GET /api/me. Your key's capabilities in one call: enabled features, allowed formats/resolutions/ratios/views/colors/brands, restrictions, and delivery info (CDN host + signed-URL TTL).
- [Health check](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/get-status): GET /api/status. Lightweight liveness check for the API and its data stores.
- [Service root / health](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/health): GET /. Public liveness probe — no API key needed. Also served at /health.
- [OpenAPI specification](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/get-open-api): GET /api/openapi.json. This document — the machine-readable OpenAPI 3.0 spec. Public, so docs tools (Scalar, Redoc, Swagger UI, Postman) can load it without a key. Point your docs renderer at this URL.
- [Interactive docs (Swagger UI)](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/get-docs): GET /api/docs. Browser docs rendered from the spec. Open in a browser, click Authorize, paste your x-api-key, then try any endpoint live.
- [Docs index](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/get-info): GET /info. Public index of the docs content (changelog, guides, spec, interactive docs). No key required.
- [Changelog](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/get-changelog): GET /info/changelog. Public changelog, newest first. Each entry has a date, title, summary and grouped changes (Added / Improved / Fixed). Add ?format=md for raw Markdown.
- [List guides](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/list-guides): GET /info/guides. Public list of narrative guides (slug + title). Fetch one at /info/guides/{slug}.
- [Get a guide](https://website-dta.pages.dev/documentation/get-guide): GET /info/guides/{slug}. A single guide as Markdown. Add ?format=md for the raw Markdown body.

## Product

- [Vehicle image API for dealerships and platforms](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicleimagery-api): Eight standard car angles for every vehicle, resolved by VIN, licence plate or search. Transparent cut-outs, grounded shadows, delivered from a global CDN.
- [Eight vehicle angles from one request](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-angles): Eight exterior angles plus interior views for every vehicle, in identical studio framing. See the full set before you decide.
- [Every factory paint colour, rendered on demand](https://website-dta.pages.dev/paint-colors): Request any vehicle in any available factory colour. The actual studio shot is repainted, so metallic reads as metallic.
- [Shadows, reflections and transparent backgrounds](https://website-dta.pages.dev/shadows-and-transparency): Drop shadows, contact grounding, floor reflections and transparent PNG backgrounds, all from the same request.
- [Vehicle coverage: 74+ brands, 65,000+ models](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-coverage): 65,000 vehicle models across more than 74 brands, current and past model years, with new ones added continuously.
- [Vehicle images by VIN, licence plate or search](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vin-plate-search): Pass a VIN, a licence plate or a make and model search and get images of that exact vehicle, trim and colour included.
- [Examples: Real Vehicle Image API Output](https://website-dta.pages.dev/examples): A demo marketplace where every image is fetched live from the Vehicle Imagery API. Open any vehicle to switch angles, repaint it and drop it on a scene, and watch the request behind each image.

## Use cases

- [Vehicle images for dealer groups](https://website-dta.pages.dev/images-for-dealerships): List every car the day it arrives. Studio vehicle images by VIN for dealer groups: every trim, every colour, one look across all rooftops, no photo queue.
- [Vehicle images for auto financing](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-images-for-auto-financing): Loan quotes and calculators that show the asset. Vehicle images by VIN for lenders: point of sale, broker portals and contracts, one licence.
- [Vehicle images for automotive marketing](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-images-for-automotive-marketing): Campaign visuals in any trim and colour, with usage rights in writing. Vehicle images for marketing teams: variants at scale, no shoot calendar.
- [Vehicle images for automotive media](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-images-for-automotive-media): Publish about any car with the correct image, instantly. Vehicle images for media: reviews, comparisons and archives across full model histories.
- [Vehicle images for car auctions](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-images-for-car-auctions): Catalogues that go live the moment lots are listed. Vehicle images by VIN for auctions: clean reference images beside condition photos, at volume.
- [Vehicle images for car brokers](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-images-for-car-brokers): Proposals that look like the service you sell. Vehicle images for brokers: exact trims and colours on offers, from a two person office, no photography.
- [Vehicle images for car rental](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-images-for-car-rental): Show the class honestly and the car beautifully. Vehicle images for rental: consistent fleet pages, booking flows and station pages without photo shoots.
- [Vehicle images for car subscription](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-images-for-car-subscription): Fleet browsing that feels like a product, not a parking lot. Vehicle images for subscription: tiers, swaps and app screens in one consistent look.
- [Vehicle images for fleet management](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-images-for-fleet-management): A fleet register people can actually read. Vehicle images by VIN for fleet software: cars and vans in one consistent look, from pool list to driver app.
- [Vehicle images for insurance](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-images-for-insurance): The insured vehicle, shown correctly and licensed properly. Vehicle images by VIN or plate for quotes, policy documents and claims references.
- [Vehicle images for leasing](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-images-for-leasing): Configurators, driver choice lists and contracts that show the exact car. Vehicle images for leasing: every trim and factory colour, resolved from spec data.
- [Vehicle images for marketplaces](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-images-for-marketplaces): One consistent studio look across thousands of sellers. Vehicle images by VIN or spec for marketplaces: uniform listing cards, full long tail coverage.
- [Vehicle images for mobile apps](https://website-dta.pages.dev/vehicle-images-for-mobile-apps): Light payloads, consistent cards, offline friendly. Vehicle images for mobile apps: sized WebP from a CDN, resolved by VIN or spec, built for app teams.

## Customers and updates

- [Our Customers](https://website-dta.pages.dev/customer-stories): How dealer groups, marketplaces, leasing companies and insurers put consistent vehicle images to work.
- [From two days to under an hour per listing](https://website-dta.pages.dev/case-studies/dunham-co): Dunham & Co cut listing preparation from two days to under an hour across fourteen rooftops.
- [Sixty locations, one fleet page](https://website-dta.pages.dev/case-studies/gridpoint): Gridpoint gave sixty rental locations one uniform fleet page, served from a single API.
- [Every trim and color, live on the configurator](https://website-dta.pages.dev/case-studies/invarion): Invarion shows every trim and color a customer can actually order, without waiting on a photo shoot.
- [One look across 40,000 listings from 900 sellers](https://website-dta.pages.dev/case-studies/lucident): Lucident replaced 40,000 supplier photos with one studio look, and stopped losing listings to bad imagery.
- [Accurate vehicle visuals in quotes and claims](https://website-dta.pages.dev/case-studies/morance): Morance uses accurate vehicle visuals in quotes and claims, with no licensing questions attached.
- [News & Insight](https://website-dta.pages.dev/blog): Product updates from the Vehicle Imagery API changelog, plus guides and company news.
- [What does a car image API cost per month?](https://website-dta.pages.dev/blog/car-image-api-cost): Why nobody publishes a price list, which factors actually drive the monthly bill, what the free options really cover, and how to estimate your own number.
- [Car image API performance benchmarks: what to measure](https://website-dta.pages.dev/blog/car-image-api-performance): What actually determines how fast vehicle images load, and a car image API benchmark you can run yourself in an afternoon.
- [Car image database vs car image API](https://website-dta.pages.dev/blog/car-image-database-vs-api): Why owning a vehicle image database is the expensive way to get guaranteed access, and the cache-plus-API hybrid most production systems land on.
- [Fixing image quality issues in online car listings](https://website-dta.pages.dev/blog/car-listing-image-quality): Mixed sources, mixed backgrounds, missing angles: a taxonomy of the seven ways listing images go wrong, and the three levels of fixing them.
- [How to customise car backgrounds with an image API](https://website-dta.pages.dev/blog/custom-car-backgrounds): Transparent cutouts turn the background into a design decision. Four recipes, from brand colour to showroom floor, and the parameters behind them.
- [How new EV brands get vehicle images](https://website-dta.pages.dev/blog/new-ev-brands-vehicle-images): A brand that launched last quarter has no photo ecosystem, but platforms need its images on day one. How rendered catalogues close the launch gap.
- [Static angles vs 360 spins for car listings](https://website-dta.pages.dev/blog/static-angles-vs-360-spins): 360 spins demo beautifully and cost real money per car. An honest look at when the spin earns its keep, and why a complete set of the right angles usually wins.
- [How a vehicle image API improves VDP engagement](https://website-dta.pages.dev/blog/vehicle-image-api-vdp-engagement): The vehicle detail page lives or dies by its first image. How consistent, trim-accurate imagery moves SRP click-through, time on page and lead quality.
- [WebP, AVIF or PNG for vehicle images](https://website-dta.pages.dev/blog/vehicle-image-formats): Hard edges, smooth gradients, alpha channels: which image format wins where for vehicle cutouts, and the two-line policy that covers almost every case.
- [Adding vehicle images to a React or Vue app](https://website-dta.pages.dev/blog/vehicle-images-react-vue): Resolve the vehicle once, render an image tag forever: the integration pattern for vehicle imagery in React and Vue, with srcset, lazy loading and caching.
- [What is automotive imagery? A buyer's guide](https://website-dta.pages.dev/blog/what-is-automotive-imagery): Photography, press kits or rendered catalogues: where vehicle images actually come from, what each source is good for, and how to pick one for your platform.
- [Changelog](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog): Every release of the Vehicle Imagery API, newest first: new endpoints, image options and improvements.
- [Aspect ratios & size presets](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/aspect-ratios-and-size-presets): Crop-free aspect ratios and one-word size presets for every surface.
- [Bulk catalog export](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/bulk-catalog-export): Sync the entire available catalog in a single request.
- [Catalog & image API](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/catalog-and-image-api): Studio-quality car images for every make, model, year, variant and trim — over a simple REST API.
- [Colors, shadows & transparency](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/colors-shadows-and-transparency): Pick the paint, add a studio shadow, or get a clean cut-out.
- [Consistent data mapping](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/consistent-data-mapping): Brand, model, variant and trim names are normalized and tolerant of common spellings.
- [Discoverability & documentation](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/discoverability-and-documentation): The API now describes itself — new reference endpoints, a full OpenAPI spec, interactive docs, guides, and this changelog.
- [Faster image delivery](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/faster-image-delivery): Every image is now served from a global edge cache for snappier loads worldwide.
- [Grounding & watermarking](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/grounding-and-watermarking): Consistent framing across every model, plus automatic brand watermarking.
- [Interior & detail views](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/interior-and-detail-views): Cars now come with interior angles in addition to the exterior set.
- [Live paint colors & universal studio shadows](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/live-paint-colors-and-universal-studio-shadows): Repaint any car on demand — a house color line available on every vehicle plus brand catalog colors — and studio shadows, cut-outs and opaque delivery now render on the fly for every exterior view.
- [More vehicles added](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/more-vehicles-added): First major coverage expansion after launch.
- [On-the-fly formats & resizing](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/on-the-fly-formats-and-resizing): Request any car image in the exact format and size you need — generated and cached on demand.
- [Search & smarter brand matching](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/search-and-smarter-brand-matching): Find cars faster — fuzzy search plus forgiving brand names (nicknames, spelling, spacing).
- [Showroom floor mirroring](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/showroom-floor-mirroring): Put any car on a polished showroom floor with a realistic reflection.
- [Stable IDs & lookup by id](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/stable-ids-and-lookup-by-id): Every configuration now has a permanent id — and you can resolve images directly by it.
- [Vehicle library expansion](https://website-dta.pages.dev/changelog/vehicle-library-expansion): A large coverage wave — more recent model years and electric vehicles.

## Pricing and contact

- [Pricing](https://website-dta.pages.dev/pricing): Plans for the Vehicle Imagery API: a free trial, startup pricing and unlimited volume with every view, colour and background option.
- [Request a demo](https://website-dta.pages.dev/request-demo): Send a few vehicles from your stock and get the images for exactly those cars back, usually the same working day.
- [Contact](https://website-dta.pages.dev/contact): Send a message or book a short call. Replies usually the same day, with real examples based on your own inventory.
- [Vehicleimagery API Uptime](https://website-dta.pages.dev/status): Live uptime and response times of the API, measured from the outside.

## Optional

- [Cookie Policy](https://website-dta.pages.dev/cookies): Which cookies and local storage this website uses, and how to control them.
- [Glossary](https://website-dta.pages.dev/glossary): Every page on vehicleimagery.com in one alphabetical index: solutions, case studies, articles, releases, API endpoints and legal documents.
- [How insurance companies use car image APIs](https://website-dta.pages.dev/how-insurance-companies-use-car-image-apis): How insurers and lenders use car image APIs: personalised quotes, policy documents and claims references, and what to check before picking a provider.
- [Imprint](https://website-dta.pages.dev/legal-notice): Legal notice and provider identification for vehicleimagery.com.
- [Media kit](https://website-dta.pages.dev/media-kit): Official Vehicle Imagery logos as SVG and PNG for light and dark backgrounds, brand colours with hex values, typography and usage guidelines.
- [Privacy Policy](https://website-dta.pages.dev/privacy-policy): How Vehicle Imagery handles personal data on this website and in the image API.
- [Terms of Service](https://website-dta.pages.dev/terms): The terms under which Vehicle Imagery provides the website and the vehicle image API.
- [A car image API built for trim and color accuracy](https://website-dta.pages.dev/trim-and-color-accuracy): What trim and colour accuracy in a car image API requires: manufacturer trim mapping, factory paint, model years, and how the images take on your branding.