Autotrader integration with Auto Trader Connect

Auto Trader Connect is a set of REST APIs published at developers.autotrader.co.uk. Authentication is by key and secret exchanged for a short-lived access token, with separate sandbox and production environments. The capabilities we use most are the Vehicles API (identify a car from its VRM and return the Auto Trader taxonomy for it), the Stock API (create, update and publish adverts with lifecycle states such as forecourt, sale in progress and sold), the Images API (upload photos to Auto Trader's CDN), the Valuations and Vehicle Metrics APIs (retail, trade and part-exchange values, retail rating and Retail Check data) and the Leads API.

Access is granted by Auto Trader, not by us. A dealer authorises a partner against their advertiser account, and some capabilities depend on the dealer's Auto Trader package. We handle the technical onboarding and tell you plainly which capabilities you can use before we quote. We do not publish Auto Trader's pricing because it is set per dealer.

The most common integration is stock: your DMS or website is the source of truth, and adverts on Auto Trader are created, updated and taken down from it automatically, with images uploaded once. The second is valuations: a part-exchange form on your website that returns an Auto Trader value from the customer's registration and mileage. The third is leads: enquiries from Auto Trader landing in your CRM with the vehicle attached, rather than sitting in the portal.