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Show HN: AutoAPI Vehicle Web Crawler – Searches the Web to Find the Best Deals

11 points by AutoAPI 11y ago

mihad 11y ago
down for updates, check back soon! :(
- AutoAPI 11y ago
  Under high loads the site restricts access to non USA/Canada IP ranges
cherry_su 11y ago
It seems working now. (Mon July 13, 10:43 Pacific). One thing I noticed is that the range is capped to 100 miles. An unlimited range would be incredibly useful for searching for used exotics, i.e. Ferraris, which is a valid input parameter :-). Since supply (both overall and for a particular configuration) is so limited, it makes sense to buyers to fly to see the car or to buy blind and ship the car to them.
- AutoAPI 11y ago
  This will be added very soon. In the meantime, if you change "distance=100" in the url to "distance=all" you can search all results -- although in some cases we dont allow this (like if you havent select a make) as it is pretty intensive on the server when we have a lot of results to return.
andegre 11y ago
Can't select the model when trying to do a search.
- AutoAPI 11y ago
  Do you have Javascript enabled? When you choose a make the models are fetched on the fly using AJAX
jonah 11y ago
What sources are you searching? I searched all for particular car and got no results. I know there are over 500 on Craigslist alone.
- AutoAPI 11y ago
  Craigslist does not allow websites to scrape their content
  - jonah 11y ago
    I just checked Autotrader too. 46 listed there. Car search is tricky. It's something I've been thinking about for a while now. [Edit] I'd love to see someone do car search right!
  - mod 11y ago
    What are you scraping? These all seem to be from dealers, marked up a ton.
sinzone 11y ago
out of curiosity. what do you guys use for API management?
- AutoAPI 11y ago
  Custom platform using Laravel, but definitely interested in Mashape. Have an email to discuss?
  - sinzone 11y ago
    aghi@mashape.com Also tak a look at the open source API gateway http://getkong.org http://getkong.org and https://apianalytics.com https://apianalytics.com for Visualization and Monitoring of API traffic.
bbayer 11y ago
We have done similar search engine for Turkish used car ad sites. It has been really fun to build such a thing since there are number of things to compensate and normalize data collected from various sources. I have learned a lot while doing it. http://www.otomobul.com http://www.otomobul.com
tzm 11y ago
Reminds me of Carsabi (YCW12). If I remember, they built a good product and found a vein, but ultimately struggled with a business model. http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/01/facebook-acqhires-founders-of-carsabi-who-will-sell-off-their-car-price-comparison-site/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/01/facebook-acqhires-founders-...

11 points by AutoAPI 11y ago

mihad 11y ago

down for updates, check back soon! :(

AutoAPI 11y ago
Under high loads the site restricts access to non USA/Canada IP ranges

cherry_su 11y ago

It seems working now. (Mon July 13, 10:43 Pacific). One thing I noticed is that the range is capped to 100 miles. An unlimited range would be incredibly useful for searching for used exotics, i.e. Ferraris, which is a valid input parameter :-). Since supply (both overall and for a particular configuration) is so limited, it makes sense to buyers to fly to see the car or to buy blind and ship the car to them.

AutoAPI 11y ago
This will be added very soon. In the meantime, if you change "distance=100" in the url to "distance=all" you can search all results -- although in some cases we dont allow this (like if you havent select a make) as it is pretty intensive on the server when we have a lot of results to return.

andegre 11y ago

Can't select the model when trying to do a search.

AutoAPI 11y ago
Do you have Javascript enabled? When you choose a make the models are fetched on the fly using AJAX

jonah 11y ago

What sources are you searching? I searched all for particular car and got no results. I know there are over 500 on Craigslist alone.

AutoAPI 11y ago
Craigslist does not allow websites to scrape their content
- jonah 11y ago
  I just checked Autotrader too. 46 listed there. Car search is tricky. It's something I've been thinking about for a while now. [Edit] I'd love to see someone do car search right!
- mod 11y ago
  What are you scraping? These all seem to be from dealers, marked up a ton.

sinzone 11y ago

out of curiosity. what do you guys use for API management?

AutoAPI 11y ago
Custom platform using Laravel, but definitely interested in Mashape. Have an email to discuss?
- sinzone 11y ago
  aghi@mashape.com Also tak a look at the open source API gateway http://getkong.org http://getkong.org and https://apianalytics.com https://apianalytics.com for Visualization and Monitoring of API traffic.

bbayer 11y ago

We have done similar search engine for Turkish used car ad sites. It has been really fun to build such a thing since there are number of things to compensate and normalize data collected from various sources. I have learned a lot while doing it. http://www.otomobul.com http://www.otomobul.com

tzm 11y ago

Reminds me of Carsabi (YCW12). If I remember, they built a good product and found a vein, but ultimately struggled with a business model. http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/01/facebook-acqhires-founders-of-carsabi-who-will-sell-off-their-car-price-comparison-site/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/01/facebook-acqhires-founders-...