Extra vehicle info

Everything we hold about a vehicle's model, beyond what the register carries: fuel tank capacity and the petrol grade it wants, battery capacity and ranges, a summary of the model, the faults it is known for, reliability and serviceability ratings, the manufacturer's service schedule, and what a buyer should inspect and ask the seller before buying one.

These are worked out per make, model, year and submodel rather than looked up for the individual vehicle, so two vehicles of the same model answer identically. Those four fields come back with the values, which is what says exactly what you have been told about.

They are estimates. They do not come from the manufacturer, from NZTA or from any other register, and they may be wrong. Treat them accordingly in whatever you build on them.

This API product is not available for resale of data.

Request

<site>/a/vehicle:extra?key=<Developer API Key>&plate=<Plate|VIN>

• plate — plate or VIN or chassis. Note: chassis are less reliable
• key — API key
• mvr — "0" to avoid a trip to the Motor Vehicle Register (MVR) if CarJam fails to source the vehicle internally. Default: "1"
• charges — if "1", includes the amount charged for this request in the response
• f — "XML" or "json". Default is JSON

Response

The first request for a model you have not asked about before will not carry the values. We have to work them out, which takes longer than a request should be held open for, so that request answers null with a Refresh: <seconds> header. Wait the number of seconds it names and ask again — the values come back on a later poll. This is the same pattern the other vehicle APIs use while the Motor Vehicle Register is being read, so an existing poll loop needs no change.

Once a model has been worked out, every request for any vehicle of that model is answered straight away.

Every field is answered whether or not we hold a value for it, so the shape does not change from one vehicle to the next. A value we do not have comes back as null in JSON and as an empty element in XML. A model too rare for us to work out answers every value empty, however many times it is asked.

Response example

{
    "plate": "KTY257",
    "vin": "JM0KF4WLA00115724",
    "chassis": "",
    "year_of_manufacture": "2017",
    "make": "MAZDA",
    "model": "CX-5",
    "submodel": "GSX PTR 2.5P/4WD/6AT",
    "fuel_tank_capacity_litres": 58,
    "octane_rating_min": 91,
    "octane_rating_best": 91,
    "battery_capacity_kwh": null,
    "ev_range_km": null,
    "full_combined_range_km": 770,
    "model_summary": "The CX-5 GSX sits ...",
    "what_goes_wrong": "...",
    "reliability_rating": 8,
    "reliability_rating_explanation": "...",
    "serviceability_rating": 7,
    "serviceability_rating_explanation": "...",
    "service_schedule": [
        {
            "title": "First service",
            "service_type": "Scheduled",
            "mileage": 15000,
            "time": "P1Y",
            "period": "P1Y",
            "details": "Oil and filter."
        }
    ],
    "inspection_checklist": [
        {
            "area": "Test drive",
            "check": "...",
            "why": "...",
            "red_flags": "..."
        }
    ],
    "seller_questions": [
        {
            "question": "...",
            "why": "...",
            "good_answer": "...",
            "red_flags": "..."
        }
    ]
}

Error response example

{
    "code": -1,
    "message": "Missing Developer Key."
}

Charges — charges=1

Returns the charges object:

Charged at the rate agreed for your account. A request that could not have produced anything — a model too rare for us to work out — is not charged for the values, only for the trip to the Motor Vehicle Register if one was needed. The same plate asked again within the hour is not charged again, however many polls it took to get the values.

Note:

• All times and dates are represented as UNIX timestamp.