Ingest dealer vehicle inventory using vAuto and common dealer inventory feed formats

Steps

1. Determine the feed format your dealer partner is using — common formats include standard dealer data exchange files (often CSV or XML exports from DMS systems) or direct integration via inventory management platform APIs such as vAuto's dealer-facing tools
2. For vAuto specifically, access is provided to dealers and their approved technology partners through Cox Automotive's partner program; request access via the Cox Automotive developer portal and agree to partner terms
3. Once approved, receive credentials and feed specifications; inventory feeds are commonly delivered via SFTP, HTTP polling endpoints, or webhooks depending on the integration agreement
4. Parse the feed data: typical fields include VIN, year, make, model, trim, mileage, asking price, stock number, condition (new/used), dealer ID, and a set of photos (usually URLs)
5. Normalize and validate incoming records against the VIN using a decode API (e.g., NHTSA vPIC) to fill gaps and catch data entry errors before storing