Overview

Introduction

The Car Hire Live Prices API is used to search for and return car hire quotes for any time window from current day until one year from current day.

The API takes a pick-up location and optionally a drop-off location for a given period of time and returns a list of quotes that will be bookable by travellers.

Terminology

Throughout the documentation, you’ll see the use of Vendors and Agents. To eliminate uncertainty here's a small explanation to eastbalish the distinction between them.

Term	Description
vendors	Vendors are the actual car companies that rent cars
agents	Agents are supply partners where the quotes are retrieved from. Please note that vendors can also be agents

How we use it at Skyscanner

To provide the best UXE, our APIs are asynchronous, meaning that once the Search is created (CreateSearch), we return some basic information about the results, including the Agents (logos, names, etc), as visible in the image above.

The prices, along with the vehicle's classification and characteristics, are loaded asynchronously. For the Skyscanner page, we do that to fill up the filters on the left side and the cards in the centre.

This asynchronism is attained by polling calls. Each polling call targets one or more agents at a time to retrieve their available quotes for the specific criteria.

The polling made by the agent will be active polling meaning that the client will have to make multiple requests to receive all the available quotes and data info. The API returns results as soon as they are receive. It's expected to take between 1 to 10 seconds to get the full set of results.

The above screenshot captures what you can build, including some example data points. We have:

• Quotes can be grouped based on the data points you receive for each quote.
• In the centre, we have cards with the specific cars, their characteristics, and prices. Note that the same vehicle can have multiple quotes since (1) different agents might have similar offers and (2) the same agent might have very similar vehicles with the same characteristics.

👉 Here you can try out a search on your own.

Endpoints

This API has 2 endpoints, /create and /poll.

/create

POST https://partners.api.skyscanner.net/apiservices/v1/carhire/live/search/create

/create is used to initiate the search request. This endpoint returns some basic information about the results, including the Agents (logos, names, etc).

/poll

POST https://partners.api.skyscanner.net/apiservices/v1/carhire/live/search/poll/{sessionToken}

/poll is used to retrieve the complete list of results. This usually takes some amount of time as our backend makes calls to our full list of supply partners for quotes. The /poll endpoint is invoked with a sessionToken which is returned in the result of the /create call.

Concepts

Create and poll workflow

There is a large variance in the time to first result and the time to last result as some supply partners take longer to return results. Often, the chepest quotes are returned from supply partners that take longer to return results. This is why the API workflow has been split into the /create and /poll endpoints.

tip

To learn more about the create and poll workflow, please see our create and poll guide

User IP Address in the Car Hire Live Prices API

The userIp is an optional parameter in the Car Hire Live Prices API’s Create endpoint. Passing userIp allows our supply partners to provide comprehensive and competitive coverage, particularly with high-performing supply partners in key markets, such as the UK, US, Italy, Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Australia, and Turkey, where omitting it may result in less relevant or incomplete offers from partner agents.

Benefits of userIp

When provided with a valid IPv4 address representing the end-user making the request, it enables downstream agent APIs to deliver more accurate and relevant results. This parameter helps agents:

• Enhance Offer Relevance: By identifying the end-user’s location through their IP address, agents can tailor offers, ensuring they are geographically appropriate and meet user expectations.
• Improve Service Quality: Agents can detect patterns such as bot traffic or unusual activity, enabling them to maintain high service standards and protect against potential misuse.
• Optimise Results for Users: Leveraging the user’s IP address can help refine search results, ensuring that users receive offers that are both complete and contextually relevant.

Why the IP Address Matters

Since no other user contextual information is shared with partner agents, the IP address serves as the simplest and most confidential way to provide critical information. By using the userIp:

• Customisation: Agents can tailor results to better align with the user’s geographic location and preferences, without requiring additional personal details.
• Rate-Limiting and Abuse Prevention: IP addresses enable agents to identify and manage bot traffic or abusive behaviour effectively, ensuring legitimate users receive uninterrupted access and high-quality results.
• Confidential and Minimal Data: The IP address is a lightweight and privacy-conscious way to convey necessary context, avoiding the need for more intrusive user data.

Regulatory Compliance and Privacy

Skyscanner and its partner agents are fully committed to complying with all applicable privacy regulations, including GDPR and other relevant data protection laws. This means:

• Minimal Data Handling: The userIp is used solely for processing by supply partners. Skyscanner does not store or use this parameter internally.
• Strict Data Privacy Policies: Both Skyscanner and its supply partners adhere to strict privacy standards to ensure the secure transmission and appropriate handling of any user information.
• Transparent Practices: The use of the userIp is fully disclosed, and it is only employed to enhance the user experience, in alignment with legal and ethical guidelines.

If you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to your Account Manager for more information.

Request

/create

Required fields

Requests to the /create endpoint need to contain the following:

Field name	Description
market	Market where search is coming from. E.g.: UK
locale	Language to be used for the search. E.g.: en-GB
currency	Currency that the search result prices are returned in. E.g.: GBP
pickUpDate	Local date time of pick-up. You can specify both a date and, optionally, an exact time. If the time is not provided, it will default to 10am in the local time zone.
dropOffDate	Local date time of drop-off. Must be at a later point than the pick-up date time. You can specify both a date and, optionally, an exact time. If the time is not provided, it will default to 10am in the local time zone.
pickUpLocation	Pick-up location. See car hire live prices API documentation for format

Optional fields

Below are additional optional fields to modify the outcome of the request:

Field name	Description
dropOffLocation	Drop-off location. If empty then it will be defaulted to be the same value as as pickUpLocation. See car hire live prices API documentation for format
includedAgentIds	Options for search result to only include quotes from specified agents. All items need to be valid for the specific market. See car hire live prices API documentation for more details
excludedAgentIds	Options for search result to exclude quotes from specified agents. All items need to be valid for the specific market. See car hire live prices API documentation for more details
driverAge	The age of the designated driver. Must be between 21 and 99. Defaults to 30 if left unspecified.
userIp	Optional – Valid IPv4 address of the end-user making the request. For details on its purpose and usage, see the IP Address Usage section of the page and also car hire live prices API documentation.

/poll

The /create endpoint will return a sessionToken in the response which is used to invoke the /poll endpoint.

 POST https://partners.api.skyscanner.net/apiservices/v3/flights/live/search/poll/{ADD SESSION TOKEN}

info

The sessionToken expires after around 10 minutes.

In this case, the API will return the following 400 response:

Session token is expired or invalid

If the token is expired, you should use the createSearch endpoint and create a new sessionToken

Response /create and /poll

Fields

Field name	Description
status	Indicates status of the search request is running or completed
quotes	Bookable quote which corresponds with what was requested in the search. A quote will contain a deepLink field which takes the traveler to the booking page.
agents	Contains information about the agentes referenced in quotes. Agents are supply partners where we get quotes from.
vendors	Contains information about the vendors referenced in quotes. Vendors are actual car companies that rent cars. Note that vendors can also be both an agent and a vendor at the same time.
sortingOptions	Contains data for sorting. Currently supports sorting only by cheapest criteria