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Skyscanner Car Hire API

GET   /api/v1/search?engine=skyscanner_car_hire
OpenAPI Initiative Download OpenAPI Spec

The Skyscanner Car Hire API returns the rental cars Skyscanner lists for a pickup place, dates and times. Cars come with their size class, transmission, seats, bags, photo and rental company. Each also carries the cheapest offers Skyscanner shows for it, usually 3, each with the booking site's total price, fuel policy, mileage, cancellation and cover terms, pickup desk and booking link. Cars come in Skyscanner's recommended order, the first 15 of the search, as on its first page of results. Prices are in US dollars and cover the whole rental.

An offer's car name, seats and bags are the booking site's own and can differ from the car's. Its rating and reviews rate the booking site, not the car. Offers from a booking site that answers Skyscanner late can be missing.

A search by pickup runs on the first place Skyscanner suggests for the name, often the main airport, and search_information.pickup names the place searched. To search one exact place, such as a city or a train station, pass its Skyscanner id as pickup_id.

API Parameters

Pickup Place

  • Name
    pickup
    Required
    Optional
    Description

    Parameter defines the pickup place to search, such as LAX or Orlando, up to 256 characters, fewer in non-Latin scripts. English names work best, for example Tokyo rather than 東京. Postal codes such as 90210 find no place. Use the city or airport name instead. The search runs on the first place Skyscanner suggests for it, often the main airport. It cannot contain /, %, \ or control characters such as line breaks, and it must contain a letter or a digit. It is required unless pickup_id is set.

  • Name
    pickup_id
    Required
    Optional
    Description

    Parameter defines the Skyscanner id of the pickup place, such as 95673368 for Los Angeles International. The entity_id in search_information.pickup searches that exact place again. With an id, search_information.pickup carries the place's id and coordinates but not its name or type. It cannot be used with pickup.

Dates and Times

  • Name
    pickup_date
    Required
    Required
    Description

    Parameter defines the pickup date in YYYY-MM-DD format, from today.

  • Name
    pickup_time
    Required
    Optional
    Description

    Parameter defines the pickup time in HH:MM format, on a 24-hour clock. A search without it picks up at 10:00. A pickup time already passed at the pickup place can return fewer offers or none.

  • Name
    dropoff_date
    Required
    Required
    Description

    Parameter defines the drop-off date in YYYY-MM-DD format, on or after pickup_date.

  • Name
    dropoff_time
    Required
    Optional
    Description

    Parameter defines the drop-off time in HH:MM format, on a 24-hour clock. A search without it drops off at 10:00. The drop-off must come after the pickup.

Driver

  • Name
    driver_age
    Required
    Optional
    Description

    Parameter defines the age of the driver, from 18 to 99. A search without it is for a driver of 30.

Engine

  • Name
    engine
    Required
    Required
    Description

    Parameter defines an engine that will be used to retrieve real-time data. It must be set to skyscanner_car_hire.

API key

  • Name
    api_key
    Required
    Required
    Description

    The api_key authenticates your requests. Use it as a query parameter (https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY) or in the Authorization header (Bearer YOUR_API_KEY).

Zero Data Retention

  • Name
    zero_retention
    Enterprise Only
    Enterprise Only
    Required
    Optional
    Description

    Set this parameter to true to disable all logging and persistent storage. No request parameters, HTML, or JSON responses are stored or logged. Suitable for high-compliance use cases. Debugging and support may be limited while enabled.

API Examples

Full Response

Full Response
GET
https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search?dropoff_date=2026-12-15&engine=skyscanner_car_hire&pickup=LAX&pickup_date=2026-12-12
Request
import requests

url = "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search"
params = {
  "engine": "skyscanner_car_hire",
  "pickup": "LAX",
  "pickup_date": "2026-12-12",
  "dropoff_date": "2026-12-15"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=params)
print(response.text)
Response
{
  "search_metadata": {
    "id": "search_ceXfD4jSje1dmUSwUvKndIR0",
    "status": "Success",
    "created_at": "2026-11-04T05:28:47Z",
    "request_time_taken": 8.03,
    "parsing_time_taken": 0.01,
    "total_time_taken": 8.04,
    "request_url": "https://www.skyscanner.com/car-rental/results/95673368/95673368/2026-12-04T10:00/2026-12-07T10:00/30...",
    "html_url": "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/searches/search_ceXfD4jSje1dmUSwUvKndIR0.html",
    "json_url": "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/searches/search_ceXfD4jSje1dmUSwUvKndIR0"
  },
  "search_parameters": {
    "engine": "skyscanner_car_hire",
    "pickup": "LAX",
    "pickup_date": "2026-12-04",
    "dropoff_date": "2026-12-07"
  },
  "search_information": {
    "total_results": 787,
    "currency": "USD",
    "pickup": {
      "entity_id": "95673368",
      "name": "Los Angeles International (LAX)",
      "type": "airport",
      "gps_coordinates": {
        "latitude": 33.941536,
        "longitude": -118.4088
      }
    }
  },
  "cars": [
    {
      "position": 1,
      "title": "Toyota Corolla",
      "sipp_code": "IDAR",
      "category": "intermediate",
      "transmission": "automatic",
      "seats": 5,
      "bags": 2,
      "thumbnail": "https://logos.skyscnr.com/images/carhire/sippmaps/53512_cc2400_032_2UE.png",
      "rental_company": "yesaway car rental",
      "offers": [
        {
          "source": "Airport Rentals",
          "rating": 4.6,
          "reviews": 9083,
          "car_name": "Toyota Corolla",
          "sipp_code": "IDAR",
          "seats": 5,
          "bags": 2,
          "has_air_conditioning": true,
          "total_price": {
            "extracted_price": 58.0
          },
          "fuel_policy": "full_to_full",
          "has_unlimited_mileage": true,
          "has_free_cancellation": true,
          "has_collision_damage_waiver": true,
          "pickup_location": {
            "name": "Los Angeles International",
            "gps_coordinates": {
              "latitude": 33.945,
              "longitude": -118.372
            },
            "is_airport": true
          },
          "pickup_type": "shuttle",
          "payment_type": "pay_partly_now",
          "tracking_link": "https://www.skyscanner.com/carhire_deeplink/2.0/acrc/carhi/car/US,en-US,USD/537764/537764/2026-12-04..."
        },
        "..."
      ]
    },
    {
      "position": 10,
      "title": "Jeep Compass",
      "sipp_code": "CFAR",
      "category": "compact",
      "transmission": "automatic",
      "seats": 5,
      "bags": 3,
      "thumbnail": "https://logos.skyscnr.com/images/carhire/sippmaps/53651_cc2400_032_PSE.png",
      "rental_company": "Europcar",
      "offers": [
        {
          "source": "Trip.com",
          "rating": 4.0,
          "reviews": 10014,
          "car_name": "Jeep Compass",
          "sipp_code": "CFAR",
          "seats": 5,
          "bags": 4,
          "has_air_conditioning": true,
          "total_price": {
            "extracted_price": 115.36
          },
          "fuel_policy": "full_to_full",
          "has_unlimited_mileage": true,
          "has_free_cancellation": true,
          "has_collision_damage_waiver": true,
          "has_third_party_cover": true,
          "pickup_location": {
            "name": "Los Angeles International",
            "gps_coordinates": {
              "latitude": 33.948800000000006,
              "longitude": -118.3876
            },
            "is_airport": true
          },
          "pickup_type": "shuttle",
          "payment_type": "pay_now",
          "tracking_link": "https://www.skyscanner.com/carhire_deeplink/2.0/tpch/carhi/car/US,en-US,USD/1_347_LAX_v2/1_347_LAX_v..."
        },
        {
          "source": "Klook.com",
          "rating": 4.4,
          "reviews": 4261,
          "car_name": "Jeep Compass",
          "sipp_code": "CFAR",
          "seats": 5,
          "bags": 3,
          "has_air_conditioning": true,
          "total_price": {
            "extracted_price": 124.95
          },
          "fuel_policy": "full_to_full",
          "has_unlimited_mileage": true,
          "has_free_cancellation": true,
          "has_collision_damage_waiver": true,
          "has_theft_protection": true,
          "pickup_location": {
            "name": "Los Angeles International",
            "gps_coordinates": {
              "latitude": 33.948800000000006,
              "longitude": -118.3876
            },
            "is_airport": true
          },
          "pickup_type": "shuttle",
          "tracking_link": "https://www.skyscanner.com/carhire_deeplink/2.0/kloo/carhi/car/US,en-US,USD/3-1-LAX-49533/3-1-LAX-49..."
        },
        "..."
      ]
    },
    "..."
  ]
}

Search by Place ID With Times and Driver Age

Search by Place ID With Times and Driver Age
GET
https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search?driver_age=25&dropoff_date=2026-12-15&dropoff_time=09%3A15&engine=skyscanner_car_hire&pickup_date=2026-12-12&pickup_id=27542034&pickup_time=14%3A30
Request
import requests

url = "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search"
params = {
  "engine": "skyscanner_car_hire",
  "pickup_id": "27542034",
  "pickup_date": "2026-12-12",
  "pickup_time": "14:30",
  "dropoff_date": "2026-12-15",
  "dropoff_time": "09:15",
  "driver_age": 25
}

response = requests.get(url, params=params)
print(response.text)
Response
{
  "search_metadata": {
    "id": "search_09tybVfQocf5IQxP3rrThdB9",
    "status": "Success",
    "created_at": "2026-11-04T05:30:17Z",
    "request_time_taken": 9.71,
    "parsing_time_taken": 0.02,
    "total_time_taken": 9.73,
    "request_url": "https://www.skyscanner.com/car-rental/results/27542034/27542034/2026-12-04T14:30/2026-12-07T09:15/25...",
    "html_url": "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/searches/search_09tybVfQocf5IQxP3rrThdB9.html",
    "json_url": "https://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/searches/search_09tybVfQocf5IQxP3rrThdB9"
  },
  "search_parameters": {
    "engine": "skyscanner_car_hire",
    "pickup_id": "27542034",
    "pickup_date": "2026-12-04",
    "pickup_time": "14:30",
    "dropoff_date": "2026-12-07",
    "dropoff_time": "09:15",
    "driver_age": "25"
  },
  "search_information": {
    "total_results": 915,
    "currency": "USD",
    "pickup": {
      "entity_id": "27542034",
      "gps_coordinates": {
        "latitude": 41.76371,
        "longitude": -72.6851
      }
    }
  },
  "cars": [
    {
      "position": 1,
      "title": "Kia Niro EV",
      "sipp_code": "IFAR",
      "category": "intermediate",
      "transmission": "automatic",
      "seats": 5,
      "bags": 3,
      "fuel_type": "electric",
      "thumbnail": "https://logos.skyscnr.com/images/carhire/sippmaps/55761_cc2400_032_KLG.png",
      "rental_company": "Hertz",
      "offers": [
        {
          "source": "Priceline",
          "rating": 4.4,
          "reviews": 17884,
          "car_name": "Kia Niro EV",
          "sipp_code": "IFAC",
          "seats": 5,
          "bags": 2,
          "total_price": {
            "extracted_price": 98.33
          },
          "has_unlimited_mileage": true,
          "pickup_location": {
            "address": "1005 New Britain Avenue",
            "gps_coordinates": {
              "latitude": 41.73017,
              "longitude": -72.72193
            }
          },
          "tracking_link": "https://www.skyscanner.com/carhire_deeplink/2.0/prcl/carhi/car/US,en-US,USD/Hartford,CT,US/Hartford,..."
        },
        "..."
      ]
    },
    "..."
  ]
}