Auction Fees + Towing Quote API

Introduction

The Auction Fees API provides accurate cost estimates for vehicle bids on Copart and IAAI.

It calculates the full cost of a bid by taking into account gate fees, environmental fees, bidding fees, and payment fees, providing a clear total before you place a bid. The API also includes optional inland towing estimates, which can be used to estimate delivery to ports within the United States.

This tool helps buyers better understand total costs upfront when purchasing vehicles through auction platforms.

The API is free to use and does not require an API key.

Endpoint

POST

https://api.auctionfeescalculator.com

All requests must be sent as a POST request with a JSON body.

Request

Headers

Content-Type: application/json

Body (JSON)

{
  "bidAmount": 223490,
  "auction": "copart",
  "bidType": "online",
  "bidPay": "unsecured",
  "bidVehicle": "standard",
  "volume": "high",
  "fromCity": "Louisville",
  "fromState": "KY"
}

Fields

Field	Type	Required	Allowed values	Notes
bidAmount	number	Yes	Greater than 0	Vehicle bid amount
auction	string	Yes	`copart`, `iaai`	Determines the fee structure
bidType	string	Yes	`online`, `kiosk`, `non-kiosk`	Affects bidding fees
bidPay	string	Yes	Copart: `secured`, `unsecured`; IAAI: `high`, `standard`	Determines payment pricing
bidVehicle	string	Yes	Copart: `standard`, `heavy`, `crashedToys`; IAAI: `licensed`, `non-licensed`, `recRides`, `heavy`	Determines vehicle fee rules
volume	string	Yes for Copart	`low`, `high`	Selects Copart purchase volume pricing; not used for IAAI
fromCity	string	No	Any nonempty string	Origin city for the towing estimate
fromState	string	No	Two letter state code	Origin state; converted to uppercase

Behavior

Copart

Supported vehicle types:

standard
heavy
crashedToys

Supported payment types:

secured
unsecured

Purchase volume options:

low: Uses low volume payment pricing.
high: Uses high volume payment pricing.

Volume selects the payment fee table for standard and heavy vehicles. Heavy vehicle percentage overrides apply at bids of $5,500 or more. Crashed toys use their own payment fees regardless of volume.

IAAI

Supported vehicle types:

licensed
non-licensed
recRides
heavy

Supported payment types:

high
standard

The volume field is not used for IAAI.

Towing

The estimate is based on the provided city and state, shipment of the vehicle to the nearest port. To view available North America Copart locations, visit: https://www.copart.com/locations/ (opens in a new tab)

If no route can be determined, the API returns:

"towing": null

Response

200 OK

{
    "quote": {
        "bidAmount": 223490,
        "auctionFees": {
            "auctionFee": 28226,
            "totalAmount": 251716
        }
    },
    "towing": {
        "departure": "Louisville, KY",
        "toPort": {
            "city": "Houston",
            "state": "TX"
        },
        "towingTotal": 700
    }
}

Errors

400 Bad Request

Invalid JSON

{ "error": "Invalid JSON" }

429 Too Many Requests

Rate limit exceeded

{ "error": "Too many requests" }

IAAI Example JavaScript

await fetch("https://api.auctionfeescalculator.com", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-type": "application/json",
    },
        body: JSON.stringify({
            bidAmount: 223490,
            auction: "iaai",
            bidType: "online",
            bidPay: "high",
            bidVehicle: "licensed",
            fromCity: "Reno",
            fromState: "NV",
        }),
  })

Copart Example JavaScript

await fetch("https://api.auctionfeescalculator.com", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "Content-type": "application/json",
    },
        body: JSON.stringify({
            bidAmount: 223490,
            auction: "copart",
            bidType: "online",
            bidPay: "unsecured",
            bidVehicle: "standard",
            volume: "low",
            fromCity: "Louisville",
            fromState: "KY",
        }),
  })