How to Search for Pickup Locations

Before searching for available rental cars, you need geographic coordinates for the pickup and drop-off locations. The Autocomplete endpoint lets users search by city or airport name and returns matching locations with the coordinates required by the search endpoint.

Endpoint

GET /cars/api/v2/autocomplete?key={search_term}

Request Parameters

Example Request

GET /cars/api/v2/autocomplete?key=new yo
x-api-key: YOURAPIKEY
x-correlation-id: 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_SIGNATURE

Example Response

{
  "message": "success",
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "1001",
      "name": "John F. Kennedy International Airport",
      "city_name": "New York",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "iata_code": "JFK",
      "type": "airport",
      "coordinates": {
        "lat": 40.6413,
        "lon": -73.7781
      },
      "region_id": "us-east"
    },
    {
      "id": "1002",
      "name": "New York City",
      "city_name": "New York",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "iata_code": null,
      "type": "city",
      "coordinates": {
        "lat": 40.7128,
        "lon": -74.006
      },
      "region_id": "us-east"
    },
    {
      "id": "1003",
      "name": "LaGuardia Airport",
      "city_name": "New York",
      "country_name": "United States",
      "iata_code": "LGA",
      "type": "airport",
      "coordinates": {
        "lat": 40.7772,
        "lon": -73.8726
      },
      "region_id": "us-east"
    }
  ]
}

Response Fields

City vs. Airport Results

The type field distinguishes between two kinds of results:

• "airport" — A specific airport location. These results include an iata_code and correspond to on-airport rental counters. Use airport coordinates when the traveler is picking up directly at the terminal.
• "city" — A general city location. The coordinates represent the city center. Use city coordinates when the traveler wants to search for rental locations near a city area, which may include off-airport branches.

Using Coordinates in the Search Endpoint

The lat and lon values from the autocomplete response map directly to the pickupcode and returncode parameters in the Search Rentals endpoint:

GET /cars/api/v2/rentals?pickuptype=geo&pickupcode=40.7128,-74.006&returntype=geo&returncode=40.7128,-74.006&...

The coordinates are passed as a comma-separated lat,lon pair.

Best Practices

• Trigger autocomplete after 2-3 characters to reduce unnecessary API calls while still providing relevant suggestions.
• Display the type field in your UI so users can distinguish between airport and city results (for example, with an airplane icon for airports).
• Store the selected coordinates — you will need them for the search request in the next step.
• Allow different pickup and return locations by running two separate autocomplete queries and passing different coordinates for pickupcode and returncode.