Year-Make-Model Vehicle Selector Development for Parts Stores Tired of Wrong-Part Returns

A starter selector costs $900 for up to 2,000 parts with fitment already in tags or a spreadsheet. ACES imports with submodel, engine, and VIN steps start at $2,350. Large catalogs and repair booking builds start at $4,700, and you get a fixed quote after a free catalog review.

Starter selectors launch in 2 to 3 weeks. ACES Fitment Search builds take 4 to 6 weeks, mostly for data mapping, and large catalogs or booking builds take 8 to 10 weeks. Cleaning fitment rows is usually the slowest part, so we ask for a data sample in week one.

Fitment search removes the guess at the moment of purchase. A shopper who picks a vehicle first sees parts that fit it, and the product page and cart confirm the match. For repair shops, the same check keeps a booking from reserving the wrong part for the car on the lift.

It uses the same vehicle IDs your parts suppliers use. ACES ties each part to VCdb vehicle records, with position and notes, so a booking for one engine pulls parts listed for that engine. PIES adds product details such as dimensions, which the booking form can show before it confirms the job.

We attach rules to each service package, such as engine code, fuel type, drivetrain, or trim. Once your customer picks the model, the next dropdown lists only the trims and engines in your data. The package list then narrows, so a V8 oil change price won't appear for a four-cylinder car.

VIN decoding usually starts with NHTSA's free vPIC API, which returns make, model, year, and engine details. Plate lookups need a paid source: CARFAX offers plate-to-VIN search through partner software, and Autodata licenses vehicle data through its API. Mitchell 1 limits its API program to software providers and enterprise partners.

Built-in filters work for small catalogs but hit hard limits. Shopify's Search & Discovery filters show at most 100 values per filter, and collections with more than 5,000 products show no filters at all. That hurts a year, make, model search. Automotive catalogs pass those limits fast, so larger stores need a separate index.

You need one to work with ACES data, since the Auto Care Association requires an annual paid subscription to its reference databases. If your brands already send you ACES files, the mapping runs on that subscription. Without ACES, we start from tags or spreadsheets and move to ACES later.

Yes, the top plan exports compatibility for eBay's Seller Hub Reports upload, which takes vehicle data in its Relationship columns. eBay matches parts to its own Master Vehicle List and allows up to 3,000 compatible vehicles per listing. We map your fitment to eBay's names and flag parts over that limit.

You own the selector code, the fitment index, and the mapping tables, and your VCdb subscription stays in your name. You get admin access and a guide for adding vehicles. Fixes are free for 30 to 90 days depending on your plan, and new catalog work after that is priced per job.