How to run your first scan

4 min read·Updated April 2026

Running a scan is how you find profitable cars. ScanAuctions will check hundreds of auction listings, cross-reference each one against AutoTrader retail values, and show you exactly which cars have the best profit margins. A typical scan takes under 50 seconds.

Before running a scan, make sure you've connected your AutoTrader account. Without it, ScanAuctions can't look up retail values.

Creating a filter first

A filter tells ScanAuctions what kind of cars you want to find. Think of it like a saved search. You need at least one filter before you can scan.

Go to Filters

Click "Filters" in the left sidebar menu. Then click "New Filter" in the top right.

Name your filter

Give it a descriptive name like "German Premium Under £20k" or "Quick Flips - Any Make". This helps you find it later if you have multiple filters.

Set your criteria

The most important settings are:

Target Makes — Which car brands? Click to select from 19 available makes (BMW, Audi, Mercedes, etc.). Select as many as you want.
Year Range — Minimum year (e.g. 2015 means no cars older than 2015).
Max Mileage — Maximum mileage in miles (e.g. 90,000).
Price Range — Minimum and maximum buy price.
Profit Thresholds — Minimum profit for each category (quick flip, main range, luxury). Cars below these thresholds won't show in the highlighted sheets.

Start broad and narrow down later. It's better to see too many results than miss a good deal. You can always create more specific filters later.

Save the filter

Click "Save Filter". You'll be taken back to the filters list where you can see your new filter. You can always edit it later.

Running the scan

Start a new scan

Click "Scans" in the sidebar, then click "New Scan". You'll see a two-step process: first choose your filter, then choose your platforms.

Select your filter and platforms

Pick the filter you just created. Then tick the platforms you want to scan:

• Motorway — Daily auctions (available on Basic plan)
• CarWow Buy Now — Fixed price stock (Ultimate plan)
• CarWow Auction — Reserve bidding (Ultimate plan)

Click "Start Scan".

Watch it work

A progress bar will show you what's happening in real-time:

• Scraping — Collecting listings from the auction platforms
• AT Valuations — Looking up every car on AutoTrader
• Analysis — Calculating profits and applying your filters
• Complete — Results are ready to view

Most scans complete in under 50 seconds.

View your results

When the scan finishes, you'll see a results table with every car found. Each row shows:

• Make, model, year, mileage
• Buy price — what the auction is asking
• AT retail value — what AutoTrader says it's worth
• Estimated profit — retail minus buy price
• Margin % — profit as a percentage of retail value
• MOT status, Cat S/N flags, previous owners

Green rows = profitable deals. Red rows = losses. Click any row to see more detail, or click the MOT button to see the full MOT history.

Congratulations — you've run your first scan! From here you can schedule automatic scans so deals are waiting for you every morning.

How do I connect AutoTrader?What is Scan Auctions Valuation?How do I create an account?

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