AutoScout24 is an online marketplace for new and used cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles in several European countries. It is run by AutoScout24 GmbH, based in Grünwald near Munich, Germany. Founded in 1998 as MasterCar.de, it belonged to the Scout24 group until 2020, when the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman bought it. In Germany it has had fewer listings than mobile.de. In 2026 the Belgian Competition Authority ordered interim measures against its Belgian site in a dispute with a competing platform over dealers' listing data.
Business
AutoScout24 GmbH is based in Grünwald near Munich. In 2019 the marketplace operated in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria. In Germany mobile.de was larger, and in October 2026 it had nearly twice as many used cars listed.
Dealers pay AutoScout24 for each vehicle they list. In July 2019 the German motor trade association ZDK criticised what it described as significant price increases for dealers. Scout24 did not confirm the increases or their size.
History
The company was founded in 1998 as MasterCar.de. In 1999 it was renamed AutoScout24 GmbH and joined the Scout24 group. In 2008 it belonged to Deutsche Telekom, and WirtschaftsWoche estimated its profit margin at 20 to 30 per cent. By then Google and the portal pkw.de had begun to compete with AutoScout24 and eBay's mobile.de for online used car sales in Germany.
At the end of 2013 Hellman & Friedman bought 70 per cent of Scout24 from Deutsche Telekom. It later floated the group on the stock exchange. In 2019 the hedge fund Elliott Management called on Scout24 to sell AutoScout24, which then provided about a third of the group's revenue. Scout24 put the business up for sale, and private equity firms, the online car dealer Auto1 and the publisher Axel Springer bid for it. In December 2019 Scout24 agreed to sell AutoScout24 and the loan comparison site Finanzcheck to Hellman & Friedman for about €2.9 billion. The sale was completed on 1 April 2020. A few days later WirtschaftsWoche listed AutoScout24 among German companies that carried high debts because they were owned by private equity investors.
Edgar Berger was chief executive from April 2020 to July 2023. AutoScout24 bought a majority stake in the leasing portal Leasingmarkt.de in 2020. In 2022 it took joint control of AutoProff, a Danish online platform for trade in used cars between businesses, which the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority cleared in May 2022. In August 2024 it agreed to buy Trader Corporation, the operator of the Canadian marketplaces AutoTrader.ca and AutoHebdo.net, from Thoma Bravo. In October 2026 the group took the name Autonex.
Belgian competition case
The Belgian Competition Authority described AutoScout24.be as the main platform for used car classified ads in Belgium. In March 2026 TCS Mobility, which runs the competing site carselect.touring.be, complained to the authority that AutoScout24 had stopped the automated transfer of dealers' listing data to its site. The transfers stopped after TCS introduced pay-per-lead pricing.
On 30 April 2026 the authority found that AutoScout24 prima facie held a dominant position and had probably abused it. As an interim measure it ordered the company to restore the transfers, subject to a penalty of €20,000 a day up to a maximum of €7 million. The proceedings on the merits continued.
References
12"Imprint". AutoScout24 GmbH. Retrieved 20 October 2026.
