ASA Adjudication on Classic Enterprises (UK) Ltd

Ad

An ad in a car magazine for Personally Yours, a cherished number plate dealer, stated "Over 30 Million Avail [sic] Online from £165 to £1,000,000!" A telephone number and website address followed. Small text at the bottom of the ad stated "Est 1988" and listed membership of the trade bodies CNDA, RMIF and MIRAD.

Issue

British Car Registrations challenged whether the claim "Est 1988" was misleading.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Personally Yours said from an accounting point of view they were not compelled to keep accounts for that length of time and that computer systems had changed over the years, all of which they believed made it difficult to provide evidence. The proprietor said he began as a sole trader with minimal funds and did not need to be a Limited company or registered for VAT. Personally Yours supplied a Certificate of Achievement that had been presented to them and which referred to "15 Years of Continued Growth And Customer Satisfaction 1988 - 2003." They said they were a registered bidder at a DVLA auction in 1989 and that they had been a member of MIRAD (The Institute of Registration Agents and Dealers, an association of leading registration number companies which issued a code of practice that stated members obligation to customers, the general public and other members to adopt selling methods which were consistent with the public interest) since 1990. They supplied a letter from MIRAD which stated MIRADs records showed the proprietor was trading in registration numbers in December 1988; a letter from their bank which stated that an account was opened by the proprietor trading as Classic Enterprises in 1988 and that to the best of their knowledge the business was trading in personalised number plates; a report from a chartered accountant for the period 20 June 1989 to 12 November 1990 which identified the proprietor as trading as Classic Enterprises and a letter from a solicitor which stated that the proprietor, trading as Personally Yours, had traded in the sale, purchase and transfer of car registration numbers  since 1988.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA noted that Personally Yours's accounts did not date back to 1988 but that the information from MIRAD and the advertisers bank showed that the business existed in 1988 and that the solicitor's letter stated that the proprietor, trading as Personally Yours, had traded in the sale, purchase and transfer of car registration numbers since 1988. We considered readers were unlikely to be surprised to find that a company that had been trading for twenty years had started out as a small concern, and that a small concern might not have possessed the range of formal documentation that a larger company might have. We concluded that Personally Yours had shown that their car registration business was established in 1988.

We investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)