ASA Adjudication on We Buy Any Car Ltd

Ad

A TV ad for a used car buying company featured a male newsreader who said "Thinking about selling your car? Well here's some great news from We Buy Any Car.com". The newsreader stood up and joined a group of young dancers in front of a screen showing images of different types and makes of car. Dance-style music was played under a rap which included the words “We buy any car.com. Any make, any model, any age, any price, from fifty quid to a hundred grand". The newsreader was shown holding up a card which said "from £50 to £100,000.00". On-screen text at the end of the ad said "Throughout the UK".

Issue

1. Two viewers objected that the ad was misleading because it did not state that an administration fee was charged.

2. One viewer from Northern Ireland objected that the claim "Throughout the UK" was misleading because there were no branches in Northern Ireland.

BCAP TV Code

Response

1. We Buy Any Car Ltd (We Buy Any Car) said the administration fee depended on the value of the car and explained that at the time at which the ad appeared, cars valued between £50 and £4,999 carried an administration fee of £49.99 inc. VAT and cars valued at more than £5,000 carried an administration fee of £74.99 inc. VAT.

2. We Buy Any Car said they had a branch network totalling 188 branches across England, Scotland and Wales. They said they were in the process of reviewing Northern Ireland as a potential location and would hopefully have a base there later in the year.

Clearcast said We Buy Any Car Ltd had had not informed them that there was an administration charge or that the service was not available in Northern Ireland.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA considered that an administration fee was a significant condition which was likely to affect a viewers decision to sell their car through We Buy Any Car and noted there was no reference to such a fee in the ad.

We concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.

On this point the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) Advertising Code rules 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 (Misleading advertising).

2. Upheld

We considered that the phrase "Throughout the out UK" would be interpreted by most viewers to mean that We Buy Any Car had branches across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We concluded that, because there were no branches of We Buy Any Car in Northern Ireland, the claim was likely to mislead.

On this point the ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Code rules 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.3 (Misleading advertising) and 5.2.3 (Qualifications).

Action

The ad should not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)