Ad description
A paid-for Instagram ad for Motorpoint, a used car retailer, seen on 5 March 2026, featured the text, “Why buy new? Save £1000s off nearly new used cars. Browse our wide range across 21 stores nationwide”. Below, an image of a car and text that stated ““Save up to £17,000”. In the top right corner, an arrow-shaped graphic stated “NOW ON” and “UNBEATABLE PRICE EVENT”.
The ad appeared as a carousel of 40 images of different vehicles. Each image followed the same general format, with a vehicle shown against a plain studio-style background and the Motorpoint branding, the “NOW ON” banner, the “UNBEATABLE PRICE EVENT” claim and the “Save up to £17,000” text displayed on the image.
Issue
The complaint, who was unable to find a vehicle with a saving of £17,000, challenged whether the ad was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
Motorpoint said the claim referred to the saving consumers could make against the recommended retail price of an equivalent car bought brand new from a manufacturer or new car dealer, rather than a discount from Motorpoint’s own selling price. They said they only sold used or “nearly new” cars, including cars up to three years old. They explained that some vehicle listings on their website showed two separate types of saving: a reduction against Motorpoint’s previous selling price; and a saving against the new list price. They referred to an example, that included both “£650 off” and “Save £9,216 on list price”, and believed that distinction was clear. They also said their social media ads included surrounding copy such as “why buy new [...] save £1,000s off nearly new”.
They also highlighted the “up to £17,000 off” claim had been used across a range of communications for several months. They provided the substantiation they had submitted to Clearcast in December 2025 and said it demonstrated that more than 10% of their stock across the campaign period qualified for the claim that 10.68% of cars on sale fell within saving bands of £19,000 or more. They also said the website included terms and conditions stating that savings were calculated against the list prices of nearly new “24/74/25/75 plate cars” and that, when consumers clicked through from the ads, the website and vehicle detail pages showed the saving against the cost of buying new. However, they accepted that the terms and conditions could have been clearer in the social ads themselves and said that, in future, they would include equivalent wording in the ad copy to reduce the risk of confusion.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would have understood the claim “Why buy new? Save £1000s off nearly new used cars” to mean that substantial savings of thousands of pounds were available on nearly new, used cars sold by Motorpoint. We further considered that, in that context, consumers would have understood the claim “Save up to £17,000” to mean that a significant proportion of the nearly new, used cars included in the offer were available with savings of up to £17,000.
We further considered that the claims “UNBEATABLE PRICE EVENT” and “NOW ON”, appearing together with the savings claims alongside a carousel of vehicle images, were likely to be understood to mean that the advertised Motorpoint “Price Event” offered savings of up to £17,000 on its nearly new, used cars. Because those claims were presented as one overall promotional message, we considered consumers were likely to interpret the £17,000 claim as part of the savings available through that event.
However, we understood from Motorpoint’s response that the “up to £17,000” claim was intended to refer more generally to savings against the list price of an equivalent new vehicle, rather than to savings available as part of a distinct advertised “Price Event”. We considered that this was different from the impression the ad gave to consumers. Because the savings claims and the event messaging were presented together as part of one overall promotional message, the ad did not make sufficiently clear that the claim was based on a comparison with equivalent new car list prices, rather than savings available through the “Price Event”. We therefore considered the ad was misleading.
Notwithstanding that point, we also assessed the substantiation submitted by Motorpoint. While 10.68% of stock fell within a combined group of vehicles with savings of £19,000 or more, the data indicated that the majority of vehicles were advertised with savings significantly below the headline maximum figure. More than half of all vehicles, 52.4%, fell within the £5,000 to £9,999 saving range, with the most common individual bands being £5,000 to £5,999 and £6,000 to £6,999. By contrast, vehicles with substantially higher savings, including those in the £19,000 to £36,000 range, represented a much smaller proportion of the total stock. We also noted that, within the £17,000 to £17,999 saving band, only 20 of 1,611 vehicles were available with that level of saving.
Therefore, we considered the evidence did not demonstrate that savings of £17,000 were available on a significant proportion of vehicles. Because the majority of vehicles across the full range were advertised with lower savings, we considered the claim “up to £17,000” exaggerated the level of savings generally available.
We also understood that the data did not relate to the time the ad was seen. Because used-car stock was likely to change regularly, we considered it was important that the advertiser held evidence showing the availability of the claimed savings during the relevant period. In the absence of updated data relating to the ad as seen, we considered the evidence was not sufficient to substantiate the claim in the context in which it appeared.
For those reasons, we considered the ad was misleading and concluded that it breached the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation), and 3.17 and 3.22 (Prices).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told Motorpoint to ensure that their future savings claims did not mislead and that, when making “up to £x off” claims, they should ensure that a significant proportion of vehicles were available with savings of the stated amount and that such claims represented the true overall picture.
