Ad description
A listing for a 2020 Renault Zoe GT line car from Driving Cleaner Cars, hosted on AA Cars, seen on 7 March 2023, featured text that stated “£15,300”.
Issue
The complainant, who was asked to pay a compulsory £199 admin fee by Driving Cleaner Cars, challenged whether the quoted price was misleading.
Response
The Diesel Car Company t/a Driving Cleaner Cars confirmed they charged an admin fee and that it was accurately displayed on their website, their other forms of advertising and on their order forms. They suggested the issue had arisen because the AA Cars website did not accept their feed correctly, or did not have adequate space to display the admin fee.
Used Car Sites Ltd t/a AA Cars said neither Driving Cleaner Cars, nor the feed provider engaged by Driving Cleaner Cars, had provided the details of the additional admin fee for display on AA Cars’ platform (including as part of the total price shown on the listing). Under their terms and conditions and Standards Codes of Practice agreement, dealers were responsible for ensuring their listings were compliant with the CAP code. They said they would review their platform and take reasonable action to remind dealers that they were responsible for the content of their own listings.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated that quoted prices must include non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges that apply to all or most buyers.
The ASA considered consumers would understand the claim “£15,300” to mean that was the total cost of the vehicle including all non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges.
When purchasing the vehicle, the complainant had been required to pay an additional £199 admin fee by Driving Cleaner Cars. We understood that was a non-optional fee that applied to all buyers and therefore needed to be included in the quoted price. Because it was not, we concluded the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.17, and 3.18 (Prices).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form complained of. We told The Diesel Car Company t/a Driving Cleaner Cars to ensure that their future marketing communications outlined all non-optional fees.
