Ad description
A TV ad for webuyanycar.com, featured two men floating in the sky while holding onto car-shaped balloons. A voice-over stated, "When you're selling your car you can often get knocked down on the price. And, woah, it's not nice. But with webuyanycar.com's price guarantee, if your car is in the condition you say it is we guarantee to pay the price we quote. So, no nasty surprises. To get a guaranteed price, enter your reg number now, at webuyanycar.com.”
The final shot of the ad featured a logo with a tick and text stating "Price Guarantee".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad was misleading, because it did not make sufficiently clear that an administration fee applied.
Response
We Buy Any Car Ltd stated that they understood that they only needed to disclose their administration fee if the ad made reference to the transfer of money.
Clearcast stated that the sole purpose of the ad was to advise consumers about We Buy Any Car’s "Price Guarantee". At the time of approval, Clearcast were advised that the only terms and conditions relating to the price guarantee were specified in the ad, which stated that the car had to be "in the condition you say it is in" in order for We Buy Any Car to honour the quote.
To receive a quote, the customer had to visit the We Buy Any Car website to obtain a price for their car, based on the information they had supplied, and could then decide whether they wanted to proceed with the offer. Clearcast considered that from this moment of receiving a quote, the customer was not subject to any further limitations regarding the actual value of the car.
Clearcast stated that they did not consider that the comment "no nasty surprises" was misleading, given that the price quote on the website did not exclude any administration fees. Furthermore, they said that there were no price points in the ad, which would have required it to indicate that administration fees applied. Clearcast considered that the advert was solely promoting the existence of We Buy Any Car’s "Price Guarantee" policy and the fact that they would "pay the price" they "quote", which did not exclude administration fees.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA acknowledged that the voice-over in the ad had stated that We Buy Any Car guaranteed to pay the price they quoted if the car was in the condition as described by the seller. We also noted that the purchase price quoted on We Buy Any Car’s website would be the amount payable to the seller if they decided to proceed with the sale. Furthermore, we noted We Buy Any Car’s and Clearcast's point that the ad did not quote any prices that the advertiser was charging, which were required by the Code (i.e. to include applicable charges or an indication that they applied).
We understood that consumers would be quoted a purchase price for their car on We Buy Any Car’s website and if they decided to proceed with the sale they would be required to pay a mandatory administration fee. We noted that the voice-over stated, "… we guarantee to pay the price we quote. So, no nasty surprises". We considered that, given the reference to "no nasty surprises" was made in the context of a claim about a guaranteed price that the advertiser would pay, viewers would interpret it as meaning that, should they proceed with a sale, they would be paid the quoted price without any charges applying to the sale. While we acknowledged that sellers would be paid the full purchase price quoted by We Buy Any Car on their website, they would nevertheless, have to pay the administration fee to proceed with the sale. Therefore, we concluded that the claim "So, no nasty surprises" was misleading.
The ad breached BCAP Code
3.1
3.1
Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
3.2
3.2
Advertisements must not mislead consumers by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that consumers need in context to make informed decisions about whether or how to buy a product or service. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead consumers depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the advertisement is constrained by time or space, the measures that the advertiser takes to make that information available to consumers by other means.
(Misleading Advertising) and
3.10
3.10
Advertisements must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
(Qualification)
Action
The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form. We told the advertiser not to imply that sales at prices they quoted customers would not be subject to any charges.
