Background
Summary of Council decision:
Three issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.
Ad description
A website for Trusted Car Buyers, www.trustedcarbuyers.com, seen in February 2018, included text on a web page entitled “We Buy Any Car Comparison - The Facts” which stated “UK’s most trusted car buying service (98%)” and included an icon and overlaid text which stated “Best Price Guarantee". The home page included text which stated “Welcome to trustedcarbuyers.com - the UK’s fastest growing car buying service” and included an icon and overlaid text which stated “Best Price Guarantee”.
Issue
We Buy Any Car Ltd challenged whether the following claims were misleading and could be substantiated:
1. “Best price guarantee;”
2. “The UK’s most trusted car buying service (98%)”; and
3. “The UK’s fastest growing car buying service”.
Response
Exigotrade Ltd t/a Trusted Car Buyers said they would make changes to the website but did not provide a substantive response.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would understand the claim “best price guarantee” to mean that Trusted Car Buyers offered a price promise to beat a competitor’s lower price if informed of it by a consumer. We acknowledged that Trusted Car Buyers had removed the claim from the website. .However, we noted several different claims that were likely to be interpreted in the same way remained on the website. We had not been provided with any evidence to substantiate the claim as consumers were likely to understand it. We concluded that the ad was misleading on that point.
On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation) and 3.33 3.33 Marketing communications that include a comparison with an identifiable competitor must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, the consumer about either the advertised product or the competing product. (Comparisons with identifiable competitors).
2. & 3. We considered that consumers would understand “The UK’s most trusted car buying service (98%)” to mean that Trusted Car Buyers was the most trusted car buying service compared to all its competitors. Similarly, we considered that consumers would understand “The UK’s fastest growing car buying service” to mean that Trusted Car Buyers was growing faster than all other competitors in the market.
For each claim, we expected Trusted Car Buyers to provide an explanation for the basis of the comparison, as well as comparative evidence relating to all other UK car buying services. Because we had not been provided with such evidence, we concluded that the claims had not been substantiated and were therefore misleading.
On those points, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising), 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation) and 3.33 3.33 Marketing communications that include a comparison with an identifiable competitor must not mislead, or be likely to mislead, the consumer about either the advertised product or the competing product. (Comparisons with identifiable competitors).
Action
The claims must not appear again in the forms complained about. We told Trusted Car Buyers not to make promises to beat competitor’s lower prices, or make comparisons with identifiable competitors unless they held sufficient evidence to substantiate their claims.
