A WeBuyAnyCar complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has resulted in a ban on Motorway TV and radio adverts which claimed it could offer motorists “up to £1,000 more” for their used car.
Despite a clause on the Motorway website which showed the statement was backed by a survey of 2,079 customers who sold their car on Motorway between March 1 and July 22 2021, the Constellation Automotive-owned car buying business challenged whether the claim was “misleading and could be substantiated”.
WeBuyAnyCar’s complaint followed the airing of Motorway’s adverts in August 2021.
The TV ad featured a voice-over that stated: “This is the new way to sell your car. The sell-your-car-from-home way. The car-dealers-compete-to-give-you-the-best-price way. The you-could-get-up-to-£1,000-more way”.
The first radio ad stated: “Simply sell your car the Motorway way. It’s the new sell-your-car-from-home way. It’s the car-dealers-compete-to-give-you-the-best-price way. It’s the you-could-get-up-to-£1,000-more way.”
A second radio advert added the statement: “For pricing claim verification visit motorway.co.uk.”
In its evidence, Motorway said that 42% of 2,079 respondents to a survey on its value performance had self-reported that they had achieved a price of £1,000 or more for their vehicle on Motorway’s platform than they had been offered as an initial quote by a competitor.
A second report found 42.7% of 1,842 respondents said they had achieved a price higher than that of a competitor by £1,000 or more.
The ASA ultimately deemed the account of the survey evidence to be insufficient to inform car sellers choices, however, banning the adverts in their current form.
It noted that the Motorway website did not contain any information about where a copy of the report that formed the basis of the claim could be viewed, adding: “In lieu of a full report we considered that Motorway could have provided information including, but not limited to, some of the competitors included in the report, the full methodology used in the survey and report, the number of consumers contacted in the survey and the number of respondents, and the questions that respondents were required to answer as part of the survey.
“In the absence of that information, we considered that there was no way for consumers or competitors to understand the basis of the claim or check its accuracy.”
It is not the first time that Motorway has had an advert banned by the ASA.
Twelve months ago a television advert for the Motorway used car marketplace was banned following an allegation that it “encouraged driving behaviour that was dangerous”.
- Coinsmart. Europe’s Best Bitcoin and Crypto Exchange.Click Here
- Platoblockchain. Web3 Metaverse Intelligence. Knowledge Amplified. Access Here.
- Source: https://www.am-online.com/news/supplier-news/2022/11/30/webuyanycar-complaint-results-in-ban-for-motorway-tv-and-radio-adverts