Motorpoint has been ordered to withdraw an Instagram advert after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that claims customers could save up to £17,000 on nearly new used cars were misleading.
The advert, which appeared on Instagram in March, promoted Motorpoint’s “Unbeatable Price Event” and told consumers they could “Save up to £17,000” on nearly new used cars.
A consumer complained to the ASA after being unable to find a vehicle offering a saving of £17,000.
Motorpoint said the claim referred to the difference between the price of a nearly new vehicle and the recommended retail price of an equivalent new car, rather than a discount from Motorpoint’s own advertised selling price.
The used car supermarket operator said its website showed savings against new list prices and submitted data which it believed supported the claim.
It said more than 10% of vehicles available during the campaign period qualified for savings of £19,000 or more compared with the cost of buying new.
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However, the ASA concluded that consumers were likely to understand the advert differently.
The regulator said the advert linked the “Save up to £17,000” message directly to Motorpoint’s “Unbeatable Price Event”, creating the impression that customers could achieve savings of up to £17,000 through the promotion itself.
The watchdog also found that Motorpoint had not provided enough evidence to show that savings of £17,000 were available across a significant proportion of the vehicles included in the promotion.
According to the ruling, more than half of the vehicles covered by Motorpoint’s data offered savings of between £5,000 and £9,999.
By comparison, only 20 of 1,611 vehicles were advertised with savings between £17,000 and £17,999.
The ASA said: “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.”
The regulator also noted that the evidence submitted by Motorpoint did not specifically relate to the period when the advert was seen.
It said that because used car stock changes frequently, advertisers must be able to demonstrate that advertised savings were available at the time a campaign was running.
The ASA concluded that the advert broke advertising rules covering misleading claims, evidence requirements and pricing statements.
As a result, it has instructed Motorpoint not to run the advert again in its current form and to ensure future “up to £x off” claims accurately reflect the savings available across a significant proportion of advertised vehicles.