Motorway ad run off the road by rival We Buy Any Car

Online used car service Motorway has been forced to ditch its claim that customers “could get up to £1,000 more” by using its site rather than others, following a single complaint to the ad watchdog by rival We Buy Any Car.

The strapline featured in the company’s launch campaign, devised by Wonderhood Studios, with media through MG OMD that broke in August 2021; it included TV, radio and online executions.

All ads featured a variation of the claim: “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.”

On its website, Motorway quoted a survey of 2,079 customers who had sold their car on the site and claimed that “42% achieved £1,000 or more with Motorway than their initial quote from other companies”.

However, rival We Buy Any Car rifled off a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority and challenged whether the claim was misleading and could be substantiated; and whether it was indeed verifiable.

In its defence, Motorway said it believed the average consumer would understand the claim “could get up to £1,000 more” to mean that a significant proportion of consumers who sold through their platform could achieve a price that was better by £1,000 compared to quotes given by other companies.

The company provided copies of two reports compiled by different independent research companies over different periods as evidence for the claim.

Meanwhile, TV ad clearing house Clearcast said that although, in its view, the evidence provided by Motorway in substantiation for the ad was robust, it had recommended that the claim be updated to include the word “could” before clearing it for broadcast.

Motorway said that it had updated two of the ads to include information directing consumers to a page on its website, where verification information would be found.

Even so, the ASA said it considered consumers were likely to interpret the claim to mean they could sell their car for up to £1,000 more than any other car-selling service, including dealerships and other online platforms, yet Motorway did not include any substantiation against all of Motorway’s competitors.

When it came to the reports, the ASA ruled that the results of self-reported surveys were not sufficiently robust to support the claim, which required a high level of substantiation in support.

When it came to investigating whether the claim could be verified, the ASA noted that the company failed to provide sufficient information to allow consumers to understand the comparison, and be able to check the claims were accurate, or ask someone suitably qualified to do so.

Banning the ads from being broadcast again in the form complained of, the watchdog warned Motorway to ensure it held adequate evidence to substantiate comparative claims in future, and to ensure such claims were verifiable.