The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2025
Nationale Rijschool promised a licence in 8 days and free retakes — they weren't
A driving school's '8 days' and 'free retake exams' claims hid the conditions: 15 lessons and a 10-lesson purchase. The RCC said the nuance was missing.
Nationale Rijschool · 2025-06-24
What happened
Nationale Rijschool advertised an 'Spoedpakket' (express package) promising 'In 8 dagen je rijbewijs' — get your licence in 8 days — and said students got 'vervolg-examens helemaal gratis' (retake exams completely free) if they failed the first time.
A complainant said the site's own other pages promised 2–4 weeks, and that after signing up it took at least three months to schedule an exam. The 'free' retake turned out to be a single free retake, and only if the student first bought ten extra lessons — a condition the promotional page never mentioned.
The school defended the 8-day claim as realistic when instructor and student availability allow it, and the free retake as genuinely free provided the student takes the required lessons, a condition stated in the registration form.
The RCC ruled both claims breached Article 8.3(c) of the Dutch Advertising Code (essential information missing) and Article 7 (unfair). The 8-day promise only holds within specific preconditions and depends on the CBR exam schedule, so the essential nuance was missing; the free-retake condition belonged on the page where the offer was made, not on a separate 'About us' page.
Why it happened
- An absolute promise — '8 days', 'completely free' — hides a set of conditions the average driver only meets after signing up
- The essential facts were on a different page, so the transactional decision was made without them
- The retake 'freebie' was actually a purchase incentive, the opposite of what the headline implied
The lesson
A conditional offer is a conditional claim. 'Free' retakes that require a ten-lesson purchase, and a licence 'in 8 days' that needs fifteen lessons, are misleading until conditions sit on the page.
Aftermath
The RCC chairman found Nationale Rijschool's 'Spoedpakket in 8 dagen' and 'vervolg-examens helemaal gratis' claims breached Article 8.3(c) NRC (omission of essential information) and therefore Article 7 NRC (unfair advertising). The 8-day promise depended on the student needing no more than fifteen lessons and on CBR exam availability; the free retake was conditional on buying ten extra driving lessons, a condition absent from the promotional page. The chairman recommended the advertiser stop advertising in that manner again.
Sources
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