We Buy Any Car's 'sold it in minutes': a speed claim that needed a benchmark

A TV ad and a YouTube version featured a character named Robbie contrasting a failed experience with an unnamed online service against a smooth one with We Buy Any Car: 'I tried to sell my car online – nightmare. So I went to We Buy Any Car instead. Sold it in minutes, job done.' No rival was named, but the ASA ruled the ads amounted to comparisons with identifiable competitors.

Rival car-buying sites Motorway and Carwow complained that the ads misleadingly implied We Buy Any Car's service was faster and that its sale was guaranteed, while sales through other sites were not. The claims fell under rules on misleading advertising, substantiation and comparisons with identifiable competitors.

We Buy Any Car supplied data on its own performance — internal processing times and average deal durations — and cited Motorway's website, which said its process took nine to seventeen days, and Carwow's website, which stated no time period at all. The ASA found this inadequate: data about one party's own operations could not substantiate a comparison, and the cited competitor figures did not establish that We Buy Any Car was faster or that its certainty was unique.

The ASA upheld the complaints on 6 August 2025. Both ads must not appear again in their current form, and any future comparative claims must be based on clear, verifiable and adequately substantiated evidence.