The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned a number of online adverts issued by Rix Motor Company Ltd (Rix).
Posts on Rix’s Instagram account and adverts on three of its websites relating to credit broking of car finance breached FCA rules for one or more of the following reasons:
- representative examples of the cost of credit to the consumer were either missing from the advert or unlikely to be seen
- the advert didn’t make clear whether consumers were dealing with a credit broker or a lender
- the advert didn’t specify the legal name of the firm as it appears on the Financial Services Register so that consumers could easily check that Rix Motors was authorised.
Rix has now withdrawn the adverts and the FCA has directed Rix not to breach these rules again. Under the rules, all financial promotions must be clear, fair and not misleading, including on social media.
Jonathan Davidson, Executive Director of Supervision – Retail and Authorisations, said:
'When customers are buying a car on finance, it is really important that they are able to understand how much is going towards the finance and how much is being spent on the car.
'They always have the choice to get the finance separately, so knowing how much it costs allows them to make informed decisions about whether they are getting the best deal.
'We will not hesitate to take action where we see adverts that don’t allow customers this clarity.'
The FCA previously raised concerns with Rix Motors about its online adverts in 2017 and 2018, which Rix addressed.
Notes to editors
- The FCA has a legal power under Section 137S of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to ban financial promotions.
- The FCA has previously used these powers twice – once against London Capital and Finance[1] in December 2018 and again more recently against a Claims Management Company[2] in May 2019.
- The Supervisory Notice[3] issued to Rix Motor Company
- The FCA’s financial promotions pages[4]
- We previously highlighted concerns[5] that motor finance firms were not complying with relevant financial promotions rules in November 2018.