The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) imposed over PLN 72 million in fines on Autocentrum AAA Auto, a leading used car dealer, for providing false information on the price of the offered vehicles and using prohibited provisions in contracts that obliged consumers to confirm the technical condition of the vehicle, the Office reported. .
“Customers interested in purchasing a vehicle and familiarizing themselves with the offer on the Autocentrum or Otomoto website were convinced that the indicated amount determined the price of the vehicle itself. However, the company did not inform that the price in the advertisement included the cost of the car and an additional product – insurance.” Carlife Guarantee’. Customers learned about this only during a visit to the showroom, at the stage of finalizing the contract, when the seller automatically gave them a ‘discount’ in the amount corresponding to the insurance premium they were obliged to pay. In fact, the consumer did not receive a discount, but paid for the product Carlife Guarantee. If the customer canceled the policy, the premium was returned not to him, but to Autocentrum. At the same time, the company underestimated the price of the car on the invoice, which could be important in determining its value or in the event of filing complaints against the company,” we read in the release.
The company omitted the information that a fee for “additional customer service” would be added to the vehicle price.
Moreover, in the advertisements on the websites www.aaauto.pl and www.otomoto.pl, the company omitted the information that a mandatory fee for “additional customer service” in the amount of PLN 1,398 would be added to the price of the vehicle. After reviewing vehicle offers on websites, consumers decided to visit the showroom. However, on site it turned out that the price of the vehicle was higher. As a consequence, when wanting to buy a car, consumers were obliged to pay additional costs, the amount of which they did not know and did not expect, the Office emphasized.
The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection imposed a fine of over PLN 67 million on the company for violating the collective interests of consumers, and a fine of over PLN 5 million for the use of abusive clauses, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection also reported. The decisions are not final – the company may appeal against them.
“The contractual provisions transferred the burden of responsibility for defects in a used vehicle to consumers. The company could have invoked the disputed clauses when rejecting customer complaints, stating that the technical condition of the car had been thoroughly checked by them during a test drive. It is unacceptable for an entrepreneur to avoid responsibility for the product sold.” – said Tomasz Chróstny, president of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, quoted in the release.
