Illegal Fiat ad

Leasing standard information has to be clearly visualised.

According to the Commercial Court of Vienna a leasing ad for the car manufacturer Fiat broadcasted via internet and tv is illegal.

On behalf of the Austrian ministry for social affairs, Austrian Consumer Association (VKI) has taken action against the ad. The first defendant is FCA Austria GmbH, which imports Fiat vehicles, the second defendant is FCA Leasing GmbH, which acts as lessor at the purchase of said vehicles. Both are related companies in the group.

Tv and internet ad with Hollywood celebrity
During summer 2017 FCA Austria GmbH advertised in tv and on Fiat’s website a special anniversary promotion of the model Fiat 500. In the tv ad (in which Hollywood actor Adrien Brody appears), the monthly leasing rate and the four-year warranty, each accompanied by one respectively two asterisks, are being shown. The in § 5 VKrG (Verbraucherkreditgesetz, consumer credit laws) required information is only being shown for 2 seconds, in a font half as big as the one in the beforementioned promotion. The same ad is also to be found on Fiat’s website. Pictures of the car model, a description and the information about the monthly leasing rate and four-year warranty (again marked with one and two asterisks) are being displayed, followed by a link which opens a subpage with further information on model and offer. Only now the information leading from the asterisks and required by the consumer credit laws is being shown in a much smaller and thinner font than the remaining content on the site.

Visualisation of standard information is insufficient
According to the law, ads for credit and leasing agreements which include interest rates and other numbers regarding the credit’s costs have to present the standard information (e.g. borrowing rate) via examples in a clear, concise and noticeable way. According to the Commercial Court of Vienna this is not the case in the Fiat ad. The 2 second insertion during the ad are not long enough to read the information as a whole. In the case of the internet ad, the user is only able to find the information on a subpage, which is why the required peculiarity is not given according to the consumer credit laws.

The lawsuit's outcome and the decision of the court can be found on the Austrian Consumer Association's website.