FIAT TV Advert...No Road Tax!!

antlaff

Should this be reported to the ASA as they are claiming 'No Road Tax' as an offer incentive...i suppose all cars ad's could carry the same message.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcUy8_B3dVA


Fiat UK 2012 by Antlaff, on Flickr

estampida

well as there is no road tax in this country just vehicle excise duty there is no misleading statement

and the final line to boot - subject to change (so missive is not agreed)

veronese68

The small print does call it Vehicle Excise Duty. Problem being marketing types need a catchy phrase and "No Vehicle Excise Duty" isn't as punchy and the average moron wouldn't understand it anyway. They have to market to the lowest common denominator, it is a Fiat Panda after all.
It's just a sad reflection that that's how the vast majority see it.

bigmat

Lets just accept that "Road Tax" is the common parlance for vehicle excise duty. To the extent that adverts like this hammer home the fact that even some cars don't have to pay it, I think its probably helpful to cyclists e.g. "why would we have to pay road tax when some cars don't have to pay it?"

redvee

Carlton Reid is on the case with this I believe. As well as being a cycle journalist he is the man behid ipayroadtax.com

rolf_f

Veronese68 wrote:

They have to market to the lowest common denominator, it is a Fiat Panda after all.

Harsh - a Fiat Panda is probably a more intelligent choice than a good 90% of the cars on the market.

veronese68

Rolf F wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

They have to market to the lowest common denominator, it is a Fiat Panda after all.

Harsh - a Fiat Panda is probably a more intelligent choice than a good 90% of the cars on the market.

Very true, tongue was firmly in cheek.

TommyEss

BigMat wrote:

Lets just accept that "Road Tax" is the common parlance for vehicle excise duty. To the extent that adverts like this hammer home the fact that even some cars don't have to pay it, I think its probably helpful to cyclists e.g. "why would we have to pay road tax when some cars don't have to pay it?"

I think you're right there - the problem when a motorist throws it around as part of a verbal tirade to a cyclist is not that they are using the wrong term, but the fact that they think they alone have sole rights to use the road.

So should our new response be "Buy a Fiat Panda and you won't have to pay road tax either!"?

tailwindhome

BigMat wrote:

Lets just accept that "Road Tax" is the common parlance for vehicle excise duty.

This

That said IIRC BigMat is also a RLJ apologist so.......

madtam

Perhaps the more generic response to a shout of "I pay road tax you know!" should be "Get a lower emissions car then you won't have to!".
I think arguing about the differences between "road tax" and "VED" are pretty pointless.

bigmat

TailWindHome wrote:

BigMat wrote:

Lets just accept that "Road Tax" is the common parlance for vehicle excise duty.

This

That said IIRC BigMat is also a RLJ apologist so.......

Eh? Not sure I see the connection. Anyway, I have never apologised for RLJ!

tailwindhome

BigMat wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

BigMat wrote:

Lets just accept that "Road Tax" is the common parlance for vehicle excise duty.

This

That said IIRC BigMat is also a RLJ apologist so.......

Eh? Not sure I see the connection. Anyway, I have never apologised for RLJ!

Mate I don't know either

Was feeling a bit random this morning.

Initialised

So these are the same companies:



and



A feel a barrage of complaints to the Advertising Standards Agency coming on, these are contradictory adverts.

beverick

Look. If you're going to be a pedant, at leat be a good pedant.

1) From the HMRC "Excise Duty is a tax <on certain goods and services>". Therefore VED is a tax.
2) In return for your VED "payment" (which may be £0 of course) you receive a Tax Disc. It's actually a vehcile excise license but it says tax disc on it. Therefore, if HMRC class excise duty as a tax, and you receive a tax disc for paying it chances are you're pretty safe in calling it a tax. ie if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quack's like a duck, chances are it is a duck.....
3) The ASA have already adjudicated on this - from the CTC - "Having reviewed your complaint, although we acknowledged that the correct term is indeed “Vehicle Excise Duty”, more commonly used phrases such as “Road Tax” are often used by advertisers to convey a message in a way that will be understood by the widest audience. The requirements of the CAP Code are such that the ASA draws a distinction between technical inaccuracies and claims which are likely to mislead consumers to their detriment. In this case we considered it unlikely that the use of a common term for this type of tax is likely to mislead consumers to their detriment by influencing their transactional decisions in relation to the advertiser’s products."

Finally, and if you really want to be pedantic about nomenclatures, the Department for Transport (who levy and collect the tax) declare that VED is a vehicle tax and not a road tax.

Therefore, in future, please complain on the basis that references to VED should refer VEHICLE tax and not ROAD tax.

Bob

rick_chasey

BigMat wrote:

Lets just accept that "Road Tax" is the common parlance for vehicle excise duty.

Finally.