• The President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny, has issued two decisions in the case of AUTOCENTRUM AAA AUTO - the total fine is more than PLN 72 million.
• A leading second-hand car dealer provided false information about the price of the vehicles it offered.
• The company also used prohibited provisions in contracts that obliged consumers to confirm the vehicle’s technical condition.

AUTOCENTRUM AAA AUTO is one of the leaders in the second-hand car sales market. The offers of vehicles available at showrooms are presented on its website and on the OTOMOTO website. The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection received numerous complaints about irregularities related to the company’s sales policy and the provisions of its contracts concluded with customers. Following the proceedings investigation, including a mystery shopper inspection, the President of UOKiK, Tomasz Chróstny, issued two decisions imposing a total fine of more than PLN 72 million on AUTOCENTRUM AAA AUTO.

False information on car prices

Customers interested in buying a vehicle and reading the offer on the AUTOCENTRUM or OTOMOTO website continued to believe that the amount indicated determined the price of the vehicle itself. However, the company did not inform that the price in the ad consisted of the cost of the car and an additional product – “Carlife Guarantee” insurance. Customers found out about this as late as when visiting the showroom, at the stage of finalising the contract, when a salesperson automatically gave them a “discount” equal to the insurance premium they were required to pay. In fact, the consumer did not receive a rebate but paid for the Carlife Guarantee product. If the customer cancelled the policy, the premium was refunded not to them but to AUTOCENTRUM. At the same time, the company underestimated the price of the car on the invoice, which could be relevant when determining its value or when claiming against the company.
In the ads on www.aaauto.pl and www.otomoto.pl, the company also omitted information that a mandatory “additional customer service” fee of PLN 1,398 would be added to the price of the vehicle. Having reviewed vehicle listings on websites, consumers made a decision to visit the AUTOCENTRUM showroom. However, in the showroom it turned out that the price of the vehicle was higher. As a result – in order to buy a car – consumers were obliged to pay additional costs, the amount of which they did not know and did not expect.

– Consumers should be reliably informed at the initial review stage about what the final price of the car is and what it consists of. When signing the contract, they must not be surprised by additional fees and forced to purchase additional products or services. In our investigation, we used the “mystery shopper” tool thanks to which we collected evidence that confirmed that AUTOCENTRUM AAA AUTO’s customers had to buy insurance and pay nearly PLN 1,400 for ‘customer service’ which they did not know about before – says Tomasz Chróstny, the President of the UOKiK.

The mystery shopper inspection used in the investigation consisted in that the UOKiK employees, with the court’s approval, took steps to purchase a second-hand car. This allowed them to verify how the offer was presented to consumers and whether the company was fulfilling the information obligations required by law. The UOKiK employees, by playing the role of mystery shoppers, carried out inspection activities at five AUTOCENTRUM showrooms. The recordings of the actions carried out constituted evidence in the proceedings.

Details of the challenged practices are contained in the decision. The President of UOKiK fined the company with over PLN 67 million for violating the collective interests of consumers.

Prohibited provisions in contracts

The second decision against AUTOCENTRUM AAA AUTO concerns abusive clauses that the company used in contracts with consumers until 6 April 2023. Buyers had to sign statements included in the Sales Report confirming that they had checked the vehicle’s technical condition. The stipulations assumed that the buyer took a test drive of the car and it was sufficient to verify all parameters of the car. Customers could not express a different opinion, even if the test drive did not take place or they did not have enough knowledge to assess the vehicle’s condition. In this way, the entrepreneur avoided responsibility for any defects.

– The contractual provisions shifted the burden of responsibility for defects in the used vehicle onto consumers. The company was able to invoke the disputed clauses in rejecting customers’ complaints by stating that the technical condition of the car had been thoroughly checked by them during the test drive. It is unacceptable for an entrepreneur to avoid responsibility for the product being sold – adds President of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny.

According to consumer rights, also in the case of second-hand goods, the seller is responsible for their latent defects that existed at the time of concluding the contract.

The President of UOKiK imposed a fine of more than PLN 5 million on AUTOCENTRUM AAA AUTO for using abusive clauses. The company is also required to publish statements informing of the decisions issued by the President of UOKiK on the official AUTOCENTRUM website and on its “AAA AUTO POLSKA” Facebook profile. The decisions are not final – the company can appeal them.