We Buy Any Car Limited – €234,000 Fine (United Kingdom, 2021)

We Buy Any Car Limited ('WBAC') is a car valuation and purchasing company. Individuals can input details about their vehicle to get a fixed-price valuation. Individuals complained that they received unsolicited marketing texts from WBAC. The Information Commissioner's Office ('ICO'), started an investigation based on the complaints between October 2019 and January 2020. WBAC stated that they only contact individuals that request vehicle valuation. They claimed that these messages were either sent on the request of individuals or on the basis of the "soft opt-in". WBAC informed the ICO that 207.7 million email messages were sent (205.5m delivered) between April 2019 and April 2020. These messages were: * 92.3 million “journey” emails requested by the individuals asking for a valuation; * 107.6 million “batch” emails sent to customers between 30 days and 4 years since their last valuation; and * 7.8 million “good news” emails where the valuation offer has increased. WBAC also sent 16.3 million SMS between April 2019 and April 2020. 4.2 million ("batch" and "good news" messages) were marketing, 3.6 million of which were delivered. The Information Commissioner's Office considered that the "journey" messages were unsolicited marketing because the individuals had not specifically requested them, even if WBAC had informed individuals about them. The ICO concluded that the emails were marketing emails rather than services messages, as defined in the ICO's [https://icosearch.ico.org.uk/s/redirect?collection=ico-meta&url=https%3A%2F%2Fico.org.uk%2Fmedia%2Ffor-organisations%2Fdocuments%2F1555%2Fdirect-marketing-guidance.pdf&auth=1%2FjAB%2BSoVBL7Bc0wn%2B%2B6Wg&profile=_default&rank=4&query=marketing Direct Marketing Code of Practice], because they contained marketing elements even if it wasn't the main purpose. Of all the messages delivered the ICO considered that only 14.1 million were solicited, versus 191.4 million unsolicited marketing emails. The company was therefore found in contravention of Regulation 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 ('PECR') as WBAC did not satisfy the requirement of getting valid consent The ICO also considered the “batch” and “good news” SMS to be direct marketing. Although WBAC claimed this was under the soft opt-in rule per Regulation 22(3) PECR, the ICO disagreed. The DPA held that the possibility of opt-in out was not presented to customers during process of collecting their details. Instead, it was only presented to them after they had received a vehicle valuation. There was no meaningful possibility to opt-out, which therefore lead the ICO to conclude that WBAC did not comply with the requirements of Regulation 22(3) PECR. The ICO also concluded that WBAC had misunderstood the definition of service messages in relation to the SMS they sent, which the DPA deemed to be marketing ones. The ICO also found that complainants were unsuccessful when attempting to unsubscribe from emails and SMS. The ICO took into account the large number of emails and text sent over the 1 year period investigated and deemed it a serious contravention of the regulation. The ICO also concluded that WBAC "knew or ought reasonably to have known that there was a risk that this contravention would occur" and therefore considered this contravention to be negligent. The ICO therefore imposed a fine of around €234,000.