What prompted the investigation?

The CMA investigated the online booking journeys used by AA Driving School and BSM Driving School between April and December 2025. The issue was not the amount charged, but how it was presented. While lesson packages were advertised at an upfront price, a mandatory £3 booking fee was only revealed later in the checkout process, after customers had entered their details. The practice of advertising a headline price and then adding unavoidable charges further down the funnel is known as drip pricing. Under UK consumer law, where a fee is unavoidable, it must be included in the price shown from the very start of the customer journey.

The CMA's findings and enforcement action

The CMA concluded that:

• more than 80,000 learners were misled because they were not shown the total price upfront.
• the booking fee was mandatory, not optional, and therefore should have been included in the initial advertised price.
• this constituted a breach of consumer protection law, regardless of whether the fee was mentioned later in the process. 

The outcome has been costly. The AA has been ordered to pay £760,000+ in refunds, averaging around £9 per customer. The CMA has also imposed a £4.2 million penalty, reduced by 50% because the AA admitted the breach and settled early.

For chief finance officers, this is a reminder that consumer law risk is a genuine balance‑sheet risk. The AA’s early admission cut the fine almost in half. That discount may not be available where a business contests the facts or delays corrective action. 

For marketing directors, it underscores that conversion‑optimised pricing journeys are under regulatory scrutiny. Pricing design is no longer just a marketing issue. Penalties, refunds and remediation programmes land firmly with finance – often long after the campaign has ended.

Key themes for all businesses using add-on pricing