AA Driving Schools Fined £4.2m for Hidden Fees in Learner Driver Lessons

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has fined the AA £4.2m and ordered the company to make payments to more than 80,000 learner drivers. The fine was imposed for not showing the full price of lessons at the time of booking, a practice known as 'drip pricing'.

The CMA found that learner drivers were not shown the total price upfront when booking lessons online, which is required under UK consumer law. Instead, the driving schools were introducing a mandatory fee later in the process.

Sarah Cardell, the chief executive of the CMA, stated: 'If a fee is mandatory, the law is clear: it must be included in the price from the very start – not added at checkout – so consumers always know what they need to pay.'

The regulator said that the amount repaid to individual customers will vary depending on how many lessons they bought, but the average payout is expected to be about £9. The AA has cooperated with the CMA and admitted to breaking the law, which reduced the potential financial penalty by 40%.

This is the first financial penalty the CMA has imposed for a breach of consumer law since being granted new powers to enable it to decide whether to take action rather than having to go through the courts.