Drip pricing explained: How hidden charges could be inflating your bills

If you’ve ever started booking a flight, concert ticket, driving lesson or hotel room only to discover the final price is much higher than the one you were first shown, you’ve already encountered drip pricing.

It’s one of the most frustrating experiences for consumers. You find a deal that looks affordable, invest time filling in forms, choosing dates and entering your details, only for extra charges to appear at the last minute.

Now regulators are stepping up their efforts to tackle the practice, according to a recent Financial Times report, businesses are facing increasing scrutiny over hidden fees and charges, with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) already issuing its first major fine under new consumer protection powers for drip pricing practices. The move signals a significant shift in how pricing transparency will be enforced in the UK.

What is drip pricing?

Drip pricing happens when you are shown an attractive headline price at the start of a purchase journey, but mandatory charges are added later in the process.

The key issue is that the original price isn’t actually available because unavoidable fees are missing.

You might see this when:

Booking flights and discovering additional administration fees later
Buying event tickets and finding compulsory booking charges at checkout
Reserving a hotel room and encountering mandatory service charges
Paying for driving lessons and being charged booking fees that weren’t included upfront
Purchasing products online where compulsory charges only appear at the final payment stage

The effect is often psychological as much as financial.

Once you’ve spent several minutes selecting products, comparing options and entering your information, you’re more likely to continue with the purchase, even if the price has increased.

Why regulators are cracking down

The concern is that you should be able to understand the true cost of something before deciding whether to buy it.

When essential charges are hidden until the end of the process, it becomes much harder for you to compare prices between different businesses, for example, a company that advertises a £50 product with a £10 mandatory fee added later can appear cheaper than a competitor offering the same product for £55 with no hidden extras.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC) was introduced partly to address this problem by strengthening consumer protections and giving the CMA much greater enforcement powers. The new rules came into force in April 2025. Under the legislation, businesses are expected to show consumers the total price upfront, including unavoidable fees and charges.

The first major enforcement action

In a landmark case involving AA Driving School and BSM Driving School, the CMA found that more than 80,000 customers booking driving lessons online were shown prices that excluded a mandatory £3 booking fee. The charge only appeared later during the booking process. Under the new rules, that amounted to unlawful drip pricing.

The companies were ordered to pay a £4.2 million fine and more than £760,000 in refunds to affected customers. It was the first major consumer law penalty issued under the CMA’s enhanced powers introduced by the DMCC. The size of the penalty sends a clear message to the market that pricing transparency is no longer just best practice. It is becoming a regulatory requirement.

What should you watch out for?

Although the rules are changing, hidden charges haven’t disappeared completely. You should still be alert whenever you make purchases online, particularly in sectors where extra fees have traditionally been common.

Pay close attention to:

Charges that appear late in the buying process

If the price suddenly increases after you’ve selected a product or entered your personal details, take a closer look at why.

Mandatory fees presented as optional extras

Some businesses may make charges appear separate from the main price, even when they are unavoidable.

Booking, administration or processing fees

These are among the most common forms of additional charges.

Subscription costs

Look carefully at renewal terms, introductory offers and any charges that only become clear after sign-up.

Event and travel bookings

These remain areas where consumers frequently report concerns about hidden fees.

If the final price is substantially different from the one initially advertised, it may be worth questioning why.

What is changing under the DMCC?

The DMCC represents one of the biggest overhauls of UK consumer protection law in years.

For consumers, the most important change is that the CMA now has direct enforcement powers. Previously, regulators often had to go through lengthy court processes before taking action.

Now the CMA can investigate businesses, determine breaches itself and impose substantial financial penalties. Companies can face fines of up to 10% of global turnover for serious breaches of consumer law.

The legislation also introduces clearer rules around:

Drip pricing
Fake reviews
Misleading online practices
Subscription traps
Hidden consumer charges

The intention is that you should have clearer information and be able to make purchasing decisions based on the actual price you’ll pay, not a headline figure that bears little resemblance to the final cost.

Will this solve the problem?

Consumer law has prohibited misleading pricing practices for many years. What’s changed is the regulator’s ability to act quickly and impose meaningful penalties.

The AA case suggests the CMA is willing to use those powers. The regulator has already indicated that online pricing practices are a major enforcement priority and several other investigations remain ongoing.

That means you may start to see more businesses displaying total prices earlier in the buying process and being more transparent about unavoidable charges. But consumer vigilance still matters, whenever you’re comparing prices online, it remains worth checking exactly what’s included, reading the small print and reviewing the final amount before committing to a purchase.

What can you do if you think you’ve been affected?

If you think a business has used misleading pricing practices, it’s important to keep as much evidence as possible. Taking screenshots of the advertised price alongside the final price you were asked to pay can help demonstrate any discrepancies, while keeping copies of receipts, invoices and order confirmations will provide a record of the transaction.

Your first step should usually be to raise the issue directly with the business and give it the opportunity to explain or resolve the problemYou can raise and escalate your complaint through Resolver, which can help you manage the complaints process and keep a record of your communications.

Where you believe a company may be engaging in wider misleading practices, you can also report your concerns to Trading Standards or the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The more evidence you have, the easier it will be to challenge hidden charges and support your case if you decide to pursue a complaint.

As regulators sharpen their focus on drip pricing, businesses are likely to face increasing pressure to be transparent. That’s good news for consumers. But until hidden fees disappear entirely, it’s still worth approaching every headline bargain with a healthy degree of scepticism.

Have you experienced drip pricing when buying something online? Did the final price turn out to be higher than the one you were first shown? We’d love to hear from you.

You can share your experience through Resolver Stories