[Closed] Driving lessons

The theory test has to be passed before the practical can be booked. With the current backlog there are huge delays so be prepared for anything up to 6 months to get a booking for the practical.

My daughter has so far had 15hrs of lessons. Test is booked for late June and her instructor has advised another 10hrs of lessons should do it.

If you take your daughter out be prepared for lots of "That's not what my instructor says" when you advise her. Lots of things have changed regarding the use of gears and handbrake over the last few years.

Have a look at the intensive courses, they block book a bunch of tests and change the driver
so wait times are pretty short, they do a assesment lesson and advice you on how much time they think you need and are usually done in 4hr blocks

Agree that she "needs" someone who knows how to pass a modern test but (assuming you have a suitable car, and venue) definitely teach the kid clutch control, hill starts 'n'shit, operation of all the main controls and get her comfortable just being in the car and moving forward & back.  I reckon that saved my two quite some time and me quite a few quid.

(before they were 17 I also used to make them tell me what they'd be looking for coming up to junctions etc)

Long post but very recent experience. I'll tell you the facts first and then the anecdotes.

My daughter started learning in October and passed her test (first time, with one minor) on April 1. So 6 months of lessons give or take. She had weekly lessons with a couple of exceptions, illness / covid, and then in March the instructor suggested we stop lessons as all she then needed was experience, she had all the 'technique' she needed. We also got her her own Mitsu Colt for £900 to learn in - mum's car is PCP'ed / new and insurance would be too high; mine's too big. So all told she probably had maybe 20 weeks of lessons, 2 hours / £70 a time, plus regular driving with me as well once she'd got the hang of it.

The lessons seemed SLLLOOOWWWW......each week I'd ask what she'd done and for the first few weeks it was just driving a circuit in a quiet housing estate and barely getting out of second gear. One weekend with me we did the same and then I enticed her out onto the open road and it was the first time she'd been in fourth gear. The method was extremely regimented, a lot of classroom type work with diagrams and marker/reference points for the manoeuvres for example. There were times when I almost felt I should call the DI to hurry him up, but in hindsight, passed in 6mo first time with one minor and him stopping lessons when he felt right, clearly he knew what he was doing! A bit more on that later.

You can do the theory test as soon as you get your licence, depends on your attitude to revision I suppose (she passed first time, friends took four attempts because they didn't put the work in - at £23 a time!!) and then once you have that you have 2 years I think to pass your test. So do theory early, and then book a practical is my advice, that might be 6mo away anyway. On this - there are apps, worth paying for when the time approaches, which find test cancellations for you. You need to subscribe and pay, and for what we paid I think we could nominate 3 other test centres. My daughters test in Guildford was in June, but we jumped on an earlier one once the DI said she was ready, and she did it with 3 days notice in Portsmouth. It meant we had to drive down there one evening to familiarise with area, and then went down early on the day to drive around again, but familiarity with roads wasn't that big an issue - one tricky roundabout we did several times was all really.

The anecdote stuff. Like I said it felt slow going but obviously wasn't, trust your DI. I took her for her test in her own car, he doesn't do out of area tests, but in the test centre there were 3 other tests going on all with DI's, and talking to them was interesting while the kids were out with the examiners. Portsmouth has a slightly above average pass rate (nationally it's 49.8%), but still it's only just over 53% but in discussion with them they said it's because many people taking tests just aren't ready. They book a test, aren't ready by the time it comes round but take it anyway despite advice from their DI's. They were almost suggesting that people shouldn't be allowed to take tests without a pre-test cert from an instructor - one it clogs up the system; two because if someone who isn't ready gets lucky on the day and doesn't encounter anything tricky they'll pass and then get released on the roads before they're ready. But as said - it's easy to cancel a test and then use the apps to find another.

Lastly, as said above there were a few bits where she was driving different to how I do. eg: initially I felt she was driving too slow, holding up traffic and so on. She argued back that her DI had never picked that up for her. And she didn't get a single minor on not making progress in the test so he was clearly right. Same with other things. They know what the examiners look for, they prepare people for it, and if you trust them they'll come through. You just need to sit in with them and keep look out for stuff they might not have seen.

Lastly develop nerves of steel. Not for the highly strung - my wife almost gave up after the pair of them ended a lesson yelling at each other! There were a few moments, I have to admit....one I was picking Colt upholstery out of my arse crack for days afterwards I clenched so hard! but generally OK. Most drivers when they see L plates are very reasonable, a few are utter arseholes. Yes, you missus in the Audi Q7 - we were in the wrong lane and we did accidentally cut you up but a potty mouth like that belongs on a docker, not a surrey housewife, and I hope when your kids learn to drive you are more tolerant.

Hope that helps. Ask if you want any more.

two more things, having read some posts that came in while I was writing that tome.

Intensive lessons - I don't know I'd recommend; she was pretty mentally wiped after driving for 2 hours - doing 4 hour lessons would be hard. Depends on your kid I suppose. And yes, if you can go somewhere to learn how a clutch works, how to gear change and the very basics that saves a bit of instructor time. We actually took both of them a couple of years ago and shared a 2 hour session between them at Dunsfold (top gear) off public roads and would have done the same again but for Covid.

dove1 +1
We used an ADI with dual-control car until our boy (OB) didn't need the extra controls. The ADI then took OB out in his own car and pronounced him safe enough that we could do some supervising. Make sure that the car insurance covers lessons and testing
Check the DVSA website, they won't test in some cars including some convertibles, cars with warning lights on, space saver spare in use, etc
Mix of ADI and us leading to test pass and one minor.
Ask the ADI if they've heard of Goals for Driver Education (GDE) especially if you have a son. You can teach them to pass a test, or you can teach them to learn from their experiences.

The lessons don't have to be 4 hours, you can scedule them to fit in with study or other commitments and you are not just driving the entire time.
you would spend time practicing maneuvers and negotiating different types of road layouts, car parks,rush hour traffic and driving on A roads etc. without the worry of running out of time and with stops for coaching and a debrief etc. and a rest along the way.

Eldest was lucky enough to get his theory test within a week or two of turning 17, then had maybe 10 lessons with an instructor before we got him a hideously underpowered Fabia that he went out in with me, then another 10-15 lessons with an instructor before he passed his test - it was cancelled 3 times over the course of lockdown but he got lucky. So many of his friends missed out and have ended up at uni with no time or money for lessons now, if they can give an instructor with space.

Only my opinion, but was worth getting him confident with an instructor before coming out with me - I probably learnt more than him driving together, over 35 years since I passed my test. And it was dull every day driving we got him to do, running himself or sister to activities, taking us shopping, practicing bits of the test routes he wasn't sure of.

And she didn’t get a single minor on not making progress in the test

Get her on STW! We'll soon teach her all about the rights and wrongs of Making Progress.

Daughters birthday is coming up very soon: she has the provisional licence but we've just discovered driving instructors have looooong waiting lists around here so we've failed there... get one booked early

My daughter turned 17 in February, passed her theory in March and has had 4 lessons with a DI and now one with me.
It was distinctly nerve wracking. Having driven her DI’s nearly new Polo she found the slightly sticky clutch on her own 130k miles Corsa a bit tricky . Next time I’m going to take her to an empty car park and get her to master the clutch before we go out on the road………
I’ve driven for 35 years but it makes you value the experience of a good DI. It took me a fair bit of thinking to be able to break down all the constituent parts of driving into understandable instructions for her when it’s something you normally do without thinking.
A DI earns every one of his £35 per hour lesson!

Thanks all, useful insights. Might need to go for intensive lessons as despite her age she's away from home.