Driving Lessons

Chris4

Hey,

Glad I came across this forum

So my question about money saving is driving lessons. They're very expensive.

I'm 17 tomorrow. Soon I will be buying my provisional driving licence (£50) which will allow me to drive with my dad in the passenger seat (with an L plate). That's what I plan on doing, should save me some money by learning for free.

The only money-saving way of driving lessons I know about is to buy them in bulk, so you get them cheaper overall, which I probably plan on doing if I can get the money.

Anyone know any tips, like driving lessons deals? Or the cheapest driving lessons? Anything that can save me some money in other words.

Thanks!

Chris

Crabman

Hi Chris, welcome to the forums :hello:

I've moved this over to the Motoring Board - check Section 5 of the Popular Websites thread for links you may find useful

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

lamb7994

You might find this website handy

www.2pass.co.uk

tells you everything about learning to drive.

James

runciblespoon

Try also this article:
http://www.fool.co.uk/news/your-money/2008/07/03/the-crazy-cost-of-learning-to-drive.aspx

anewman

Be careful here. You really should get at least some lessons with a trained instructor whose job it is to teach people the skills they need to pass the test, and to spot any mistakes you make that would fail you the test. They have regular testing. Otherwise you may pick up all your dad's bad habits. Remember that failing a test is not saving money as the tests are expensive. You also have to remember you need to be insured, as well as use an L plate, and this can be expensive.

Unfortunately offers on lessons are few and far between. Ask friends or family who have recently had lessons for recommendations on an instructor. It is also probably best to have a few lessons paid for individually so you know you get on with the instructor and are learning something - otherwise you'll have paid in bulk for all the lessons and possibly be stuck with a crap instructor.

sarah_smurf

Nothing about learning to drive is cheap anymore as my practical test last week alone cost £56.50, and that was without the 2 hours had to pay also for the driving instructors car.

Will your dad be having controls fitted on the passenger side so he will be able to stop you if you're heading towards another vehicle or he feels you're getting to close to something?

Have you looked in your local yellow pages or heard of any instructors by word of mouth?

lauren_1

The cheapest way is to get you dad to take you to an aerodrome or a empty car park away from other road users and get him to teach you clutch controll.

Starting smoothly, driving for a few meters and stopping smoothly with out any jolts, bunny hops and stalls, gradually building up to a few laps, then reverse parking and bay parking.

Nothing more. Do not go on the road until you are in a instructors car

The majority of the first few lessons are taken up by mastering clutch control, your dad can teach you this as its a key thing and not many people get bad habbits unless they overrev. Hopefully it will save you some money but i would not bother getting insurance until you are confident to drive you dad around with no auxilliary controlls.

BillScarab

You need to have some paid for lessons just to learn the correct way of doing the various manouvres you need to do to pass the test. However to start with I would just go out with your dad. Find a car park where you can get the basics of clutch control and changing gear and then just get as much driving practice as possible.

There's no need to get dual controls fitted which would cost a small fortune anyway. The handbrake will slow you down pretty quickly in an emergency and I'm sure he can reach the steering wheel if necessary.

cajef

BillScarab wrote: »

The handbrake will slow you down pretty quickly in an emergency and I'm sure he can reach the steering wheel if necessary.

You want to try that when despite all the instruction a learner driver flies out of a junction or onto a roundabout without looking or slowing down, you need fast reactions, I can remember some pretty close calls which without dual controls fitted could have been nasty.:eek:

Why do you think a lot of driving instructors are grey and have nervous twitches.:D

Chris4

Thanks for all replies.

I'll most likely take the advice of going into a car park to (only) learn the basics.

runciblespoon wrote: »

Try also this article:
http://www.fool.co.uk/news/your-money/2008/07/03/the-crazy-cost-of-learning-to-drive.aspx

Thanks for the article, really helps!

anewman

BillScarab wrote: »

There's no need to get dual controls fitted which would cost a small fortune anyway. The handbrake will slow you down pretty quickly in an emergency and I'm sure he can reach the steering wheel if necessary.

Surely that will send the back end sliding out, and against freely rotating front wheels driven by an engine it won't do much.