Learning to Drive

robokoder

Hi all,

I'm 16 and (hopefully) going to be able to drive next year!!! Yay!! (I'll use my parents car though... I'm not made of money )

Basically, I have a couple of weeks in October to get started with the lessons, but I have a few questions (I hope you don't mind if I just list them):

1. Outline of what I have to do overall to get licence
2. Best places in SW London to get lessons? Ideas of good value pricing?
3. Common pitfalls
4. Best way to get insurance (esp if I drive irregularly)
5. Info about advanced courses and whether they are worth it.

I really appreciate your help- I was never really interested in drivng whan I was younger (amazingly) but it has just hit me how close it is, and I've suddenly become all excited about it!!!

Thanks all!

Dom

anewman

1. Back in my day was a form from post office and about £30. No doubt £50+ now and you'll need a photo probably.

You can get a decent enough car for under £500, problem is insurance will be more, but you would have to be paying insurance, petrol etc on the parent's car anyway.

IMO advanced driving (pass plus) is only worth it if you will benefit in terms of insurance savings. It's worth checking the quotes for with and without pass plus.

The place to start IMO is by looking at how much it will cost to get insurance and consider the affordability. I found insurance for me with same car and details, just different age - 17 instead of 27, shot the insurance up by £3000 per year, yikes - can barely afford what I pay now.

System

Agree with anewman. Start with insurance. We have found that it is cheaper to get DD1 (17 yo, prov licence) her own car in group 1 or 2 and insure it in her name with us as named drivers. To get her as a named driver on wife's car ( nothing special just an 02 Zafira) added £600 to premiums. Insurance on DD1's own car is only £450.

lamb7994

I've recently done the pass plus and it was usefull especially for morotrway driving.
You might find this website about driving useful:
www.2pass.co.uk

James