More driving lessons

13

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  • chrisw
    chrisw Posts: 3,388
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    It sounds like your relationship with the instructor is breaking down which won't help at all. Maybe a different instructor is the best way to go.
  • unholyangel
    unholyangel Posts: 16,863
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    spikyone wrote: »
    I think there's a lot of poor advice on this thread. None of us knows how the OP drives, or whether they're ready for the test. For anyone not familiar, a search online for Maureen Rees from the TV show Driving School ought to show that we all learn at different rates. Saying "that's too many lessons" or "just take the test in your husband's car", without anything other than the OP saying "this is costing me a lot of money" does not help.

    My advice would be two-fold:
    1) Ask the current instructor where she feels there are issues with your driving.
    2) Find another reputable instructor and see if they'll take you out for an hour or two to evaluate your driving, and see how their feedback compares to your original instructor.

    If you feel that you get on better with the second instructor, you can always switch to using them instead.

    I would also be wary about practicing in your husband's car if the controls feel different to the one you're learning in. That could mean you're wasting the first part of your lesson getting used to your instructor's car again. With any activity where you're learning an action, you want to be committing that action to your subconscious "muscle memory" so that you can do it without thinking. Switching between cars will make it much harder to do that because you'll always have to think about what you're doing.

    "theres a lot of poor advice on this thread, so I'm going to add to it by repeating whats already been said"?

    As for the last part of your post - I don't agree with that. Maybe if you were driving one all the time and not driving the other for months. But if you drive both regularly it can actually help drivers learn how to control a vehicle better because they don't become reliant on driving instructor tips that may only relate to their own car (ie turning fully to the left when the rear passenger windows are parallel with the other cars rear bumper). In fact, I'd go as far to say if you can't get into another vehicle and still drive to standard, then you're not ready to pass your test /drive on the road unsupervised.
    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
  • jimjames
    jimjames Posts: 17,532
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    Just for some other numbers, my son recently passed his test. Lesson prices were £23 for blocks of 10 hours and he had 30 hours of lessons. He also came out in our car for another 2 hours a week or so for extra practice after he'd had 10 hours of lessons.

    It may be that lesson price is lower and the instructor expects more hours to compensate but if you are practising in your own car then I'd expect less formal lessons.

    What does your husband think as another party who has observed your driving?
    Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.
  • caprikid1
    caprikid1 Posts: 2,125
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    "It may be that lesson price is lower and the instructor expects more hours to compensate but if you are practising in your own car then I'd expect less formal lessons."


    I disagree, When I was learning to drive I found practicing in my brothers car a MK2 Escort Estate (1976) was so vastly different from the New 1989 Nissan Sunny that it put me backwards not forwards and I stopped using a different car. Extra hours did not work for me as the cars were so different. I passed first time with about 25 lessons I recall.
  • spikyone
    spikyone Posts: 454
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    "theres a lot of poor advice on this thread, so I'm going to add to it by repeating whats already been said"?

    As for the last part of your post - I don't agree with that. Maybe if you were driving one all the time and not driving the other for months. But if you drive both regularly it can actually help drivers learn how to control a vehicle better because they don't become reliant on driving instructor tips that may only relate to their own car (ie turning fully to the left when the rear passenger windows are parallel with the other cars rear bumper). In fact, I'd go as far to say if you can't get into another vehicle and still drive to standard, then you're not ready to pass your test /drive on the road unsupervised.

    Perhaps you could explain which bit of poor advice I was recycling - I'm struggling to see it? Most of the posts before that were telling the OP she should take the test, regardless of what the instructor said, or that they didn't believe OP would need that many lessons. Which, without seeing her drive, none of them could have known for certain.

    I disagree with your other point too. OP will be taking the test in a particular car. It doesn't matter whether they can get into another car and drive that - they won't be doing it on the test, and it's likely hampering them for the reasons I gave in my first post, because they are constantly adjusting from one car to another. In the example of reverse parking that you give, the instructor's advice is good because it gives something that will work every time for the car that OP is most likely to be using on the driving test. It will give OP one less thing to be thinking about so that they can concentrate on things like observation.
    It would be far better for OP to get good at driving one car so she can do it without thinking, than to do something that will more likely hamper her progress in that car - especially as she specifically said "I have to concentrate more" in her instructor's car, when talking about the mechanical controls. If she needs to concentrate on the process, that's less mental capacity to give elsewhere. Swapping cars is quite clearly a hindrance in this case.

    Adapting to other cars - so that you can drive them well - takes some mental capacity no matter how much driving experience you might have. For an experienced driver it's not a problem because much of the process is committed to your subconscious so you're just recalibrating slightly to the control weights and feedback. In a few minutes it feels natural. For a learner, it's considerably more difficult because it's an entirely conscious process, and swapping cars means that the process isn't being committed to the subconscious because it keeps changing slightly. OP is likely spending the first ten minutes or more of every lesson trying to re-learn where the clutch bites and how sensitive the throttle is, which is currently wasting her time.
  • unholyangel
    unholyangel Posts: 16,863
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    spikyone wrote: »
    Perhaps you could explain which bit of poor advice I was recycling - I'm struggling to see it? Most of the posts before that were telling the OP she should take the test, regardless of what the instructor said, or that they didn't believe OP would need that many lessons. Which, without seeing her drive, none of them could have known for certain.

    I disagree with your other point too. OP will be taking the test in a particular car. It doesn't matter whether they can get into another car and drive that - they won't be doing it on the test, and it's likely hampering them for the reasons I gave in my first post, because they are constantly adjusting from one car to another. In the example of reverse parking that you give, the instructor's advice is good because it gives something that will work every time for the car that OP is most likely to be using on the driving test. It will give OP one less thing to be thinking about so that they can concentrate on things like observation.
    It would be far better for OP to get good at driving one car so she can do it without thinking, than to do something that will more likely hamper her progress in that car - especially as she specifically said "I have to concentrate more" in her instructor's car, when talking about the mechanical controls. If she needs to concentrate on the process, that's less mental capacity to give elsewhere. Swapping cars is quite clearly a hindrance in this case.

    Adapting to other cars - so that you can drive them well - takes some mental capacity no matter how much driving experience you might have. For an experienced driver it's not a problem because much of the process is committed to your subconscious so you're just recalibrating slightly to the control weights and feedback. In a few minutes it feels natural. For a learner, it's considerably more difficult because it's an entirely conscious process, and swapping cars means that the process isn't being committed to the subconscious because it keeps changing slightly. OP is likely spending the first ten minutes or more of every lesson trying to re-learn where the clutch bites and how sensitive the throttle is, which is currently wasting her time.

    Well pretty much everything you said except the last part. That everyone learns at different rates, that they could get a 2nd opinion from another instructor, asking if the current instructor is still having to use the controls/instruct them how to do things etc. Perhaps you'd like to point out exactly who told the OP to take the test with no regard to anything else? You shouldnt have any difficulty naming even a few posters given you say "most" of the posts were telling OP to take the test regardless.

    I think perhaps if you reread the posts, you'll find no one has said anything of the sort.

    And that part in bold sums up whats wrong with peoples attitudes towards driving and the driving test. Its not simply a case of doing what you need to do to pass then doing whatever the hell you want. Nor is it a race to pass as quickly as you can.

    I repeat, if you're not able to get into another car (especially one you drive regularly) and drive it to standard, you're not competent enough to be driving unsupervised (and therefore arent ready to sit your test).
    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means - Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
  • Mercdriver
    Mercdriver Posts: 3,898
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    Well pretty much everything you said except the last part. That everyone learns at different rates, that they could get a 2nd opinion from another instructor, asking if the current instructor is still having to use the controls/instruct them how to do things etc. Perhaps you'd like to point out exactly who told the OP to take the test with no regard to anything else? You shouldnt have any difficulty naming even a few posters given you say "most" of the posts were telling OP to take the test regardless.

    I think perhaps if you reread the posts, you'll find no one has said anything of the sort.

    And that part in bold sums up whats wrong with peoples attitudes towards driving and the driving test. Its not simply a case of doing what you need to do to pass then doing whatever the hell you want. Nor is it a race to pass as quickly as you can.

    I repeat, if you're not able to get into another car (especially one you drive regularly) and drive it to standard, you're not competent enough to be driving unsupervised (and therefore arent ready to sit your test).


    Indeed. What happens if the OP's instructor's car is involved in an accident or breaks down and the OP has to use a different car? It's not grounds to reschedule without losing a fee, and then having to wait and keep paying for lessons until that new test comes along.

    A loaned learner vehicle is not necessarily the same car, sometimes it can be completely different.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,077
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    Nadiya wrote: »
    My husband's car is not test standard. Don't know if i should be looking for different instructor now.

    Did your instructor tell you it wasn't?

    For a car to be test standard it needs just the following things:

    1) To be in a fit and roadworthy condition, taxed, MOT'd and you insured to drive it.
    2) An extra internal mirror used for rear observation for both the driving instructor and the examiner during the driving test. It is not essential to purchase an internal mirror for the driving test as the examiner should have a spare if needed. A cheap suction cup job from Halfords will suffice.
    3) To have a L plate fitted to the front and rear. Whilst there is no mandatory location specified, these are recommended locations:

    where-to-put-l-plates-262x443.jpg
  • gpc273
    gpc273 Posts: 133
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    edited 10 October 2017 at 8:50PM
    Tarambor wrote: »
    Did your instructor tell you it wasn't?

    For a car to be test standard it needs just the following things:

    1) To be in a fit and roadworthy condition, taxed, MOT'd and you insured to drive it.
    2) An extra internal mirror used for rear observation for both the driving instructor and the examiner during the driving test. It is not essential to purchase an internal mirror for the driving test as the examiner should have a spare if needed. A cheap suction cup job from Halfords will suffice.
    3) To have a L plate fitted to the front and rear. Whilst there is no mandatory location specified, these are recommended locations:

    where-to-put-l-plates-262x443.jpg
    Not quite, this link will provide you with more info;
    https://www.gov.uk/driving-test/using-your-own-car

    Maybe her husband has one of the vehicles that are currently not fit for the test? All of these are due to very poor examiner vision.
    And don't rely on the examiner providing a mirror as they quite often leave them in previous vehicles or they are broken.
  • Car_54
    Car_54 Posts: 8,180
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    Tarambor wrote: »
    2) An extra internal mirror used for rear observation for both the driving instructor and the examiner during the driving test.

    Both? The instructor won't be there.
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