Rebecca Richard
Learning to drive is an eagerly anticipated milestone, however, the rising costs of lessons, fuel and insurance, forces many learner drivers to hit the brakes on securing their licenses.
Expensive Driving Lessons
If you manage to get off an instructor’s surging waiting list, you’ll face the next hurdle: the eye-watering cost of their tutelage. Lesson prices vary depending on location, I paid £40 per hour to learn in Greater Glasgow in 2023, but back in early 2020, most people paid around £28.47 for driving lessons.
According to RAC, most learners need around 45 hours of driving lessons to prepare for their test. After test costs, my bank account took a hit of at least £2000 before I even sat behind the wheel of my own car.
“To remain at pass-level, practice must continue, taking up a space in your instructor’s schedule and shelling out hundreds on lessons in the meantime.”
So, what’s the solution? Should we rally with placards and demand that driving instructors lower their prices? I doubt that would change much. After I finally got my license, I spent the money I saved on driving lessons straight away – on car payments, insurance and petrol. The costs just keep coming.
The expensive price of driving lessons angers many learner drivers. However, we must not steer away from the fact that instructors’ outgoings have gone up. Fuel costs, insurance, maintenance and repairs must all be accounted for before wages.
Most instructors are self-employed, which means they do not receive statutory sick or holiday pay. Instructors ultimately need to have a viable business, responding to fuel costs and lesson demand. It seems somewhat misplaced to direct our frustrations towards instructors’ pricing.
The COVID Backlog
Wait times for practical tests are a huge barrier for learner drivers. Examiner industrial action and the influx of keen learners who were held back during the pandemic have contributed to an ongoing backlog. These waiting times put immense pressure on learners.
The pre-Covid average wait time for a test was six weeks, however, I waited six months to sit my test from the date of booking, even though I was ready to take the exam.
Most learner drivers do not pass their test first time and are now forced to wait months between attempts. To remain at pass level, practice must continue, taking up a space in your instructor’s schedule and shelling out hundreds on lessons in the meantime.
“Amid a cost of living crisis, learners could save thousands of pounds if they did not have to wait for months at a time between test attempts.”
Theory tests expire after two years. So, if you don’t pass your practical in time, you’ll have to pay to resit. Snagging a last-minute cancellation slot might happen, but for most learner drivers, the days of booking a test within weeks are long gone.
Amid a cost-of-living crisis, learners could save thousands of pounds if they did not have to wait for months at a time between test attempts. This would also free up instructors’ schedules to take on new student drivers.
The DVSA Response
However, in 2024, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) published plans to improve test waiting times. It plans to recruit 450 driving examiners across the UK in 2024-25. It also wants to provide 1.95 million driving tests and significantly decrease test waiting times by December 2025.
“If access to driving tests was improved, learner drivers would not have to fork out their hard-earned cash for such a long time.”
These promises from the DVSA put pressure on examiners. In 2024, examiners announced industrial action to protest the growing workload. The DVSA demanded 150,000 additional driving tests, but examiners warned that pushing to meet these targets could create safety risks for both themselves and the learners.
The Future For Learner Drivers
Unfortunately, learning to drive has always been costly. The rise in fuel price and general cost of living increases make it difficult to expect instructors to adhere to a price cap. If access to driving tests were improved, learner drivers would not have to fork out their hard-earned cash for such a long time.
The proposed plans for increased examiner recruitment and promises of improved access to driving tests are a step in the right direction. Learner drivers, instructors and examiners alike will be waiting with bated breath to see if these plans come to fruition, or whether they will fall flat.
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Featured image courtesy of Bas Peperzak via Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image licence found here.
