Do Driving Instructors Milk Pupils

[chrisjh]

Has anyone just been through lessons and a test or had children take lessons, got to say it feels like most instructors have a minimum 40 or 50 lesson game plan see how long they can string you along.

 

i have just booked my lad (he has had 3 lessons with someone else) on an intensive 20 lesson package £500 including exam starting tomorrow with his test in 7 days, i have told instructor there is £100 bonus if he passes first time.

 

i have told him i will kick his a r$e up & down the road if he fails

[BRNDL]

Hahaha... It's not cheap to fail. I learned to drive on quiet back roads and a dis-used track with my parents. Yes illegally, although I passes in 10 lessons.

 

Happiness all round

[kdubya]

yep posted about it before, my daughter was told 40 lessons before a theory test should be taken,and most of the time she was parked up talking theory rather than driving, nowt like a captive audience is there

 

KW

[pegleg31]

I had 17 lessons at 17, my father was giving lessons at the same time. After about 8 my father told me to ask the instructor to put me in for my test but he wanted to check my 3 point turn, every lesson I was asking and every lesson he wanted to go over something else. At about my 14th lesson my father came out and told the instructor to put me in for my test or lose the custom. I passed first time and 2 of those lessons were my test, if it wasn't for my father I think the instructor would still be saying let's have a look at your hill start blah blah blah, I'm 38 now.

 

Russ

[keg]

Six one hour lessons, passed first time. Was driving on the farm from 12 yrs old.

[Grazy]

I had a lesson on my 17th birthday. The instructor put me in for my test that day as there was approx 4 week waiting time. I had 10 lessons and past 1st time. It depends if the instructor is a decent human being or just an A hole wanting to take your money....

[KFC]

My daughter learned to drive recently at the age of thirty. She really is a natural driver so I was astounded when she failed her first test and even her instructor was surprised.

The couple of things she failed on were trivial and subjective.

 

It's my opinion that the test centre could deliberately fail students on their first test to squeeze twice the fee out of them

 

She passed easily a couple of weeks later

Edited February 17, 2014 by KFC

[Sx3 clay breaker]

I passed mine in June last year first time he told me I recommend 40 to 50 hours before we put people in for their test but I managed to do mine in 12 it does take the mick but its the world we live in I'm afraid hope you son passes no better feeling passing first time

 

Atb scott

[AVB]

My instructor seemed a decent chap. I think I had about 15 lessons. Soon after he was convicted of kidnapping, demanding money, and various firearms offences. Seemed like he wasn't as a decent chap as I thought.

[shoot and be safe]

Six one hour lessons, passed first time. Was driving on the farm from 12 yrs old.

+1 although a touch younger

 

I applied for my test as soon as my provisional came through, six 1hr lessons later (test included) and I was a qualified driver.

 

For my HGV licences, class1&2 lessons on the Saturday and Sunday, test first thing Monday morning.

 

For my PSV/PCV licence, 30 minutes around the block then straight to test.

 

All passed 1st time B)

 

Best of luck to your lad and safe driving

[HDAV]

I had about 15-20 lessons (cant rember) but 1 a week then 2 a week once test was booked) passed first time less than 3 months after my 17th, some do milk them. But some learners/parents use them as a crutch or excuse. A family friends daughter is learning at the moment and apparently she is awful and will take a while to pass. I was lucky after a few weeks of lessons I was chauffeur to my parents and got alot of practise. So 30-50 hours seems reasonable. A friend just passed mid 30's and was making lots of excuses to miss lessons and avoid practising without instructor .....

Edited February 17, 2014 by HDAV

[e2000e2000e]

my wife took he test about 2 years ago, she'd had lessons when she was younger but never passed. Her instructor used to take the mick, her whole lesson was driving to the next pupils house picking them up and then driving home, he didn't do one manoeuvre with her which was the main thing she wanted to brush up on! In the end I took her out and showed her how I did them, then the instructor tried to teacher manoeuvres an hour before the test, insisting his way would be better, thankfully my wife told him where to go and past! So yeah driving instructors do take the mick, when I learned I had a decent bloke, didn't take the mick, told be to book my theory straight away, then after a couple of months went in for my test, so don't want to tarr all with the same brush, but just wanted to highlight another trick some seem to use

[Mentalmac]

I used a chap who was an ex army logistics driver - very eccentric and bizarre, but told me many instructors would try to expunge as much as possible because they need the cash.

The first few lessons we did lots of driving around getting used to driving, then the middle phase where we did lots of concentration on the 'manoeuvres' side of the training, he would tell me to meet him at this housing estate where we could practise. I had a motorbike at the time so was fine, and it saved me lots of time as an hour lesson would be half taken up by driving to and fro from the area to do the turns and stuff.

As with all businesses, some people will do better than others though. My sister had lessons for nearly 6 months 1 a week! And her instructor still said she wasn't ready. Was it her or the instructor? Who knows.

[Kes]

My son took 2 attempts to pass the theory and the test - I decided to help with both theory and practical, leaving him to decide which was 'new' information and which was common sense.

He was able to work out what he needed from the training we undertook on both (weeding out my 'agressive overtaking' for instance) and passed within the month.

Driving Instructors are obviously a mixed bag but I do think they have an 'average' number of lessons and target the amount of training for both aspects of the test on that.

[The Mighty Prawn]

When I learnt the accepted ratio was half your age in lessons, I did an intensive two days driving, third day test and passed. I later heard it had gone to one lesson for each year, are we really at 30+ lessons now! That's almost college levels of education. It is a great money maker though.

 

I do remember my instructor telling me about a pretty girl he taught who always wore little dresses for the multiple tests she had failed, he suggested they were failing her to see the pretty girl again so try jeans - passed straight away!

[Guest cookoff013]

it took me alot of lessons to pass my test. but i`d never driven before, haddnt a clue how to drive.

also i had to pay for my own lessons, so i had to do it slowly. they tried to "explain doubling up lessons would help"

 

but i stuck to my guns and went slower.

 

i passed first time with ~3 minor marks, one of those was because a cyclist was riding extremely poorly, (cambridge cyclist)

 

when i took my test, i caught up with the examiner in front. the student missed the T junction and crashed into someones house.

[Thunderbird]

I had a lesson on my 17th birthday. The instructor put me in for my test that day as there was approx 4 week waiting time. I had 10 lessons and past 1st time. It depends if the instructor is a decent human being or just an A hole wanting to take your money....

 

Sounds similar to my experience. I had about a dozen lessons at a tenner a go, plus plenty of on-road experience with my family on L-plates. Passed first time five months after I turned 17.

 

In fact as I now recall the waiting time was quite a few months. I remember being annoyed at how long I had to wait, but then again the extra few months gave me more driving experience.

 

One thing I thought then was how unprepared I was for motorway driving, scary as hell first time.

[team tractor]

I used to drive the van everyday to work with my dad next to me and have lessons on weekends.

My instructor was very good but he did try to milk it.

I told him I want to put in for my test after 8 lessons knowing it was an 8 week wait but he refused so I told him I'm not happy and a week later he said ok.

20 lessons including 2 for test but was easily ready after 8 plus my dad offered to take the test in his van if I was mucked about anymore

[thepasty]

The guy I had was a straight up good guy interested in the best for his students, I had a one hour evaluation type thing, then a day intensive followed by my test the next day. After the evaluation he said its obvious I can drive fine and all I needed was to drive like the examiners wanted which could be sorted in a day.

 

top guy.

[Fisherman Mike]

Has anyone just been through lessons and a test or had children take lessons, got to say it feels like most instructors have a minimum 40 or 50 lesson game plan see how long they can string you along.

 

i have just booked my lad (he has had 3 lessons with someone else) on an intensive 20 lesson package £500 including exam starting tomorrow with his test in 7 days, i have told instructor there is £100 bonus if he passes first time.

 

i have told him i will kick his a r$e up & down the road if he fails

Depends very much on the ability of the learner to pick it up, as much as the proficiency of the instructor..some people need only 20 or less, some need more...for some on the road today it would seem that 50 lessons are not enough...

 

A block booking is the way forward IMO if your learner has some previous experience...but in a lot of cases even a 20 lesson intensive package wont be enough. I think that the better driving instructors work for the major driving schools and are more conscientious and have the great benefit of support from a large organisation. My cousin was an examiner in the 90's for the DOT and he always maintained that a major driving school instructor always gave him more confidence in the candidates abilities...shouldn't be so perhaps, but I believe it to be true.

 

I taught my Daughter to drive and then she had a dozen lessons followed by a week of solid driving with me before her test. I gave her little tips like fixing the mirror off centre slightly so that the examiner could observe her actually turning her head to view the road behind, and slowing the car down using the gearbox when approaching roundabouts, which for some strange reason they don't do these days. When she did it in her next lesson with her instructor he was well impressed.

Edited February 18, 2014 by Fisherman Mike

[Teal]

Just because you pass a driving test doesn't make you a great driver. I think it's pretty dangerous if people want to race through and pass ASAP without putting time behind the wheel, and with a bonus structure for passing etc. A few lessons could save a crash or a life and that makes it seem pretty good value to me.

[shoot and be safe]

Just because you pass a driving test doesn't make you a great driver. I think it's pretty dangerous if people want to race through and pass ASAP without putting time behind the wheel, and with a bonus structure for passing etc. A few lessons could save a crash or a life and that makes it seem pretty good value to me.

The trouble these days is that the instructors only teach you how to pass the driving test, only when you have passed, then you learn to drive from your owned experiences and sadly mistakes. I have been driving for almost twenty years now and driven god knows how many miles (well over 1.5 million) and every day still learn something new. Edited February 18, 2014 by shoot and be safe

[four-wheel-drive]

Back in the late 1960s when I learned to drive I had seven lessons failed my first test as he forgot to teach me how to do hand signals so I had two more took my test a couple of weeks later and I passed ironic as I do not think that most younger people now what hand signals are today.

 

As for young people learning to drive today it is a different world even little cars today are very fast and there is much more traffic on the roads to be honest if I had to take a test today I doubt that I would pass it with all of the written theory part on top of the driving.

 

Also as they say that it is mostly the young people who are having most of the crashes one could well argue that the more time spent learning the better.

Edited February 18, 2014 by four-wheel-drive

[humperdingle]

It's down to the individual IMO. A calm, methodical, good learner will pick it up easily, whereas a skittish, clumsy, absent-minded learner will probably become one of those people who should probably just stick to public transport.

[Kes]

The test has had to evolve to cope with the vast changes since I took mine in the 60's. I had one lesson, just before the test - she said I'd fail. I had been driving on my own on an abandoned airfield for months, just enjoying myself. no problem pasing first time. Mind you, coming back from the successful test I took one 90 degree corner rather too fast and nearly ended my driving career then and there.