What do you think driving lessons are?

Question

worthwhile? overpriced? respectable? trying to make as much money out of you
In your experience
Thanx

Answer 1

In the UK I think they're all of those things, to be honest!



They're certainly worthwhile unless you can find a friend or relative with an enormous amount of patience and trust to teach you, as driving certainly isn't something you can teach yourself.



Ideally you should have a mixture of both, so you can have a bit of practice in between lessons.



noeusuperstate - "Anyone earning less than £10k a year in the uk aged under 21 would spend nearly all their income on it" - I disagree. Remember, most people of that age group (17-20 year olds) are still living at home with their parents - you can easily run a car on min wage if you don't have rent and household bills to worry about!



"If you can manage without a car until you are in full time employment and earning about £20k pa" - well, on average, most people in the UK would not own a car until they were in their late 20s or 30s if this was the case. Depending on where you live (e.g. city or rural area), it may not be practical to go without a car for that length of time - having more money to spend on "clothes and leisure" is not much good if you can't easily go to places to buy clothes and spend leisure time.



Also, even if you don't own a car (which I didn't, for many years) it's still nice to be able to rent one when you need one, e.g. on holiday.

Answer 2

Being 20 years since I passed my test I have no idea how much they cost now, but I would imagine the insurance rates would be very high, I would also imagine the cost of installing duel controls would be high. I dread to think what the deprecation amount is - would anyone willingly by an ex driving instructors car? I dont think I would.



Assume the average lesson must be £25 - take out say at least £10 for fuel and the cost of running the car it works out at £15 for the instructor. Assume they do 5 lessons every day for 5 days with two days off. That works out at a 37.5 hour week if you say it realistically takes 1.5 hours per hours lesson with travelling and waiting time etc. Assume they work a 48 week year (4 weeks for bank holidays and other holidays) that works out at £18,000 a year salary.



They is well below the average wage in the UK - and they have to spend a few thousand pounds and a couple of year training to become an instructor.

Answer 3

I tried twice to get my license with about an hour or two driving experience on my own and failed both times. The ten lessons I took were well worth it because I needed to learn more about what the examiner would be looking for.



I have taken some really nice drives. For example once I went along a highway in upper state New York and it seemed as if almost everyone had Christmas lights. I stayed in a motel in a small town and actually dreamed about not having to pay any taxes at all. (I never had a dream like that in the city.)

Answer 4

It depends which country you're in. For example where I live the driving lessons range from $20/hr to $75/hr. Some instructors are AWFUL and genuinely give you horrible advice, while others are absolutely informative and you learn a lot. My friend learned to drive with her hands on the 6 and 12 clock positions. Also to cover the horn while driving. Both of those are horrifically wrong! My instructor was awesome and I learned a lot. I know that I wouldn't be that good at parallel parking if it wasn't for him! It's worthwhile if it's not overpriced and you have a good/knowledgeable instructor.

Answer 5

It depends on the instructor. Some are just lazy and take the money for doing next to nowt. My sister had one that just did the same run up the main road every time. She dropped him and found another who really filled the hour with lots to do. You want to be busy, but at your best pace.



It is worth having proper lessons, even though they are expensive. Ideally you want access to a car that you can practice in that is a relation's. Getting practice between proper lessons will cut down the number you need.



It does cost a lot of money to keep a learner car and to get all the insurance, but the good ones are making a fortune. Do some research and find one that has a good pass rate. They are worth it.



Edit.



Hal the instructor I had works 7 days a week with about 10 pupils a day. 70X£25=£1750 a week. He said he lost £3000 in income due to the bad weather that lasted 10 days!

Answer 6

Worthwhile. I took driving lessons as a teenager and I'm still glad I did. I learned how to drive well enough from someone who's paid to give good lessons. Look for a driver education company with a good reputation with the insurance companies. If the insurance companies trust them enough to give you a lower premium because you took lessons from one of these companies instead of another you can have some confidence the lessons will be worthwhile.

Answer 7

A necessity if you want a driving licence! As the wise Hypo said, it works better if you have a car to practise in in between lessons. I didn't have this and it took me 9 months of two lessons a week and two tests to get a licence. I do believe some people find learning to drive easy, I wasn't one of them! However, it's really worth the effort so persevere.

Answer 8

Too long ago for me to compare.

Though insurance and running costs are much higher than when I was learning for young people.

Many say in relative terms it is cheaper than ever but for those trying to stay on the road a car takes a lot of costs when you add in maintenance, MOT, Insurance, fuel, tyres, servicing etc. etc.

Anyone earning less than £10k a year in the uk aged under 21 would spend nearly all their income on it.

If you can manage without a car until you are in full time employment and earning about £20k pa then you will save money or have more spare cash to spend on clothes and leisure.

Answer 9

Hi HDM



If you're going to drive a car, get used to handing out lots of your hard earned cash



How much does an hour cost now? Compare it to an hours private tuition for your exams, add in the loan of a car (try hiring a car for an hour), add fuel and insurance .. driving is an expensive passtime



Very best of luck getting your license

Answer 10

Not worthwhile as they never teach the important things. My niece could not reverse into a space at all and next day passed her test. I passed my test going at 50 three times in a 30mph. Point made. ?

Answer 11

quite obviously a waste of time going by the sheer amount of people on the roads who lack the most basic skills for driving, like a brain!! some people should never be let loose behind the wheel of a car.

Answer 12

it relatively is way less complicated to force an computerized and that they have their reward. in case you reside in a city and are in site visitors it relatively is often scuffling with and commencing they're super. i've got pushed the two and come across a instruction manual very annoying for city using. additionally you have much less problem approximately rolling back into the vehicle at the back of on steep hills in heavy site visitors. additionally they provide you that chop up 2d extra to think of roughly what you're doing somewhat than focusing on changing kit. there is not something worse than being in a rush to alter kit (on a around-a-bout or overtaking as an occasion) and a instruction manual won't flow in kit or you finally end up interior the incorrect kit. For the main section i like automatics. Manuals although do not try this annoying lagging issues you get with vehicle's. it relatively is lots much less complicated to regulate your acceleration speed and you do commonly sense extra on top of issues. additionally they're extraordinary for using in snow or ice while in comparison with an vehicle as you need to use greater gears to drag away in case you get caught and decrease the gears somewhat than utilising your injury to steer away from skidding. in case you reside interior the united kingdom regardless of the incontrovertible fact that and you're taking your try in an computerized you would be limited to easily using an computerized. Your licence will nevertheless count quantity as a provisional for a instruction manual motor vehicle. you may desire to get on the line quicker regardless of the incontrovertible fact that with the aid of using an vehicle for a on a similar time as and retake your try later in a instruction manual once you have extra self assurance.

Answer 13

I hate driving but I really fancied my last instructor so I didn't mind going so much.



In one lesson he gave up trying to teach me and we went for a walk around this little shopping centre instead.



Honestly - I am really that **** at driving!!!

Answer 14

A chance for an old bugger to sit next to a fruity 17 year old and watch her yank the gear lever ...

Answer 15

they are too expensive in spain. (25-30 euros per lesson)

Answer 16

Expesive but they are worth it in the end as there is nothing to beat the freedom of driving. :)

Answer 17

Mine were totally worth every penny, and so was my daughters.

Answer 18

Yes it is expensive, but worth it.