05/02/2025
Please take a moment to read this, as it could save you money on your driving lessons.
At present, in this industry, we are being inundated with calls and messages regarding cancelled lessons, due to instructors not being able to continue their pupils tuition as the instructor has failed their final exam, or queries regarding charges on test day.
When you decide to book driving lessons please check what badge the instructor holds:
(This badge should be displayed at all times while charging for your lesson)
* Green badge: fully qualified ADI (passed all 3 parts)
* The badge should be displayed at all times in the windscreen, and clearly visible while charging for a lesson.
* Pink badge: PDI (potential driving instructor) - this basically means they have 3 attempts to pass their final exam. If they don’t achieve this standard then unfortunately they will be unable to continue lessons
* By law a pink badge holder has to state that they are not fully qualified to a student, and should always have their badge on display in the windscreen.
*please check the picture and date of licence to make sure the instructor is who they say they are
Please check what licence they have and question where they are at with their training as you don’t want to end up taking a break in your lessons due to them not being able to continue teaching, as finding a decent instructor can be difficult.
The charges for your test day:
The cost of the driving test is £62.00. This is paid directly to the DVSA and confirms your booking date, time and place of test.
If you go with a driving instructor that is fully qualified, or on a pink badge, the standard charge is roughly the cost of the time you have the car for, so for example:
**Test time is 9:15am:**
Your instructor may pick you up at 8:15am and then your test time of 9:15-10:15 so basically you have the car from 8:15-10:15 (2 hours) at an hourly cost of around £35 (depending on their standard hourly rate) this would mean the test day would incur a charge of approx £70 which is a reasonable charge.
We have seen numerous posts about instructors charging anywhere from £80 - £200 extra for the test day, on top of all the above fees, claiming that this is an insurance charge or fee of some kind.
This is not the case. Any learner car driven by a driving instructor is covered under their policy for lessons and use of car on test day, so we don’t have to pay any extra charges for you to take our car on test whether we sit in the car or you take it with just the examiner accompanying you.
So, the take home here is, first of all do your research on your instructor, and secondly find out about test charges and what they are, as right now it’s hard to pull any legal proceedings against instructors who are ripping clients off with a deceptive charge.
Please guys, don’t fall foul of this scam, a trustworthy instructor will only charge you a reasonable rate for your driving test!!!
Feel free to share as too many learners and their families are being ripped off
