To think I can teach my DD to drive?

My Dad and husband taught my DD to drive - she had no lessons and passed in 4 months - could have been done quicker but she was studying for med school entrance exam & applying for early entry uni!

Edited to say - just read your update - well done to your DD!

Good for her!

I also taught DD to drive (which at first takes nerves of bloody steel) 😂 we started off in my work car park and then progressed from there.

I watched a lot of lessons and mock tests on you tube so I knew how best to instruct her. Eventually I got her driving all over the county so she had experience of loads of different roads and was comfortable in any new situation… Only when she was a great driver with many hours under her belt did I get her driving lessons. She took lessons for a month and then passed first time with 2 minor faults - her driving instructor said she was at a good standard when she went to her, so it is absolutely possible to do most of the legwork yourself.

I also know another 17 year old who passed two weeks after his birthday, having driven on their private land for years.

ND DS OTOH has had around 100 hours of lessons and failed twice, even after switching to an automatic. But driving doesn’t come naturally to him at all, with DD she was like a duck to water, so it depends on the kid too!

We couldn't get a driving instructor during covid and had to teach my son as he needed to drive as public transport to his college became very unreliable. Saved a fortune on lessons, and much better for getting more practice on the roads. Just recommend finding out the typical exam routes and practice on those roads.

@Hlly Also it is untrue that you can’t use a car with all those extra features on your driving test. You can use lane assist, cameras, parking sensors etc etc. if the car has the feature you can use it

Definitely not where I am (not in UK). Good to hear your system is sensible and allows it. As I said earlier, here it’s just bonkers as the majority of cars here have drive assist features now, even base models of most average cars have many of the functions, so it prohibits most new drivers from being able to use their actual cars in the test and forces the driving instructors to get quite cheap makes/models that you rarely see on the roads here otherwise. As I said, bonkers, so good to see common sense has prevailed in the UK.

Go for it! You’ve said you wouldn’t mind them having lessons near to the test so I don’t see an issue at all.
I drive a motability car and learnt to drive in it so I had to have official lessons but my Dad took me out loads in between. It was really useful.
I think a lot of people who have poor experiences of teaching their child to drive, it’s down to their dynamic in the car. If it isn’t working for you both then you’ll need to reevaluate and be honest with yourselves about how it’s going.

I would check with your car insurance company

@Justfinking I agree that driving safely is very important and I've paid for my two driving children to have lessons as I wanted them to have the expert input that a driving instructor can provide. The thread is more about whether its feasible without paid lessons and yes, of course it is. Particularly for people who can already drive - as teens who have grown up on farms often can. I know a kid who could drive a tractor by the age of 12.

I think of one the most useful skills in driving is judgement - especially judging the speed of other traffic as you turn out of a junction - and that only comes with experience and time behind the wheel so you need to put the hours in whether its with a qualified instructor or with a family member.

I was originally replying to someone who said you needed to have a number of lessons ‘signed off’ by a driving instructor before they are allowed to take their test which is absolutely not true(not sure if this is showing correctly in the comments)

Also it is untrue that you can’t use a car with all those extra features on your driving test. You can use lane assist, cameras, parking sensors etc etc. if the car has the feature you can use it. 😊
There are a handful of specific car make and models that are not allowed for your driving test due to poor visibility or other safety reasons which are specified on the gov.uk website

This is why we took ours in their cars. Their own cars are older than the instructor's car so needed them to learn how to drive their cars not something more modern. Not one of us has ever owned a car with all those bells and whistles!

Unless it's changed since the summer, this is not true. Mine both had lessons initially but then I took them out and we booked the test for them to drive in their own cars, I took them to their tests. As long as the car meets the standards on the gov/dvsa website it's fine. Obviously have to have passed the theory test first.

Can you make sure to teach her how to use merge in turns? Shocking how ignorant the majority of drivers are, but at least they leave an empty lane.

This is so interesting, I have thought about this myself the more people use these cars the quicker any actual skill will be lost. I notice now how most people barely appear to be paying attention when they drive as their car will beep if they're about to hit something, equally clueless about observing and not following another car too close etc, etc

I thought most people would get proper lessons unless to save money. I honestly can't say I know many people who are such good drivers that should be teaching others (compared to a professional). I had professional lessons to start with, and I think it was good, I honestly think if most people are being taught by their parents that's explains why there are so many terrible parents out there. I'm definitely a much better driver than both of my parents. To me driving is a skill.

This is a UK site so the majority of posters are in the UK. Interesting to hear how other places do it though.

My instructor had a reversing cam etc but my own car does not, I park using mirrors and checking behind me. It is always useful to learn without all the newer tech so you are not completely stumped if ever in a car without it.

I taught my 15-year old so you can definitely teach your dd. And shes not exactly a beginner.
We started in car parks and state parks.

@Hlly Anyone can turn up to their test in their own car (providing the car meets the test specifications) and take their test without any lessons from a driving instructor

True, but the biggest problem we face here is that testing car requirements have not kept pace with technology. All of our cars have the usual standard bells and whistles, driver assist, lane control, alerts to proximity to other cars for lane changes, reverse cameras, sensors etc. Absolutely none of this is allowed in testing cars so none of ours could use our cars for their tests. Instructors now have to have models that bear no resemblance to cars the kids (or anyone these days) actually drive, so they definitely need lessons prior to the test on driving the car they will be using for the test.

This seems a strange post. I don’t know anyone who didn’t teach their kids themselves and then just use an instructor at the end for finessing and familiarisation with the test route.

We need them to have 120hours signed off before they can take the driving test and get normal license (not the Learner license, they get that after passing a road rule theory test). Instructors generally sell their services in blocks of 10hrs and per above, that’s at the end and generally includes being driven to testing site and home after. For the first 110hours, parents teach them, there is no barrier to this🤔.

It's easy enough to pass a test as it's short and you're focused. Day to day driving is different and you're likely to pick up the bad habits of whoever taught you. It's like anything, surely you'd pay a professional and not do it yourself, but particularly important for driving where your life literally depends on it. I think it's a good idea to have 5-10 lessons with an instructor to set you up, then continue practising with parents, just because it's not a legal requirement doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do.

There's no requirement for anyone to have paid for driving lessons in the UK. Passing the tests (theory and practical) is the way to determine whether someone is safe to drive. I know someone who's taught both their kids to drive recently and neither had lessons with an instructor. I've paid for my kids to have driving lessons but it's not essential.

My teen dd passed last month, she never had a single professional lesson from an instructor. I taught her from day 1.
It was fairly stressful but we took it at a steady pace.
We couldn’t get an instructor long waiting lists so we made a start and then thought why not have a go at a test.
I watched a lot of YouTube videos on driving techniques and mock tests, things examiners look for, things they don’t want to see.
We also bought the test routes app, and used this as practice on drives so she knew the routes and the tricky parts of the town.
The app helped massively because she knew what was coming up and could plan in advance, getting in right lane, positioning and so on.
I actually couldn’t believe it when she passed. I was proud of her but also of myself for getting her so far, it’s so stressful teaching your own child, and honestly sometimes a bit scary without dual control.
Her dad took her out for a motorway lesson a few days after passing just to make sure she was confident there too.

I’m a driving instructor, having had chats with my learners they all without exception slag off what their parents do during practice runs with them. And you know what, this is exactly what my son will say about me (who is qualified) when it’s his turn to learn. When you’re their parent it’s difficult to be their teacher, and for that reason I’ll probably do a bit of teaching my son but he’ll also be taught by another instructor because he will listen to them!

I recently passed and only had dh as a teacher as we couldn’t afford lessons. There’s lots of YouTube resources from instructors that break down tests or manoeuvres that I find helpful.

I imagine driving round on private land with very little/no other traffic would be very different to driving on public roads.

It's not unreasonable for you to teach her the majority yourself, however I'd get her to start off with perhaps 2-5 lessons with an instructor to take her out, given they'll have dual control cars, and you won't (I presume). That will help you gauge her ability and confidence mixing with other Road users.

YANBU. My mother taught me to drive and I only had 2 proper lessons with an instructor before my test which I passed first time. I taught my son to drive, again minimal proper lessons, and he passed first time too. You don’t need a professional to tell you what you have to do in the test - easy to research it online to find out about minors and majors and the things you have to do.