Give me advice on helping a teen learn to drive

[AnneTwackie]

16 year old’s dad has bought her a car, so it falls to me to help her learn. I’m happy for her to concentrate on her studies rather than work to pay for them herself but don’t have a lot of money myself, I can probably throw £250 at it tops. A family friend has done 90% of the training to be an instructor and has offered to help out. So, if you have had a teen learn, what’s your advice? Could I teach teach her alongside experienced friend and get her 5 or 6 lessons before the test?

Your friend who is training would need to teach a Learner Driver as part of their training so that could be an option. When does your DD turn 17?

Has her Dad allowed for the Insurance with the car or are you paying for that?

Provisoinal costs around £38 (we just got our DD Provisional ). She's had a Young Driver lesson and we're booking more before she can legally get on the road.
She has a Driving Instructor lined up.

No way would I teach my DD to drive ! I'm not even putting her on my Insurance .(much to her disgust)

Yes the friend said originally he would use her as the student he qualified with, win/win, but has since decided to stay in his current job. I didn’t know there was legal requirements before she gets on the road. She’s 17 at the beginning of June but ideally I want her driving by September so Idon’t have to pay for her college bus pass she can enjoy her father’s generous gift!

Her dad will pay for her insurance on her car, provisional will be down to me

You can help her now by helping her study for her theory (she can take and pass theory test when she hits 17 then has two year I remember to pass her driving test which makes it much easier to learn to drive as she's focused on one thing)

Once she turns 17 depending on how or if she's insured on yours or her car you can get her used to clutch controls as once she's cracked that she can focus on confidence and driving.

I'm afraid £250 isn't going to be enough.
There is provisional licence to buy, then theory test, then actual test before you start counting lessons.
If you wish to teach her yourself which I wouldnt in a month of Sundays then you will have additional costs to put her on your insurance.

One thing that will help is pointing out things as you drive now - road signs, lane discipline, why you slow down here, how you are looking ahead, doing a commentry on what you are doing and why, getting them to notice potential hazards, getting used to doing things like check the water / oil / air / fill up the tank / etc., pointing out unusual junctions, odd rules at islands etc etc.

My DD has done some of the free online Theory Tests to give her some ideas about what they'll ask .

The "Young Driver" lessons (you can look online for your nearest ones) are ££ but very small groups of cars in a carpark usually shopping centre , they hire one for their use .
There's about 5-6 cars on the circuits . I said to DD this was her time to concentrate on the clutch control, steering , stalling without panic or other drivers. So when she does drive it'll be one less thing to worry about .

My DD is desperate to drive (and already eyeing up cars )

It sounds like you should make sure you are added as a named driver on her car insurance when it is arranged. Personally I think it is the amount of practice that is key, and that's where your help can really work. I'm not otherwise qualified to give advice on this as I learned to drive in another country (my UK born mother was really surprised when my sister and I looked at her in puzzlement when she asked us about emergency stops); also, my eldest is just a few months younger than (and thus a school year below) yours and also making noises about learning ... I think I'll tell her to go ahead and prepare for the theory test once her GCSEs are done!