Why does this happen with Driving Instructors and are they allowed to do this?

[kmo0416]

Why do some driving instructors say that they cannot or will not allow their student to go and do their driving test that they have booked, or more properly that they will not allow them to use the driving instructor's car? This usually happens when the instructor feels that their student is 'not ready for the test yet' but if they felt they were ready then they would have had no issue allowing the student to use their car for the purpose of the test.

It's strange because why would the driving instructor care? It's not like it is their money being wasted if the student fails and it is not like the test centre/driving examiner lose out as they still get paid. It also does not impact anyone else as such a student would have booked a test fairly.

I asked my driving instructor this because she has been suggesting that I reschedule my test and have seen this happen on social media and she vaguely said something like, 'If a student fails their test then the test centre would start asking or wondering why the driving instructor has let them go for the test'. But, again what business is it of the instructor or test centre?

I also read somewhere that it may negatively impact the reputation of the driving instructor's firm if a student failed as it would harm their pass rates, but doesn't that already happen with students who are encouraged to take their test as their instructor feels as though they are ready to do so but then end up failing?

Why would you want to do a test if the driving instructor said you weren't ready . They are not preventing you from doing it they are just not giving you their car. Is it a dual control car ?maybe they are worried it will be damaged during the test if they are not with the student as they are unsafe to take the test.

Let me google that for you.

According to my daughters driving instructor it’s because if they put in multiple people who obviously are not ready they get banned from the test centre for a few weeks . Plus it’s bad for their reputation

Of course they are allowed to do this, you’re not entitled to use of their vehicle.

I don’t understand what it is that you don’t understand about this. You pay a driving instructor to teach you, they are the professional, they really decide when you are “test ready”. If you feel you are ready before that then you can book your test early but your instructor doesn’t have to then agree & facilitate you using their vehicle of they don’t agree.

And, it does impact their reputation & stats. Yes some people do still fail when their instructor believed they were test ready, but far more will fail if YOU, the learner, gets to decide if you’re “ready” without the actual professionals approval.

It's because the DVSA can recall us for standards checks if our pass rates (and various other stats drop too low).

Plus professionalism. I don't want a student I don't regard as fully ready for the road fluking a test pass and being a bigger danger than they already would be as a fully competent but highly inexperienced driver.

Edited: At present it is certainly nothing to do with maximising income. I could easily fill my diary twice over and so could every other instructor I know.

I think as a learner you do have to trust in your instructor’s judgement and really can’t expect to use their car if they don’t think you are ready.

I used to be a driving instructor. A problem I had all the time was people I didn't know ringing up and saying "I've got a test booked for tomorrow, can I use your car?". I refused to allow these without a lesson or two first.

It is very much about reputation. Schools which claim to have a "high pass rate" are usually those who will indeed forbid a pupil from using their car if they are not test ready. The national average for a first-time pass is about 43% (or it was in my day): some schools claim to have a first-time pass rate of 75%.

@tinyspiny I'm not sure if that's true about instructors being banned from a test centre: maybe in extreme cases, but I never heard that when I was an instructor, and I'd be amazed if it's true. Unless the system has radically changed, booking a test is done in the pupil's name, not the instructor's. The examiner notes the instructor's number from the certificate displayed in the window, so their stats are noted. The instructor can remove the certificate for the test, though. If an instructor kept presenting failing pupils, what DVSA would probably do is send the instructor for a "check test": a routine test which instructors have to take every few years, where they give a lesson, with a senior examiner sitting in.

It's frustrating for all sides because it is so difficult to get tests, which is one reason why so many people take the test when they're not ready.

Why would you want to do your test before you are ready? You've hired your driving instructor presumably because you trust their professional judgement and if they think you're not ready yet why wouldn't you trust that judgement?

Once you've passed your test you'll be in control of a vehicle weighing a tonne or more (that's assuming a small car) on public roads on your own, possibly with vulnerable passengers eg small children and with a responsibility towards safety of other road users. Wouldn't you want to be as safe as you possibly can be whilst doing that?

@Lonelylonelylonely It happens more than you think, people who take their test when they’re nowhere near ready, and whether they’re safe or not is the least of their concerns. I instructed in a rough area, and I often heard things like “I just want to be able to take the kids to school”, when I insisted that they had to learn out of town fast roads. I also had quite a few people who had driven illegally for years, then got caught, and decided to do it legally; I had to teach them the right way to drive, which took time, while they moaned about the cost of lessons. And yes, the costs of running a car a higher.

@scalt I can imagine.

Of course if cost of lessons is too much nobody has to pay a professional, they could get a friend or family member to teach them to drive in their own car. Not sure I'd recommend it though looking at the standard of some driving on the roads.

Disclaimer - whilst I'm not a car instructor, I do train people for their advanced motorbike test and feel very strongly about standards and safety on the road.

DS has just been told that he may not be able to use his instructor's car for the reasons above mentioned. DS has had loads of lessons now. Since last July. Roughly one a week. 53 lessons in total (1hr per lesson). Test coming up soon. He has had several hours of private practice too since March.

Driving instructor said he was ready and then just recently said he isn't sure! Make up your mind with pupils.

Yes I agree they shouldn't get the use of the car if not test ready. But one lesson DS was told yes you can use my car for the test that is very soon....then he said not sure now😖

That's wrong - be consistent. Either they are ready or not!

I presume there must be publicised first time pass rates for the driving school, as a marketing thing. If the instructor is supporting people who they know aren't ready then it brings their stats down. It makes it look like their less good at teaching it.

Why not just wait until the instructor thinks you are likely to pass? As you say, otherwise it is just a waste of time for everyone. And it blocks out slots for people who are more than ready but consequently can't get a test because someone Ill prepared is insisting on doing it prematurely.