How many driving lessons did you need without private practice?

[prestigiouspasta]

How many lessons did it take you to learn to drive, if you couldn't practice in between?

I'm saving up to learn to drive, but I don't really know how much I'll need. I don't have anyone I can practice with in between lessons.

I cycle regularly so am comfortable with road signs etc, but have never even sat in a driver's seat before. I am considering learning automatic, but not set on it.

I had 17 lessons (so 17 hours total) and no other practice (was too expensive to insure me on the family car etc) and passed first time. This was manual.

I think i had about 40 lessons, most of which were 2 hours. It took 20 mins to drive to the area where the test routes are, so if the test routes are more local your lessons might be shorter.

I learned as an adult and it took 14 months (with breaks for holidays and my instructor also had to have an operation and couldn't operate a car for a month)

I passed last October.

Also I should have said I learned automatic.

By the time I took my test I was a really confident driver. I said to my instructor that I wanted to be a good driver, not just pass my test and she definitely delivered.

As an adult I don't see the value in getting a manual licence if I'm honest. Unless there's a manual car your spouse owns or your heart is set on a certain manual car.

It's really difficult to know, poor DS at age 17 had about 70 hours which were mostly double as test place was 10 miles away and 3 tests but got there in the end but my nephew age 17 only needed less than 20.

Myself many years ago(50), about 20 lessons and drove our car all the while on L plates but it was very different then.

20 hrs of lessons plus lots of practice. Both Dc has passed in the last couple of years and they had the same.

But were you an unusually competent/confident learner? And had you been behind the wheel much before starting the intensive course, @pokewomans?

I had 8 hours and passed first time, but just by the skin of my teeth with 14 minors 🤦🏻‍♀️

DS more recently had 24 hours including the 2 for his test but he did drive my car outside of the lessons.

I walk my dog with a driving instructor and he says the average is about 34 hours.

16 or 18 lessons. A long time ago! My younger brother took me out once for half an hour to practice reversing round a corner, but that was it. It depends on the person. I thought learning to drive wasn’t for me after a few lessons, but then something clicked and I started to really look forward to the lessons. Enjoying the lessons gave me confidence which really made a difference. I remember a colleague at work saying that my lessons would improve when I started to feel like I was driving the car, rather than it driving me😆 He was right. The very best of luck.

I was deeply envious of my friends whose parents could take them out, when my parents were abroad and unable to help. DF (1926 vintage, based in NI) had obtained his licence by sending a postal order for 5s to the licencing authorities and so had no appetite for paying for lessons. I was still a student …

It was the early eighties very very DM gave me her running away fund, which got me twelve lessons, running up to the Christmas hols which I then spent with them abroad.

I had been in tears after the first lesson however we were encouraged to apply for the (plentiful) tests in those days to ‘gain experience’. Arriving back from the three week Christmas hols I found a test appointment for a few days ahead. Driving instructor was on holiday in Spain but found me someone else with the same car in which I had learned. I didn’t even know enough to realise how important that was.

Off I set for the test, initially took the examiner to the wrong car, which I couldn’t get unlocked because wrong car. He was glad when I confessed as he had clocked no L plates.

I stalled the engine before I had even navigated out of the car park and think at that point I relaxed knowing I’d failed. Stalled it a few more times too and spend the second half of the test desperately searching for the light switch which I had never used having had only morning lessons.

Had to ask him to repeat himself when at the end he said i had passed.

That was a very long explanation of the role nerves play in especially in the first test. I wish I had a way to help everyone else relax when they first set off…..

Well done for passing despite the nerves!

I admit I can also be a bit jealous of people who had support to learn as teenagers. I only know one other person who learnt as an adult, and her husband taught her.

That said, I was a fairly immature 17 year old, it's probably good for public safety that I wasn't behind the wheel back then

I had 15 lessons plus a couple of hours in a driving simulator for driving in risk situations. Passed on my second try (first test was after 10 lessons so I bought another 5 and tried again). This was when I was 37.

I had a lesson once a week with no practice in between . I can't remember how long it took me. They say to bank on a lesson for every year of your age. I was 36 when I passed.

Im currently learning (again) at 38. My test is booked for November. Ive previously had at least 40 hours of lessons but that was a few years back.
I'm now back at it. Found a lovely instructor and am trying to get at least 2 90minutes lessons a week.
For me, I could go out with my husband, I am insured on the car but I think ot would set my confidence back a bit. Hes not the most patient, I'd rather just go out with an instructor.

Where I live, there is a minimum compulsory of 25 hours of practice. You cannot practice in someone else's car- it is illegal to drive without a license. So all the practice you do is in the instructor 's car during lessons. I took 60 lessons/hours - I started from below zero though. I passed first time in a manual. I'm driving an automatic now and am so much happier; I should have gone with the automatic in the first place.

22. Thirty odd years ago. Manual.

around 90!
I was shit
but I did pass first time
that was 33 years years ago

Same for me. I think it was 44 hours of lessons. Can't imagine I've remembered that number for over 30 years for no reason! My instructor thought I was ready sooner than I booked my first test. I passed second time. You used to be able to get a reduction for a block booking of lessons, don't know if you still can?

I had 17 with no private practice as I got my licence in a country that doesnt allow private practice. I dont recall feeling I wasn't ready to drive.

I just checked the spreadsheet I had for ds! Ten months, 53 hours, just over £2000 - he had about five hours private practice in the week before the test. (He passed).

I think I had about 16 hours worth of lessons over 4 months and very little practice in between. My mum couldn’t put up with my swearing when I stalled the car 😂 I passed first time.

So much variety! I think I will just have to go for it and hope I can afford to keep going until I pass.

DD has had 6 hours of lessons and today went out with DH for the first time in her own car.
She does need more tuition to pass her test, but shes got the basics - stop and go, and she's ok according to DH.
He can teach her to drive but he can't teach her to pass her test - we both leant over 30 years ago and its all different now. I doubt I'd pass a test at today's standards....

But she'll be fine, DH will consolidate her actual driving lessons and give her miles of experience.

Instructor here.

DVSA official average figure is 45 if you have additional private practice, more if not.

I find the lowest to be around 20, and it’ll be the people who are absolutely committed petrol heads. The longest are those with anxiety or additional needs, or a mix.

12 one hour lessons.

Many years ago when I passed my driving test, I believe the instructor said the average person needs around double the amount of lessons of their age. So at 17 years old it would be around 34 lessons.

I think I had 36 or 38 lessons if I remember correctly as I had a couple of 'double' lessons before my driving test.

I know a few of my friends did 'intensive courses' over a couple of weeks. I had 1 lesson each week.

How much does a driving lesson cost nowadays?