Driving instructor Is he trying to get as much as he can from me?

[Lushybunny]

Okay I passed my theory test already earlier this month. I started my driving lessons the first week of this month it was a 2hr lesson he made me pay the £240 for 10hours of automatic driving lessons and ever since everyweek I’ve done 2hour lessons so next week I’m coming up for my first 10hours of driving lessons next week and Im going to have to pay him another £240.I am expecting my third baby in April and would love to be driving before the baby arrives.

So last lesson I asked him ‘ when do you think I’ll be able to attempt and go for a test’ he just said ‘you’ll know when your ready’ fair enough. Then I said ‘I’m hoping to be driving by January’ he then ignored me. By January’s February times that will be over 40hours of driving which is what the driving testing centres in uk advise.
I then said to him ‘I am due on April so I really need to be driving by then’ he then turned around and said ‘oh great I’ve got until April to teach you how to drive properly’

... from 1st October till April 2hour lessons every week of an automatic that I’ve never heard before. He then said ‘you will take my car I will charge you £70 something for you to do your test in so it’s a car your familiar with’ so not only am I paying him £240 for 10hours for sometime I have to pay £62 for the rest alone THEN I have to pay for the car over £70 to use it ! And he is seeming like he wants me to do my lessons longer that is probably needed!

Please get back to me on this one guys cause this is boggling my brain.

I don't think my instructor ever had to explain to me that pressing the brake harder would slow the car down faster.
Also, we chat about the children, the city, anything and everything. I even have had the radio on during some lessons as it relaxes me. Not unusual.

Your instructor is fine. You sound like you have very high expectations of yourself and aren't hitting them as quickly as you would like. Change your instructor as there is obviously a clash but this sounds completely normal so you may not find what you are looking for.

Thankyou for the ideas on the YouTube I defiantly will start watching allot of videos I’m sure they will help for me next lesson

I will need as much hours or lessons to take me to pass I will not pass if I do not know how to drive I will be making sure I’m confident and ready to drive as I will be have my three children in the car too.

I passed first time after 2 months of 4hrs per week.

Apacketofcrisps

Wow I hope I don’t live near you if you don’t know how to stop or go round a roundabout. Not knowing there are lanes means you DONT KNOW HOW TO USE A ROUNDABOUT!!

This comment ? What is this supposed to mean ‘I hope I don’t live near you’

Was this comment really necessary ? 😂

I did an intensive and passed first time, 35 hrs of driving over 6 days with the test on the last day. I'm glad I did it but wouldn't recommend intensives overall. I had to do it that way as I couldn't fit weekly lessons in - I took a week off work to do this. I did not like my instructor at all but just had to get on with it.

I would change instructor if I were you. He sounds completely normal to be honest but if you don't like him just find another. The 'talking about other things' is also completely normal. My examiner chatted loads during my test - I don't know if he was just very friendly or whether it was part of the test. You do need to be able to concentrate on the road and be in control of the vehicle with multiple distractions in real life so it's good practice.

Once I'd passed it took me a long time to build confidence and time on the road was invaluable - I can definitely see how doing it over a longer period of time and watching the road with a drivers mindset while being a passenger would have helped speed up my confidence. 10 hours spread over 5 weeks isn't a lot and you do sound like you're still grasping the basics of driving, both the car itself and road sense. Find another instructor and take your time. Watch the road and what drivers are doing anytime you can - as a passenger and out walking etc - it will really help you understand how it all works.

Lush learning to drive should be fun, my instructor used to tell dirty jokes.

Sorry but if he didn't notice after 10 hours you were not braking properly he is very much at fault. That is basic first lesson driving...

Forget this lot and change to someone else, your instincts are telling you that your teacher is not the one for you. In a car with someone you like time flies by and your confidence will rise, as to do some quiet driving areas...
Good luck..

If your parents and partner don’t drive then I can see how you might be lacking in the basic foundations. This might mean you will take a little longer than you want.

It will click when it clicks. I learnt from independent instructors first, but never really got on well. Eventually I learnt with BSM and it was fantastic. They follow a proper lesson plan and sign off when you’re competent at each skill.

The independent ones used to just let me drive around and ask ‘have we done x manoeuvre yet’? Not saying yours is doing this, but you do need to find the right fit.

Wow some really nasty comments on here, op has just started to learn fgs. I see those that passed their text and supposed to be competent not know how to use their indicators, lanes and roundabouts so your alright op😀😀😀

Wow I hope I don’t live near you if you don’t know how to stop or go round a roundabout. Not knowing there are lanes means you DONT KNOW HOW TO USE A ROUNDABOUT!!

Which is why she is taking lessons, surely? Nobody is born with that information. Everybody needs to learn how to drive, nobody knows how before they start.

I do obviously know how to use a round about I just didn’t know there where lanes?

A roundabout is lanes. You can't say you didn't know there were lanes and also say you know how to use a roundabout but as you are clearly not taking any notice of anyone on this thread except the very few who are saying what you want to hear then I don't expect you to grasp this.

It has been pointed out again and again by those who know (because they have been there and done it) that your instructor sounds quite normal. However if the people around you don't drive you are at an automatic disadvantage and will no doubt need extra lessons - not your fault but also it doesn't mean your instructor is ripping you off.

The fact you don't have a practice car to use out of lessons is another hurdle for you as that practice is invaluable. You have got it harder than other people and furthermore it seems you are not one of those who is a natural behind the wheel (not meant as a criticism). All of this means you need to look at this as a long term project, as hard as that is to face.

In any case, no matter how well or how badly the lessons are going, if you don't feel comfortable and at ease with your instructor then change to a new one. It doesn't matter why you change but there's no point continuing with an instructor who doesn't make you feel confident.

I know you want to hear that your instructor is no good and that if you find another you'll be driving like Ayrton Senna within a few weeks but it just doesn't work like that.

Lush has said he shouted at her, and didn't realise she was not breaking properly.... How is this acceptable in some your paying to teach you a skill.

But he did realise she wasn't braking properly - that's how she found out, no? It seems to me he didn't realise why, such as thinking she was nervous about putting her foot harder on the brake rather than not understanding how the pedal worked. You have to admit it's very unusual that someone wouldn't understand that - I would say that being tentative due to nerves is a far more likely explanation.

I'd say if you need 40 hours to learn an automatic - you might want to stay off the roads for everyone's sake.

See I'd say exactly the opposite. I'd say someone who's had 40hrs tuition is going to be more of a confident driver who can deal with unexpected situations better than someone who's had 10 hours of lessons.

I learned in a manual then bought an auto so did all my practicing in an auto. I didn't actually find the physical driving of the car the hard bit, I was steering and positioning correctly on my first 2hr lesson... it's all the other bits I struggled with. Noticing the signs of the road, having confidence to switch lanes, to get up to 70mph, to merge on a dual carriageway etc. All of this didn't come to me within the first 10 or even 20 hours.

Don't most people say you really only start learning to drive once you've passed your test?

I agree Thinking, some very dubious remarks on here. My SIL passed her driving test in an automatic, and she had ahead of lessons. She is really good driver actually. I am learning to drive an auto, and taking my time, I have had over 40 hours of lessons, I have no car to practise on in between so it's taking longer. Pluss my lessons aren't regular as my instructor has taken on the driving school owners students as she is really ill. But I like my instructor he is really good.

She had a year of lessons, dih

Most people know the harder you press a brake the quicker it stops. Same a bike. So he probably doesn't have to tell most people

You would think that it was common sense

This ^
I suspect he didn't tell you, as that really isn't something you have to tell the vast majority of people - it is just obvious Even if you've never ridden a bike it is basic common sense - like if you are pushing a door shut, the harder you push it the quicker it shuts.

I've just asked my dd some of the things you didn't know.. She is learning to drive and has just had her 3rd (2hour - so equivalent of 6) lesson a couple of days ago.
She knew about the brake.... it is just common sense, no-one told her.
She knew about the lanes on traffic islands / roundabouts. Again, no-one has told her, and she hasn't actually started looking at the theory yet, it's just from having looked around her as she has been in other people's cars / on buses , and indeed walking / waiting to cross roads.

Clearly, if these are things you feel your instructor needs to actually teach you, then it is going to take a lot longer than average to pass your test. You are starting from a LOT further behind than where most people are when they start lessons.

In terms of details - most people will have their instructors have to put their hand on the wheel to guide the car back into a safe place at some point when they start driving - you are learning, and won't 'get that' straight away.

• Nobody learns how to do an 'emergency stop' in their first couple of lessons. That is why instructors have dual controls, so they can do it if it were ever needed.
• Most instructors will chat away during a lesson. They can't be "nagging" you the whole time, that isn't going to help.

I really, really struggle to believe you have passed your theory if you haven't understood something so basic as lane discipline at a roundabout - which is something most people will know from crossing roads as a pedestrian, let alone being a passenger.

@Aquamarine1029, I got A*s in every exam as a child, I don’t go ‘how can anyone do months and months of exam prep and still fail?’ Because I know everyone’s abilities and aptitudes are different.

I struggled to learn to drive and took years as it isn’t my area of aptitude.

Is that so difficult to understand, so perplexing?

Wow Backforgood, way to go to make op feel so much better about herself, your dd and op are different people, maybe she will need more lessons with a more patient driver who will walk her through everything.

I’ve been watching the YouTube videos and feel when I get in the car I’ll be much more confident Thankyou everyone for the support

Also I did say I wouldn’t be answering anymore responses on other things apart from the instructor

I wouldnt lie and say I passed my theory test if I hadn’t :)

Also I’m not a very good speller to the ones keep point out my spelling mistakes but you can clearly read what I’m saying

I know everyone’s different and if it is going to take me longer to learn how to drive then it will

I will not be driving a car on my own with a full license with my three young children in the car if I don’t know how to drive because the examiner wouldn’t pass me if I don’t know how to drive :) :)

I also said in my first post ‘I am hoping’
Doesn’t mean I will be driving by January latest April becAuse if I do not know how to drive they will not pass me :)

aeroflot the OP started the thread, to check if her instructor was ripping her off. Several people have then said "I learned to drive in 10 lessons - find another instructor". OP has then complained that the instructor didn't do X or Y - it seems only fair to defend this instructor. Of course we all learn things at different rates. If the OP is starting from such a lack of understanding, then it is bound to take longer. It isn't the instructor ripping her off though (from what she says).

I changed instructors 3 times but took very few lessons overall before passing my test. The first instructor put his hand in my knee when I was changing gear so I chucked him. The second had a large car with a heavy clutch so I got rid after 2 lessons. The third instructor was great and I passed first time. I think if you don't feel you're learning at a decent rate, try out another instructor.
It's your money, so your choice.

It does not sound like she gels with the instructor, so she should find one that she does, it will be much easier.

You really haven’t had many lessons. It may feel like it but you really don’t learn to drive till you’ve passed. Roundabouts have 2 lanes. Left or straight across - outside lane, turning right - hug the inner lane nearest the roundabout. The most useful tip I was given for roundabouts was waiting till someone takes your exit to go. You’ll get there. I took 8 years to pass! Good luck.