To feel scammed by driving instructor?

[AmusedLemonFatball]

Dd17 (18 this month) has been having lessons for nearly a year,

her instructor only does 1 hour lessons and for the first 2 months all she did was 2nd gear around the town.

Shes a confident and fab driver, but today she failed her 3rd test.

Because she has never been to the test centre town which is 20 min drive away. She got a spiral round about which she’s never done and road signs which he never taught her.

it wasn’t until today I realised how little road stuff he’s taught her. The first test she got a minor because he hasn’t shown her how to turn her lights on “because they are automatic”. Her last two tests were small fails, first for taking a corner too wide and second for junctions. Neither a Dangeous.

but I’m really annoyed for her, and myself. It’s cost us a lot of money.

iv managed to book in a 2 hour lesson with another instructor to find out what foundations she’s missing so we can see how many extra lessons she needs and hopefully she will be ready next month.

im so upset for her and feel guilty for not realising sooner, the amount of times she would come home 15 mins before her lessons finished 😩.

Your daughter needs to take responsibility for her own learning. All the 'show me, tell me' questions are available to revise and prepare for on the DVSA website. The same apples for road signs and markings.

Well the bad ones always do this.. it took me a year of lessons and got nowhere, I got new instructor and passed in 6 weeks .. need to be on it really

You do know that you can do research and revise things (like you would for a theory test). Why hasn’t your DD looked up road signs herself if she knows she needs to know them and hasn’t?

It's not clear what the issue is - you say the first two tests she only had minor issues but she didn't pass, so there must be more that she failed on?

A year of lessons!!!!! What were you both thinking.

We had discussion with sons instructor after first lesson that they thought 5 lessons were appropriate. Dc wanted to do a few more to be absolutely sure.

It’s a shame and it does sound as if he’s been walking her a little bit short but moving forwards, do you feel condenser to take her out, or perhaps someone else you trust?

You've been paying for lessons for a year 😮

How many day long intensive courses would you have had for the money?

Has she been practicing as well as having lessons, that's really key imo especially if she's never driven the test route

Btw, I had loads of lessons and passed second time but didn’t properly learn until I got my license, as they say. Took me ages and I know loads of people like that, so she’s definitely not alone.

5 lessons is extraordinarily low. The average is around 45-50 hours of lessons, plus additional private practice.

Your son sounds very advanced, he must have been reading at 9months? Walking at 6months?

In Ireland you are required to have a minimum of 12 hours of lessons with a qualified instructor before you can sit your test.

Sorry but the 'show me, tell me' questions are all online and she wouldn't have failed with just the 1 minor. I don't think she's being truthful with you. I was expected to learn the questions myself and did that online. Also I'd recommend YouTube as its really good for these questions and it has great 'mock' driving tests and lessons. They really are helpful. I know a few people who learnt more online than with the instructor. I know someone who didn't even have any driving lessons. I passed with 8 minors and I stalled in my test, as long as you can drive safely you'll pass. As a parent do you really want her driving if she's not ready?
I've edited to say the road signs are all on her. Surely she can remember these from her theory? My instructor expected me to already know these.

5 lessons is ridiculous and nowhere near enough to get experience.

How did she fail her test if she only had one minor?

You paid for an hour and he returned her 15 early?
So was scamming you for 25% of the lesson and you let it go?
Report him.
But you have been very silly to allow that to happen.

Teach her yourself. I did that with my DD and she passed first time... We revised the show me tell me things as she drove us to the test center, we just made sure she knew them and where the bits were on the car. They were online... After a year you've been robbed.

You are both BU to not be more proactive! I’m teaching my DD at the moment and she has spent time researching everything there is to know about passing.

Is your daughter practicing as well as taking lessons?

Er no actually has additional needs.

You missed the point totally that I was making - his driving instructor gave him a timeline of amount of lessons he thought appropriate, like any decent instructor should.

Experience comes from practice not lessons, 5 is fine if the learner is doing lots of road hours as well

The PP who said 40 is vastly more ridiculous imo

I think (as an ADI) you are getting something of a hard time OP. Ok, the 15 mins early finish on a regular basis should have raised some questions, but in terms of covering what is needed, it isn't unreasonable to expect a professional to cover everything that is required. I normally teach 2 hour lessons and when someone wants 1 hour (for cost reasons usually) I tell them that towards the end we will have to do 2 hours (even if once a fortnight to reduce cost) as it is a 20-30 min drive to get into the test areas for most of my pupils.

I don't suppose half of the respondents are downloading the a-level chemistry syllabus and checking it against what their children have been taught to make sure it has all be done properly...

I'd disagree with the assessment of small fails - essentially (almost) everything that is marked as a serious or dangerous is a fault that is creating excessive risk (potential or actual). For a corner taken too wide to get a serious, for example, it has to either be very wide or with extremely limited visibility or actually come close to another vehicle.

The best way to understand a driving test report though is to look at total faults. If the total faults have been consistently low (<= 5 total faults ideally) then the overall standard of driving is actually pretty decent.

“The first test she got a minor because he hasn’t shown her how to turn her lights on “because they are automatic”. Her last two tests were small fails, first for taking a corner too wide and second for junctions. Neither a Dangeous.“

I’m sorry but these wouldn’t make you fail. Failing a show me tell me is only a minor. You can have 15. What does her actual test feedback say?

For reference, I'm currently doing lessons. Got my license back (medical license!) on Jan 3rd, passed theory Jan 12th, first lesson Jan 16th, test booked for end of this month. I’ve done 11.5 hours (7 lessons) in the past 2.5 weeks. I’m confident enough to do the school run in my husband’s big car and drive for around 2 hours. I’ve a mock test on Friday. A whole year just seem obscene! Especially the money it costs!! I’d look at intensive courses, to really get the hang of it all! Good luck to your daughter.