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 😩.

Not taking her to the test centre town is a huge red flag imo.

There are some dodgy driving instructors out there!

I had one who would try to save on the amount of petrol used in the lesson. He did this by stopping the driving for about 10 minutes and bringing out a list that he had printed out. He would slowly discuss each point on the list which had been practised that day. I didn't need to discuss - I needed driving practice! In the end, someone else made a complaint about him doing this and he did stop.

Also, personality does come into it. I eventually passed my test because I had found an instructor who was very patient, explained things well and was super calm. He didn't make me feel like an idiot when I made mistakes.

Shop around when it comes to instructors. Don't stick with one because of misplaced loyalty or embarrassment. If they are rubbish, dump and try another!

My son's driving instructor did all the test routes at least twice. Those were his lessons, like practising past exam papers. DS had a bad instructor before that, who said he was 'almost ready'. Luckily he moved away! It still took a lot of money and the new instructor - who said DS was nowhere near ready - but he passed first time.

Hi OP, you can’t fail a driving test on just ‘a few small minors’. You can have up to 15 minors and still pass as long as there’s no major or dangerous faults. Road signs are also the responsibility of the driver and should be something she revised for ahead of her theory test.

Having said that, if her instructor let her go for her test without giving her chance to properly rehearse all the known test routes, I’d say that was pretty bad form.

It took me 4 attempts to pass my test (many years ago) but looking back now, I can see that on my first 2 tests, I just wasn’t ready. My instructor spent more time telling me about his family problems than he did teaching me to drive. On my 3rd attempt (when I was actually ready…thanks to a different instructor), I let nerves get the better of me and I got a major for pulling out a junction in front of another car. But 4th time, I was both ready AND calm and I passed with 3 minors.

I think passing the test is a mixture of having a good instructor and lots and lots of practice time. In between lessons I went out frequently with a family member and built up my skills and confidence that way.

I did the same.

Did you not take her out?

Pretty much everyone agrees OP and her daughter are being silly, and lazy, respectively. She probably won't be back.

I really wish people would stop saying things are a scam or they have been scammed
You can get shit service, over charged etc without it being a scam
For whatever reason OP this Instructor is not working for your DD so you need to find another, remember that passing/not passing the driving test does not in itself make you a good or not good driver but 3 fails defintiely suggests something is going on

Um why. He had lots of practise out driving with his parents and grandparents

I passed the practical first time after 8 lessons. What helped was the fact that I didn't lass my theory until the second time.

After missing the first time pass of theory I literally treated the whole learner journey as if it was an exam. Revised online. Watched countless YouTube videos on how cars work, how to remember manoeuvres etc. About 90 minutes a night between lessons.

Your DD should have (or ask for) a checklist / diary as to what has been done each lesson and how it went. This way she can have her own guidance as to where she needs to improve, helping with the online revision. Good luck!

She needs a new instructor. To not have been made familiar with the test route & returning home 15 minutes early from lessons alone is enough to sack him off. I obviously can’t comment on his teaching as you’ve said she only failed on minors before so he’s got to have taught her something

This happed to me, 1 year of lessons, he was coming up to retirement, I changed to someone new as I felt wasn't learning anything new, new one put me in for my test within 5 weeks I past first time, I still think the first instructor was just keeping me on till he retired.

One hour lessons are silly. The instructor’s pass rate must be be low

surely it makes better business sense to offer two hour slots

I honestly think driving instructors are providing really bad service these days. My apparent test ready son couldn’t turn my car around properly we insured my car for extra practice week before test and the basic things he didn’t know how to do were staggering. I was scared for my car and drove us home after the practice but told him to move test as was a waste of money. He failed 6 months later. I feel they are ripping them off with supposedly booked up tests too but if you pay more money there’s one apparently available! They are all being exploited in my belief. He’s still Waiting for intensive course date at moments god knows how much that was.

This might shock you but......hardly anyone only needs 5 driving lessons🙄

Chalk it up to experience and find a new instructor. Get her to ask friends (those who have already passed, preferably) for a recommendation.

We had a similar experience with DS's first instructor. We tried to plug the gaps ourselves with lots of practice on test routes, but the best solution is a new instructor.

I think they should do teats on unfamiliar roads! You should have the skills to drive anywhere to be a competent driver!

There are good driving instructors out there and the test situation is a nightmare for decent instructors. They are not all ripping pupils off and they are not all buying up tests and selling them for extortionate rates. Sorry you have had a bad experience but there are some good ones out there, it might be best to ask around and go with word of mouth

Examiners don’t fail people unless they aren’t safe to be on the road.

She shouldn't need to be taught road signs by the driving instructor, she should have covered them in when she was studying the highway code before she took her theory test.

My dd had 12 lessons (minimum allowed here before test) and when I brought her out I thought she was a bit rubbish, it was just lack of experience though, we go out together most days and she is now very competent and confident and planning to book her test soon. It really is practise thats important, is there no one she can go driving with?

Nearly 30 years ago now, my first instructor was a retired driving instructor DF knew from his local pub. One year later, instructor ghosted me three times and changed his local. I didn’t get near a test.

I do have some stuff that makes driving challenging but when I went to a proper driving school 10 years later I realised what I had been missing. I passed my test first time a few months later. Instructor also took me on the motorway, taught me to drive in snow and how to fill up the tank, water and oil. She even got me to bring friends along in the back seat to get used to driving with (chatty) passengers.

Those looking now: There are huge quality differences. Read the reviews.

Way back when I was learning to drive I had moved to a town 60 miles away so did not know the area. I would also be taking my test in a neighbouring town. I tried one of the big driving schools at the time but later had a friend recommend an instructor. He insisted on 2 hour lessons so we could drive to the neighbouring town and drive around all of the test routes. When I failed first time he told me off, told me to book straight in, there was no reason why I should fail. I passed the following month.

No worthy instructor lets a student book a driving test without making the possible route for the exam. I only ever did a few lessons and they were test preparation .

Ok so there are a few things to unpack
here.
Firstly, is her instructor an ADI or a PDI? If you are not sure look at the badge in their window. Green is ADI (fully qualified) Pink is PDI (In training to qualify). If they are being paid for tuition the badge MUST be on display.
The UK average for lessons before test is 45-60 hours plus private tuition.

The 2 failures would have been serious faults that means potentially dangerous.
Her instructor wouldn’t take her to test if he didn’t feel she was ready because instructors have triggers marks and if they hit 3 of those they would get called for a standards check so it really isnt in his best interest to take her to test if she isn’t ready. Of course he can take his badge out of the window when she is on test and then her faults aren’t recorded against his ADI number. Not good practice but it does happen.
Road signs and the like are part of the theory test. She should know them. That is not his job to teach her. The “show me, tell me” questions are on the government website and that is down to her to learn. However, the instructor should have gone through the show me questions which are relevant to his particular car.
You say shes a confident and fab driver - has she had private practice with you or have you sat in on lessons?
Sitting in on lessons is always a good way of getting up to speed with how they are progressing.
It does seem very strange that she has never driven in the town where the test centre is.

And just to clarify yes I am an ADI.