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 😩.

I’m sure you can have upto 15 minors before you fail a test so something doesn’t seem right. To fail you either need to exceed the minor limit or get a serious/dangerous fault.

He’s fluent in ten languages, accepted into Oxford at 10 and a black belt in bullshit.

Change the instructor?

As an ex driving instructor I have heard all sorts of stories. Suspect your DD is not giving you the full story here. Simple solution....change instructor!

Road signs are the learner’s responsibility to learn.

I don’t think learners are allowed to drive on the motorway.

That doesn’t ring true for me either!

I did my second set of lessons and subsequent test in Germany, where they definitely are. There’s a prescribed amount of time the instructor has to take you on the motorway (may only be an hour or two, I can’t remember now) and some instructors will fit in more. You also have to have a lesson driving in the dark.

One driving school I considered used to pile the learners into all the driving school cars on a Saturday every 6 weeks or so and they’d go on an epic trip with them all taking turns to get their motorway hours in.

When I had lessons, I did 2 hour ones and I think that helped me pass far quicker because you go over everything hard every lesson.

She’s obv not a confident and fab driver or she wouldn’t t have failed 3 times

she needs to learn all Road signs

spiral roundabouts - follow the signs on the road

she can’t blame her instructor for her lack of knowledge that she hasn’t revised

thats common sense and tbh she SHOULD know this is learning to drive

With the test situation as it is pupils are booking tests in towns not local to them and the instructor doesn't even know the test routes.

You might need to revisit your highway code. This changed several years back, pre-covid.

My dd was learning for over two years. We increased her lessons to two hours a wk in the last four months, because we wanted her to pass her test before going to uni. We kept asking if we should book her test but the bloody driving instructor would not give us a firm answer. Sacked the instructor, booked a test. My dd couldn't drive our cars, we couldn't get insurance for her. Booked a duel control car with Arnold Clarkes. It was £75.00 for two hours. The car is all livied up, with L plates etc. My dh took her for an hours drive before her test, then she used the car for her test. She passed, thank goodness, but if we weren't proactive she would be at uni, unable to drive. I felt the driving instructor dip rip us off....All dd's friends had passed their tests within a year of learning, but dd wanted a female instructor, so she sorted it out herself.

First silly to keep paying an instructor who repeatedly finished lessons early, second your daughter is to do a lot of revision also road signs etc, third those mocking the lad that only needed 5 lessons and passed well me and my siblings only did 2 and passed all first time and on theory test, but we did driving with parents. My now hubby I realised very quickly his first instructor kept trying to book 10 lessons at a time but I knew he didn't need so swapped instructors and he did 9 before passing

I’d ignore half the critical comments. Some driving instructors are genuinely rubbish and don’t train students at all. I had one when I was 17 who just let me drive to and from college every lesson and never taught manoeuvres. I wasn’t confident enough to speak up or didn’t know what I should be doing and just assumed I wasn’t good enough. In hindsight, he was rubbish! I don’t drive again for 15 years then passed first time.

In 1996 I passed (with only one minor fault) after 10 x 1 hour lessons.

What an odd comment.

@AmusedLemonFatball I think you should report the instructor to the DVSA as he's clearly not doing his job.

Our eldest 21 is on her 5th test when she books it, she has finally got a new instructor as we kept telling her failing one test maybe two with the same instructor but now 4 tests is bad. She keeps failing on silly things because of nerves. I don't know exactly but she has had another lessons with an instructor that said most of the stuff she had been taught was wrong as she won't pass because she isn't doing things to test standard. I mean what has he been teaching her. I hate that these instructors can get away with taking money and not teaching them right. Good luck to your daughter.

They are but only with an ADI

Ah ok, fair enough! I didn’t realise your lessons and test weren’t in the UK.

I did 4 lessons before my test. I booked a driving school in the town my test centre was located. All the road theory was my responsibility. I booked the car that I had done my lessons in to use during the test. My lessons were focused on doing the potential routes I'd have to do in the test.
I passed first time.
It was annoying having to get to the test centre town to do the lessons but it paid off.

I feel the same way but im 35 so no one else to take responsibility except myself.. failed twice now, 3rd one booked for july. My driving instructor didn't really teach me much if im honest and I feel like a mug for giving him nearly £1000 in lessons. My plan now is to book in with a 'driving school' around June time and do an intensive course. I use my own car though for lessons and tests.

A book doesn't give you experience of road layouts, different types of traffic lights set ups, feeder lanes etc. I've had a bad driving instructor like that before and it was hardly my fault that I was hitting unusual road layouts that I'd never seen before because he's always taken me on the same routes. She can't teach herself to drive and navigate these things! Common sense tells you that she needs to gain experience of driving in the town where she takes the test.

5 lessons! No wonder young drivers are over confident and under experienced and having if they are only being given a very tiny number of lessons! 5 hours is nothing!