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 😩.

That should be a last resort as not all parents make good driving instructors and the last thing she needs is a nervous passenger in the seat next to her

Not everybody has a parent suitable to accompany them, back when I was lrarnuto drive, my mum isn't a driver and my dad was a very nervous passenger and very very unsuitable to take me out. His nervousness when insisting on taking my mum out for extra lessons is why she doesn't drive now, he jammed the handbrake on in unnecessary panic and made the car skid.

Five hours is not a sign of a decent instructor! Does the additional needs not impact anything and make having plenty of lessons even more critical? Five hours is dangerous!

And you made yourself look like a ridiculous drip feeder by deliberately failing to mention this til now! Why provoke reaction by deliberately witholding important facts! It's a sad way to be!
But you still need to bare in mind that the parents and grandparents he's been out with may be full of bad driving habits! And driving test dates take many months to get so 5 hours just isn't going to happen is it because the instructor will need to be around until he gets his test and maybe another 6 months after that if he fails first time. Five hours just isn't possible under the current test system.

It is possible under the current system. My DD passed first time after 6 lessons in 2025. She did the test in her own car without an instructor present. She also did a LOT of driving practice with me and DH - you're right @FlyingCatGirl that this wouldn't have worked if DH and I were non drivers or nervous drivers.

But it's a 6 month wait and it just seems pointless having a driving instructor for just 5 hours and then going back to using family for the rest of the duration. The thing with instructors is that they'll drill all the intricacies into people that the examiners want to see like checking mirrors enough and checking rear view mirror on a new road etc. I've never reversed around a corner or parallel parked since I passed 19 years ago.

I personally think it’s on the student for the theory side. Consequently she failed on a minor because her dad has showed her how to open the bonnet but she forgot.

Most places do longer than one hour lessons for those saying their child had 5 or 6 lessons, my daughter had about 8/9 lessons but each was two hours long. Plus lots of practice with us.

Clearly the OP is not coming back as possibly they have realised how wrong they were in their assumptions?

and road signs which he never taught her.
Well, that is down to the new driver as I presume the signs were in the Highway Code?
The chances of driving past EVERY sign in existence must be incredibly slim.

Jesus, no wonder there are so many teen boys involved in road traffic accidents!

Reversing around a corner isn't one of the required manoeuvres any more, but I'm surprised you've never needed to parallel park!

So many comments saying a driving instructor needs to teach in the town where they will be taking their test but that's not always possible. Dh has had pupils get cancellations in different towns where he doesn't know the test routes. He has had pupils pass despite not being familiar with the roads. Too many people accuse instructors of only teaching tests routes, maybe some do but a good instructor teaches you how to drive on any road. The theory side is on the pupil though. He also encourages pupils to get plenty of practice with mum and dad but only after they have been taught by an instructor first. Those of us who past the test years ago have no idea what is required today, I was surprised how much things have changed. He says I'm a good driver but would never pass today's test!

OP not coming back again? What a surprise.

The reason your son couldn’t turn the car around is that a test doesn’t expect him to do so. So test focused driving instructors won’t teach it. Absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. Mine will all experiment with taking themselves down a dead end and solving the problem of how to turn around, which they can all do usually pretty easily. They’ve got to learn to drive for life.

@Aghhhhhhhhhh Also 35 and finally learning 🤞🏼😬 My first driving instructor was horrendous and really put me off. I only had a few lessons with him then put driving on the back burner for various reasons. Have just started back up with a different instructor and the difference is unreal!
Do you mind me asking what you failed on? I haven’t attempted a test yet. Got my theory soon and hoping to do a test in the spring 🤞🏼

"The reason your son couldn’t turn the car around is that a test doesn’t expect him to do so. So test focused driving instructors won’t teach it."

Is the three-point turn no-longer part of the driving test?

No. It isn’t part of the test

What a ridiculous comment. I had 5 hours worth of lessons, and 1 hour dummy test run and passed when I was 17. Not everyone needs hours and hours and thousands of pounds on lessons and as PP said, you get more experience on the road yourself. Been driving for 13 years with no problems.

FWIW I didn't walk until I was 2 because I was nearly 4 months premature. HTH.

Oh wow!!!😲

What about reversing around a corner?

If people think that the Daughter is not mentioning everything for failing don't they still get the sheet with all of the faults listed on it.

They do, although it’s not reliable. The instructor’s certificate is displayed on the windscreen, and the examiner notes the number, for statistics. But an instructor can remove the certificate if they want to, making it unreliable. Instructors also do gain a reputation with test centres.

Nope not anymore.
These days it will be one of the 4 bay parks, parallel, or pull up on the right and reverse 2 car lengths.
emphasis now is on faster moving rural roads

Although it absolutely depends on the test centre location as to whether they can focus on faster rural roads.

Yes we get fails/passes held on our stats, however given the test delays it’s very unlikely people get standards checks at the moment.

My two had professional lessons once a week and in between drove me around in my car, plenty of practice, they both passed their practical first time, one took two attempts at the theory