Booking a driving test

[doggybootcamp]

Does anyone know of any tried and tested way of actually booking a driving test? My ds is ready now but the earliest test we’ve managed to book is the end of August and it’s also a date that we’re abroad so we need to change it anyway.
I know there are plans to update the system overall and I’ve tried both testi and driving test cancellations 4all apps (not at the same time in case I get blocked from the website) but neither have found anything - when I did the same for older ds a few years ago it worked within a few days (more than once as he didn’t pass first couple of times!).
its costing a fortune to keep up with driving lessons in the meantime so I’m open to any suggestions to try and find one- any tips would be very welcome!

We found just going into the driving test website loads at all times of day and night was the best and most successsful way of finding a slot. Once you have one you can change it quite easily. The apps didn’t work as well for us. We changed the date quite a few times as dd2 failed her first test and wanted to have a go again as soon as she could.

booking a driving test has become an absolute nightmare. The test apps didn’t work for us either. We were getting the same slots that appeared on the DVSA website when logging on at 6am on Monday morning.

Have you spoken to the driving instructor? Our instructor felt my son was ready for his test and felt another of his other students wasn’t as ready but his test was sooner, so he asked them both if they were happy to swap days. We didn’t pay extra for this.

We are getting people from up to 2 hours away come to our town to take their tests because they can get one quickly, yet young people who actually live here can't get anything for 4 months. I can only think that we must have more cancellations so the apps people use are able to find appointments here for them easier.

It’s ridiculous, I don’t think there’s a quick solution to finding a test for him. I check the dvsa website regularly but nothing.

For my DS it was just logging in several times a day. I found tea time to be most successful as assume that’s when people are going on to change / cancel theirs.

It's so bad at the moment. I've heard that it's bots booking all the tests and then selling them on at a profit, but I don't understand how, as you need to give your code from passing your theory test - how do bots create valid codes?

You need to keep checking it, vary the time of day too as tests do get randomly released.
Staff availability, such as a centre employing a new examiner, can mean slots suddenly become available

We just kept checking, they do come up but you need to be on there several times a day.

Thank you, I’ll keep trying- I’m logging in so often I think they think I’m a bot and won’t let me log in 😫

DS is sitting his on an island soon, that's how bad it is. Luckily it falls within the October break. He said he wants to get on with it.

I searched there's just nothing for months and months in our own town or neighbouring regions. I have tried.

Ds did get a cancellation through testi in the end, it popped up on his phone and he secured it. Luckily he passed first time so in total it was only five months from turning 17 to passing his test. I think perseverance is the answer!

Delighted for your DS getting lucky on his first attempt! Brilliant news!!😊

Mine failed first time this summer but did manage to rebook for 6 months away at 6am on a Monday but got a cancellation from Testi two weeks later and passed. His centre has a low pass rate so might have better availability as people avoid it.

DVSA keeps blocking me because I refresh too often which is weird because when I do go to "refresh" it has already kicked me out so I have to log back in again. Ds has a test booked as we grabbed the first one we could which was 4 months out, we got a cancellation by sheet luck. But it means he is back at uni, won't have driven for over 2 months and straight into a test. I don't think he will pass.

The whole system is absolutely fucked and means people are just booking wherever they can and then changing their slot to nearer to home.

We are keeping the island test as he's practising before the test on the roads there and making a mini break out of it all at the same time. If he fails at least he got a holiday out of it🤷‍♀️

It's absolutely ridiculous, I kept checking last night. There's no tests anywhere near us or the whole of mainland Scotland!! Very off-putting.

It's also a complete and utter coincidence DH's boss at work comes from one of the islands DS is taking the test on so we've been getting loads of great advice 😂

@user1476613140 there might be videos on youtube showing all the test routes on that island. I mean I am not one to think someone should "know" a test route but if the driving instructor, the one who has spent 40 plus hours with the learner, deems them test ready then I think show them the test routes. Also other mock test routes too, especially with commentary to show what a learner is doing right and where they go wrong, you learn from their mistakes as well as your own.

For a laugh I started putting random postcodes from all across the country into the DVSA site to see if I could find anything anywhere. Nothing. Ds would pass now if he were to take his test now. This is my second child, the first one couldn't get a driving lesson for months due to post covid back log and wait listings. He passed, got a cancellation through Testi but that was 3 years ago. Testi app is about 4 minutes delayed for us from what we can see comes up on the DVSA site which it scrapes for data.

The government need to do more to crack down on who is booking tests. I think only the learner should be able to book the test that way only one test can be booked at a time rather than block booking instructors can do.

More needs to be done by the government and fast...I have three other children who will want to learn to drive too!

I was also just putting random places in and obscure dates into the search last night and getting nowhere. The only test this year I can get is the one I booked. I am not using Testi apps. We will just stick with the plan of taking the test at a remote driving test centre. DS said he is looking forward to it so that's enough for me.

The system is completely broken and the government needs to stop these booking sites from hoovering up the slots and then selling them. We pay once for the test to the government and that should be it, we shouldn’t then be fleeced for another payment.
It also doesn’t help that you can’t book the test until you have the theory test passed, this make the process more inefficient.
What they should do is enable you to book your practical before you have passed your theory and you have to have until 21 days beforehand to get that completed our you lose your test slot.
This would reduce the gap between theory and practical and will also release tests when people fail to get their theory. Win win.
When my son passed his theory (he was studying for another exam or else he would have been doing it!) I then spent the next 24 hours logging on and refreshing and in a miracle managed to get him a test in our local test centre in Dec.

It is so frustrating they still haven't done anything to sort this out. I now just can't afford to learn to drive.
I started before lockdown passed my theory had a test booked then lockdown happened. My theory ran out I wasn't in the lucky batch where they extended them. Meanwhile everything in life has got excruciatingly expensive. I then couldn't get lessons and the lessons have now gone up to £90 a lesson I'll have to wait on a waiting list for lessons that i cant afford ,have to re do my theory but as close to my test that I can't book anyway. Add in life and that I'd be fitting it around work, children one with additional needs. Im a confident driver currently cyclist so good on the road but i dont test well with a strange grumpy man next to me (im likely autistic i find that situation overwhelming )so could potentially be doing lessons for 2 years with no end in sight.

That have got to do something about it.