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Parenting

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Original poster

Paying for kids driving lessons

77 replies

hansolosmum · 27/11/2018 12:32

A few people I know with kids in their late teens are giving them driving lessons for Christmas, which is nice. But then what? Are they going to have to keep paying for it if their kids can't afford to pay themselves?

I only ask because it's made me think recently about what I will and won't be willing to pay for when my kids reach 16. I had to pay for my own driving lessons when I was younger (hence not learning till I was 34!). I'm worried how much I'm going to have to save up for all this type of stuff.

If you've got older kids what do you think? And will I be thinking completely differently when the time comes?

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Cherries101 · 27/11/2018 12:34

Generally the younger you are when you start learning the quicker you learn. It’s very possible for most 16-18s who love cars to learn and pass in 10-15 ‘1 hour a week’ lessons.

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 27/11/2018 12:56

From my experience (my child is 1- I am a long way off personally) but its pretty normal for parents to pay for their children's driving lessons. You just hope they pass first time. Generally costs about £20 an hour.

Shmithecat · 27/11/2018 13:03

My dad paid for all my lessons (only had 8), my first car and my first years insurance. He wasn't loaded but we lived very rurally, he was eager for me to gain some independence asap. He sees driving as an important life skill. I also had a part time job since I was 14 and paid a small amount of keep whilst at home and he was happy to contribute knowing that I was always prepared to. As long as I can afford it, I'll do the same for my ds.

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BorisAndDoris · 27/11/2018 13:52

I'll help mine. With any luck having a license will encourage them into working to afford the car and insurance. I might even buy them a cheap runaround on the proviso that they pay the insurance. It's a lot of money for youngsters but where we live it's more expensive to not drive when you have a family. I want them well used to car ownership by the time they start a family.

megletthesecond · 27/11/2018 13:55

My parents paid for some of mine. But I didn't learn until my early 20's and it was my dad's way of giving me a kick up the backside.

I'm planning to pay for my dc's to learn when they reach 17, I've squirrelled away money over the years for them. Hopefully they can blitz it while at 6th form college and be up and running for Uni and part time jobs.

halcyondays · 27/11/2018 13:57

If you afford it it's a good thing to do for your children.
Not everyone will be able to learn in 10-15 lessons though.

babysharkah · 27/11/2018 13:59

I'll pay for mine if I can afford it at hte time, we're a way off yet. I paid for my own but we were expats at learning age and I was 22 and earning money so my parents didn't offer.

TeenTimesTwo · 27/11/2018 14:03

I think this is about what you can afford and other things.

We paid for all DD1's driving as we really, really, wanted her to learn to drive and we didn't want any reason for her to not learn. We could do this easily. (She wasn't heading to uni and public transport locally isn't that good).

If you can't afford it, or don't want to as you feel they should fund it via a job, then don't. But maybe let them know in good time this will be the situation so they don't get their hopes up.

MrsJayy · 27/11/2018 14:03

Yes we paid for ours untill they passed tests it is something dh wanted to do I don't drive and it is a pain in the arse I think if you can afford it then why not,

MrsJayy · 27/11/2018 14:05

Dc lived it home during uni/college years it was cheaper and easier to drive than get buses or live out

TinklyLittleLaugh · 27/11/2018 14:14

I think all three of mine who can drive have taken a lot more than 10 lessons, though they have all passed first time. The test costs quite a bit too. Insurance for young drivers is crazily expensive and we couldn't afford to add them to our car insurance (cars too big) so that they could practice. We ended up buying a tiny run around but the insurance was still a couple of thousand even once they were 18.

Having said that, having a car has been great for working jobs that are awkward on public transport or finish late.

bullyingadvice2017 · 27/11/2018 14:17

Paid for all my own, my parents could have done.
But like they said. If you are working full time, living at home and can't afford that then how on earth will you manage when you move out! Same as why we had to set our own insurance policy up etc.

anniehm · 27/11/2018 14:25

We aren't paying, most friends of my kids are taking 25-30 lessons. You need deep pockets or a car they can practice on to reduce number of lessons

OlderThanAverageforMN · 27/11/2018 14:28

I set up the provisional license and booked DD lessons for her 17th birthday as a complete surprise, it worked really well . Lessons were about £25 per hour and I think she had about 20 hours. She failed first time, because she didn't stop at a roundabout (eeek) but didn't have any more lessons, just re-booked and passed second time.

She then went off to Uni for three years and didn't drive at all, as she couldn't drive our cars any more as too powerful, although they were fine for her to learn on, weird that.... but anyway.

She graduated this year and bought her own runaround, from savings, but we have had to pay for her insurance, although it is on a family policy so not horrendous. She pays for all the petrol and other incidentals.

rowyourboatgently · 27/11/2018 14:30

My parents didn't pay for either of us to have driving lessons but they did 'put towards' my brothers bike lessons (they paid for it all the lying gits). I've only just recently decided to start learning and have discovered it is not for me at this moment in time so I think my parent were wise not to invest in me!
DH has said that the DC will have to fund lessons themselves (to learn the value of money - older DCs, my SDC's seem to think we have an endless supply) but he's talked about either paying first years insurance or putting towards a car. FIL has actually already brought eldest DC (15) a car, a old banger to do up, and is already looking for another one for second DC (13) so DH will probably pay insurance for both. Our DC together is a long way off from driving age but we will most likely go down the same route (if FIL is still buying cars for the sake of buying cars!)

StarfishSandwich · 27/11/2018 14:31

My parents didn’t pay for mine but we lived close to town with fairly good transport links and I moved into the centre of town ages 19 so it became even less of a priority. I eventually sorted myself out and passed my test in my early 20s through necessity as I took a job quite far away. My parents then gave me a loan to buy my first car and insure myself.

DS is only a baby but if we still live where we do and we are in a position to do so, I think we’ll probably supplement the cost of his driving lessons/car/insurance when he’s 17 because we’re quite rural and I don’t want him to feel isolated. Prior to that though, we’ll definitely be buying him a decent bike, lights, reflective etc.

empmalswa · 27/11/2018 14:32

I pay/paid/will pay for my DC's licenses, test fees and lessons.

Tinklewinkle · 27/11/2018 14:34

We bought DD driving lessons for her 17th birthday - we got a deal on 30 lessons + 1 theory and 1 practical test

We’ve been saving a weekly amount for her since she was born and she’s got enough for a car and a couple of years insurance

We live quite rurally and have always said that we wanted both our children on the road as soon as possible. Our public transport is shit and expensive so being mobile gives them much more independence

Oddsocksandmeatballs · 27/11/2018 14:34

I paid for my two to learn, I also put them on my insurance and let them use the car but it saved me a fortune as we are very rural and there is no other way for them to get about unless I was prepared to be a taxi or pay for the taxi. Once they had full time jobs they were very happy to buy, insure and run their own cars. I might've felt differently if we had more access to public transport.

tryinganewname · 27/11/2018 14:36

My mum paid for all of us to learn to drive - there's 4 of us and she was a single mother, somehow she made it work.

I had my first lesson on my 17th birthday and was passed 10 months later.

AnnieOH1 · 27/11/2018 14:40

I had my first official lesson on my 17th birthday in the April and put in for the test in August but due to a test centre issue finally did the test 9th December. My dad had taken me to the local airfield so get to grips with the basics a little before that though. All lessons, and in fact car and insurance paid for by my parents and gran.

Compare that to my DH who went 50/50 on lessons once he had a job but that's it. He passed the same year as me despite being older.

We've discussed it for our two and we've both said we will do our damnedest to make sure they get their licenses. It certainly opened up our lives to better jobs, and indeed where we now live isn't liveable without a car. For context the 40 minute drive to our nearest large hospital would've taken over 3 hours when I checked a few years ago (DH was in and I had to argue for cheap parking!). If ours go to either of the unis in the same city (nearest ones) then there's no way they could use public transport.

giftsonthebrain · 27/11/2018 14:40

It depends on what you can afford. Driving lessons are not much different than swim lessons as far as I’m concerned. So my trio learned to drive at 16, paid the extra insurance and gave them tons of driving time.

MrsJayy · 27/11/2018 14:45

We asked Dd1 what she wanted help to live away or driving lessons she chose driving lessons her uni was only 30 minutes rent for 3 years seemed such a waste of money and her jobs have all needed a license .

NeverTwerkNaked · 27/11/2018 14:46

I will pay for mine to have lessons if we can afford to, which I hope we will be able to. I think it is such a vital life skill. I didn’t learn until I was 32 and I wish I had learnt sooner.

I also put a bit away in a child trust fund for them. I am hoping it can help towards costs of university / further education or training of some sort, but if for some reason I couldn’t help with driving lessons at least they would have a bit of savings to help them out.

SheepyFun · 27/11/2018 14:49

My parents paid for me until I passed (not the first time!) as well as insuring me on their car (this is a while ago, so it wasn't anywhere near as expensive). It wasn't a skill I found easy to learn, and I'm very grateful to have learnt as a teenager; I think I'd have found it much harder later. We plan to do the same for DD (though it's a good few years away yet). Having said that, my parents could afford it without going without, and it's likely to be the same for us. I must have cost my parents several hundred pounds (did I mention not being very good at it), and I suspect it'll be a challenge for DD too.

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