What is the best way for teen DD to learn to drive?

[GnomeDePlume]

DD will soon be 17 and will be starting to learn to drive. What is the best way to do this please?

• An intensive course followed by weekly lessons
• Weekly lessons
• Something else

Would practicing in one of our cars help or confuse?

It is all so much more complicated than when I learned to drive as then all I had to do was not run into the man with the red flag.

I have already researched the cost of putting DD on my insurance (not fronting as it will still be my car) and was shocked to see the cost rise by £1,000!

I've recently learned to drive (relearned, but not relevant)
I'd go for twice weekly, hourly lessons, perhaps practising, depending on how you are with that?
By that I mean will you bother if she scrapes the curb with the tyre, nag her if she goes a tad over 30 etc?

I think once a week is not enough, and I found two hours at a time too much.

Both my DD's (20 and 18) had weekly two hour lessons and then they practised with me when the driving instructor "gave the nod" that they were competent enough. They both passed first time.

When they were learning we used this insurance

www.collingwoodlearners.co.uk/

Now that they have passed we just put them on the insurance when they are home from university.

Weekly lessons and then practising in your car.

You will need valium.

Or gin.

Or perhaps both.

We did top up driving between weekly lessons too, or at least I took them out DH wimped out. I only wish the kids had got more experience in different weather conditions before passing. DD sailed through her test in 6 weeks (May-June) but only had driving lessons in good weather. DS took longer so had a wider range of weathers to drive in.

We bought ds his own insurance for our car through provisional marmalade which cost £85 per month as I recall (this worked out cheaper than adding him to our insurance, and meant we could give him a month on each of our cars so he could try two instead of one, but not at the same time) and he drove us about whenever possible. He had about 6 lessons as well to correct all our bad habits. It took 3 months.

Next time for dd I shall book her a couple of lessons first before getting our car insured as the first time or two out was a bit hairy! But as I want to be able to take her out on her 17th birthday as I did for ds, I've booked her in for an U17 lesson at a local airfield and as long as it's reasonably OK she can have another before her birthday.

Was the £1k to add her as a provisional driver? If not it's a bargain. I'm waiting until both mine have passed to insure my car for them as I'm hoping it will cost the same for two as for one (they can't both be driving it at once after all).

DD put our insurance up when she went on it then 18 months later DS sky rocketed it through the roof.

Thanks for all the advice, I shall be looking through it all including at the insurance options.

Yes, the £1000 was just to add DD as a learner.

My 17 YO DD passed her theory on her 17th birthday, had 2, 2 hour lessons a week and passed within 6 weeks. We practised every day in a car I bought her for her birthday.

dd had weekly lessons we have a big car so she didnt get much practise so she was learning for ages we upped the lessons to twice weekly near her driving test, she passed on her second attempt

DD1 had twice-weekly lessons with a mix of 1hr, 1.5hr and 2hr lessons, went through 3 instructors (first one left because his wife had a baby (had 22hrs with him), his replacement was a joke and very nervous (8 hrs), and the 3rd was brilliant (10hrs)). She never did any additional driving as our cars were both automatics and she was learning to drive a manual.

She passed 1st time, with 4 minors and had 40 hours of lessons in total (even with an 8 week break between 2nd and 3rd instructors). She is very mechanically minded though and loves cars, so I don't know if that made it any easier for her.