Driving lessons..a life skill or luxury?

[Uurrjb]

Hi do you view driving lessons like swimming lessons?

You learn from parents and have a top up from paid lessons to improve (obviously you have to have formal lessons from an instructor for driving and the f you have a spare but of cash for a weekly swim club)
trying to work out…when your teen is ready to learn to drive do you pay like you would for additional swim lessons when little (cause you had a toddler and a baby and life etc) and it’s an an essential life skill to swim (and you can take them out to practice)

or is it a birthday present as it’s a lifestyle choice and it’s actually quite expensive

It’s a life skill. Driving lessons and the tests were given as a 17th birthday present then a car for when they passed as an early 18th gift.

A life skill (which we will find expensive to fund). It seems the people on here who can't drive find life more of a challenge. Just trying to get food in with a baby & toddler for example.

It's a life skill definitely. But I am always a bit bemused by the assumption it's a skill that can only be learnt with an instructor. To get the hours in you need to be a barely competent driver would cost 1000s. I think it's askill like cooking and swimming that parents have to support themselves. Formal lessons are important and helpful, but not enough by themselves.

Obviously, this is harder if the parent doesn't drive regularly. But I did all the driving for months, with my parents, before I took my test.

DD didn't have the opportunity to drive while at uni so the summer after she graduated DH went out with her a lot when she was home for a few weeks including a lot of motorway slipway practice.

Not all parents have the time to teach their kids especially if they work a lot or are a single parent.

Some people drive but don't drive in a way that would 'pass' someone today so can pass on bad habits.

My parents could t afford to pay when I was a teen and I wasn't that bothered as had excellent public transport links and travelled the country for uni etc via train.

Although I always had local jobs learning to drive at 30 then opened up more career prospects (although I WFH now and only really need the car to drive DD to sports training and matches).

When DD is older I will pay for her lessons and rest but not for the car.

Totally essential. My MIL never learnt to drive, so has to be ferried about by everyone else. Unless you live in the centre of London with great transport links, then it's essential to have any form of independence.

Life skill, lessons provided from 17th birthday plus a small car, they take over the bills of the car once they pass and will pay insurance, tax, mot and service going forward. We might help if needed, but expect them to heavily contribute to running costs.

A life skill. I was working when I was 17 so my parents paid for the first couple of lessons and I paid for the rest. I wasn't interesting in driving and really hated it. Once I passed, I stopped driving and resented my parents for making me spend that money.

12 years later I wanted a new job and realised I'd have more options if I drove. I was SO relieved that I just needed refresher lessons and didn't have to go through the time and expense of learning to drive and waiting for a test. I did switch to automatic though to get back on the road faster.

I don’t think it's a life skill, some people manage their lives without driving. Comparing it to swimming lessons which could save your life? Not at all on the same level.

I paid for my eldest to learn, not as a present, just because I wanted to encourage her to learn, so while I don't see it as a life skill i do consider it to be a very valuable thing to be able to do, for some. DS doesn't want to drive, he is autistic and had dyspraxia so he will manage his life without driving and for the most part, he is doing so just fine. Would his life be easier with a car? Yes of course, but he isn't suffering without one.

@daveded driving has been much more of a critical life skill to me than swimming. Good financial management is considered a life skill and yet you can technically live without it, as human beings most of us are striving for lives that are more than merely surviving.

I paid for my own because I was in a full time job. I wouldn't expect your average 17/18 year old to have that much money spare. My son will use his Child Trust Fund to buy a runaround car when he passes his test, and I will most likely pay for his lessons.
Also insuring a learner driver on the family car can be astronomical. It was going to cost £3600 for my stepson way back in 2008.

Essential skill, but that doesn't mean it can't be a birthday/christmas present (like a bike in the other thread).

It's a life skill but it shouldn't necessarily be up to the parents to finance it. There's no rule that says people must learn to drive at 17. I learnt to drive in my mid twenties at my own cost.

I think it’s a real privilege to have paid for lessons (and cars!) at 17, which I am hoping to provide for my own children in the future.

I think I got something like a £20 new look voucher and some chocolate for my 17th birthday. And then a necklace for my 18th.

My parents could not have come close to affording that. If you’re poor, it’s definitely a luxury, as it’s out of reach.

A life skill definitely. 17th birthday present for ds - the most expensive one he has or will ever have!

I'd agree with an earlier poster who said luxury at 17 essential at 21.

It's just so free-ing. Can't afford to fund dd's lessons totally. She got 10 lessons for her 17th birthday in October between various family members and she'll get another 5 paid for at Christmas.

Luckily she has a great part time job so will pay the rest using that and I will pay both tests.

I know how to drive, I can teach my kids how to drive, just like I've taught them countless other things. Sometimes I wonder if people don't realise that you aren't required to pay for lessons.

Where I live, lessons taught by qualified driving instructors are mandatory before applying for a driving test. Dh and I did a lot of driving practice with our kids but there was no way they could apply for a test without the completed set of lessons by a driving instructor.

I didn’t need to drive till I was mid 40s and moved to rural location. Till then I lived in a city with excellent public transport and easy to cycle around; I never needed to drive. If I had remained living there I’d probably never have driven in my life. So no, I don’t regard it as a life skill. My brother has never learnt to drive. My parents never had a car when I grew up either.

Life skill but an expensive one!
My own parents never helped with it due to finances (and not considering it anything other than something their kids would pay for themselves). I was determined to help them with it and saved accordingly monthly with small amounts from when they were younger to be able to.
Mind you, lessons were £11 an hour when I learnt and I had 13 lessons (passed second time).

DD2 took a year of lessons to learn, at £60 for an hour and a half, also passed 2nd time.

DD1 more nervous on the road (and had a shite instructor who has since lost her license to teach) so is starting again post-uni 3 year gap.

Essential skill, and like many other things in life, poor kids suffer and lose oppertunities because they can't afford to learn. I think there's a very strong argument for teaching kids to drive in school.

and if they can’t drive they won’t be able to visit us when older as we live in the middle of nowhere and I doubt they will back up family to get here by slow train

I think it depends on where you live. I just passed my test at 33. Until we moved to a more rural location and had children, I literally never had any need to learn to drive before that. I don't regret not learning at 17, and I don't consider it was an essential life skill I was missing.

Even where we live now, I wouldn't consider it an essential life skill for an adult without children. We live next to a train line, so job prospects aren't massively impacted and nor is your social life. I only learned now because baby/child activities tend to be in random village halls and working around the train timetables with kids in tow isn't fun.

It’s something which separates the ‘haves’ from the ‘have-nots’.

If an average driving lesson costs £30 (and many places it’s more than this) and the typical person needs 40 lessons (that’s the avarage, with then as many hours again practising with a family member) then that’s £1200, plus the cost of licence and probably learner insurance on family car, plus cost of theory test and cost of practical test (possibly more than one of each test type) then you’re easily looking at £1500 and that’s before they are insured to drive anything once passed.

£1500 is quite simply an amount many don’t have access to, and so whilst it’s a valuable life skill and opens doors, many many teens don’t learn to drive because of cost. Those who don’t leave to drive whilst in the Sixth Form often find they can’t afford lessons whilst at uni (assuming they go) and so reach 21 not driving.

It’s easy to say it’s a life skill - and it is. But it’s an unaffordable life skill for many and why many in their 30s or older learn to drive…as only then can they afford it.

Here, most teens seem to learn at 17 if they are interested in doing it. Most seem to have passed before they leave school or college, but it’s a fairly affluent area. In other areas it’s far less common.

Our 2 DC had money from everyone who wanted to gift them something when they were 17, plus had some money grandparents had given them to celebrate GCSEs the previous summer and that gave them around £1k. One managed to pass quicker than the other and probably spent another £200 from their own money. The other took a bit longer and so also had money from everyone for a Christmas too which boosted their pot by about £400.

Some families keep the costs down by having far fewer lessons and doing more as a family, but most need a good few lessons from a professional.

Start saving 😁.
Lessons cost £35 a pop. Insuring a Learner on our car £1900 extra a year.
Insuring a new driver aged 17 on a ford Mondeo £3000 plus!