How long did it take your teenagers to learn to drive?

[LarkDescending]

DD is newly 17 and starting practical driving lessons (manual) in the next couple of weeks. She has already passed her theory test just after her birthday, and has had a couple of hours’ professional tuition with Young Driver before she turned 17, which she enjoyed and seemed to do well at.

The plan is that she will start with a 2-hour lesson, straight after school, one day a week. Once her instructor says she is ready for practice with us then obviously we will do that too.

We have booked a local test date just so that she is in the system, but it’s almost certainly too soon (Jan 2025) so will need to be rescheduled in due course. We are in London where, like in much of the country, test dates are hard to come by.

Any thoughts on when she’s realistically likely to be looking at being ready for a test? I know it’s a bit of a “piece of string” question but would welcome your wisdom!

Ds did it in 3 months and with 2 lessons a week and he drove our car everywhere in between. We live rurally so it was important to him to pass asap. Because of where the test centre is all his lessons were 2 hours long so he could drive up to the town where his test would be. Elder ds took 5 months to pass. For both we gave them as much time driving as we could so they got experience.

DD took 5 months with only driving lessons as I didn't have a manual car for her to practise in. As the test approached she went up to 2 x 2 hour lessons a week.

It's much harder to pass in London - I would book her a test somewhere near London instead with calmer drivers and less crazy traffic

DS started lessons at the beginning of November and passed at the start of March

Four months but less than 20hrs of driving time. She was also driving her own car a lot under supervision.
Incidentally she had about ten young driver lessons over five years. Driving instructor said you could tell and it made a difference.

5 months, but we are quite rural. One two-hour lesson most weeks, we did some driving practise in between but we only have an automatic so all his manual experience was with an instructor. The two-hour lesson gave enough time to drive to a town with traffic lights and roundabouts and stuff!

For my next DS I think I'll try and push them on faster.

I know a couple of friends DC each passed in a month - just went out practising with parents most nights.

You can probably get a quicker test date through one of the cancellation apps.

@exprecis I know what you mean - but her instructor who can pick her up from the school gate only “does” 4 test centres, all in North London/Herts. Actually I think the Herts one has a significantly higher pass rate, so perhaps we will aim for that if a cancellation arises.

9 months all in. He failed his first theory which delayed things a little.

Such interesting answers - thank you. I thought people were going to say at least 6 months but your teens have all done very well!

@Rowgtfc72 Our DS who is younger (12) is loving Young Driver and I am sure it will stand him in very good stead. We didn’t discover it until this year.

@DJSteves Yes I can see that the theory test hurdle can really get in the way, so am relieved that DD crossed that bridge early on.

DD passed about 8 months after her first lesson. She had one lesson a week through most of that time and then lots of driving in between with DH. She may well have been ready before then but it took ages to get a test date.

DS is about to start college where- among other things- he will be driving tractors so I’m hoping that’ll stand him in good stead when he turns 17 next spring and starts his lessons!

9 months - false start with a driving instructor that kept cancelling, new instructor, 3 tests to pass. One hour lessons (when that was the norm). Been driving 4 years now covering a lot of miles each week for work. Great driver but at one point we thought he would never pass.

My daughter passed in 5 months - 2 hour lesson most weeks and out in her own car in between. Having additional practice in between made all the difference for her - more confidence

Mine seemed to takes ages compared to many of these. My daughter wasted 6 months with a guy who kept saying she wasn't ready for her test, time and time again. We gave up and she started with a new one and passed in 6 months.

My son left to go to uni at 17 so took even longer as he could only do lessons if he came home for the weekend.

I think it a disadvantage that few young people ride motorbikes/scooters these days. It is a great way to learn road sense as well as giving them more independence.
DBro and I did, he continues to ride.

2 hours of lessons per week, started August passed in March.

@LarkDescending dd started at 11. She was so, so cross all they wanted to do is junctions, parking and manoeuvres. She must have reverse slalomed the car every time!
Driving instructor didn't have to teach her how the car moved or gear changes, which saved her a good few lessons as she could already control the car. Instructor said she only needed to drive in traffic.
I was gutted as young driver used to be sixty pounds an hour, the last few were 90 so birthday and Christmas treats. They are bloody expensive. In the grand scheme of things I think we've saved on lesson money.
Her test was actually booked for Sept, so 6 months after starting, but the instructor had a test slot in July and he felt his other pupil needed more lessons so switched them round.

DD drove for 6 months with DH and then had three professional lessons before her test, which she passed. She started driving in London but took her test near Brighton as there was no availability locally.
DH helped our next door neighbour whose daughter had had 60 lessons! She had terribly bad driving habits such as speeding, and said she spent most of the time chatting with the instructor, with seemingly little instruction. She had 6 outings with DH and then passed her test.

It took me six years 🤣

I took a year of manual lessons, clashed with three instructors and failed my test.

At 22 I started learning, and it took me a year in an automatic

DC1 10 lessons, then a long break due to poor health then about 10 more lessons.

DC2 6 lessons then we went into lockdown, so he drove around a bit with us, took and then somehow passed.

DC3 10 lessons and then gave up saying she couldn't do it and didn't like it when the instructor used the f word and changed the gears for her. This is the same calm, perfectly reasonable instructor the other two DC had.

I think it's a "how long is a piece of string?" question.

DS passed five months after turning 17. Like many, we live rurally so he was motivated. One lesson a week and he drove his own car to and from school everyday (supervised by me).

About 8 months for our son. It was slowed by waiting for a test date. Also he was busy so fitting in lessons was hard.

DS took his test last year and passed in less than 4 months after 10 x 1 hour lessons, and driving several hundred miles with DH - the experience he gained was invaluable, and I think it gave him more confidence for the test.

My dd started driving with her df as soon as she was 17.
Alongside her weekly lesson, she was driving to and from her apprenticeship, 40 minutes each way.
She passed her driving test after 12 weeks of 2 hourly lessons.
We live rurally and her getting herself to and from work asap was what spurred her on.