Driving lessons/car/ oh boy, growing up...

[LittleWonder]

DD is 17 next month - how did that happen? I have an auto 4 x 4 so she can't learn on that. Shall I get her her own car? Which make? how much can ne expect to pay for driving lessons? If you've just been through all this and have learned lessons, let me know!

DH is £20 an hour but does discounts for block bookings. A lot will depend on where you live.
Be wary of deals that sound too good to be true - eg First 5 lessons for £30 or something. DH has had a lot of pupils come to him after taking one of those deals as the instructor has screwed them for loads & loads of lessons (one girl had had 20 lessons - the other 15 at full price - and had not even done a manouevre!)
Make sure the instructor is an ADI (green badge) and not a PDI (they haven't passed their final exams yet)

Oh - and wait till she passes her test before getting her a car. DH can always tell when a pupil has 'practised' in their parents/friends car cos their driving goes to cock

What, just stick with lessons alone?

It tends to help at test time as they're only driving one kind of car (trust me, different cars drive differently - gears, clutch bite point etc) and if they 'mix & match' it can be confusing. Unless you buy the same car as her instructor
BUT - it's entirely up to you and her instructor. Some DH pupils have been fine, others he can really tell have been driving other cars

we are going through this atm
dd is having lessons
we pay £19/hr but that's with discount because it's a neighbour
normally £22
she does 2hr lessons so £38/week
we gave dd first £200 for her birthdya]
now we are negotiating/splitting/arguing over it week by week
she can't drive our car as insurance too high
she wants to buy a shit heap -I am ignoring it and hoping she changes her mind
test is booked for end of april.
if she wants a car ,she'll have to do it herself as we can't afford to help her

I feel your pain!

We gave DD 12 hours of lessons (to use as she liked, single or double hours) and a voucher for 1 theory & 1 practical test. She paid for the extra lessons (had almost 30??) and her re-take as failed first test (at the final junction coming back to test centre!).

We HAVE added her to insurance of an old car that we kept because we knew this time was coming, but it still cost almost £700 to renew now she has passed. We have told her that future years insurance will be up to her - but she will be at Uni from Oct so we will see what works best.

My worry was, she would forget how to drive if she had no practice after test, and to buy a car is silly as she won't be allowed one at Uni.

My DS has just booked his practical test. We paid for lessons 1/3 me, 1/3 DH and he paid the other 1/3. I've been quoted £900 for car insurance for him or £700 to add him to mine but this is a non-starter really as he can get to and from his part time job at tesco without a car and he will be off to uni in the autumn and won't need a car then - I'm afraid he will have to wait a couple of years before he can afford to get fully on the road. He has done all his lessons in the driving school car ( excellent instructor, former teacher, also does maths tuition and other stuff) and it hasn't taken too long to get to this stage.

DD passed her test in 7x2 hour lessons+as much driving of DH's car as we could, she used to drive to training four nights a week. I didn't take her out until the instructor gave us the ok though. It took just six weeks to get her through the test from start to finish.

DS is just starting out. He had his first lesson yesterday and at the end of this month he will go onto DH's insurance again and will be driving with us.

Both of my kids have had double lessons as we live rurally and to get into town where the tests take place takes 30 minutes so it's a necesaary evil for us to book double lessons really.

It's interesting what you say iklboo. Ds was 17 towards the end of Feb, and has been waiting to drive as we live so far away from school, hence his friends.

He has driven at every opportunity - to and from the school bus, school on occasions, when we are out and about - and I have thought it useful that he has had to get used to driving different cars.

His instructor is happy with him, and has suggested that he apply for his practical test.

We are concerned that driving has taken his focus off his schoolwork through, so we'll have to watch that closely.

I remember my driving instructor turning up the week of my test - in a brnad new different car! I past first though and loved the new car he had better than the old one.

My firnds son has been quoted £7000 insurance for his car he is 17 and works so saved up for the car but can't offord the insurance yet!

DS (19) has his own car, bought and paid for by himself for just under a grand. His insurance is nearer 1400 and he drives like a maniac.

We bought him his first 5 lessons and he has done it himself since then, he has taken his theory twice and his actual test 3 times.

He was fairly despondent and didn't want to carry on after failing but I bullied him into it.

His first instructor was happy to take the money but didn't actually teach him anything, so always go by recommendation by people who have passed their test with them.

And don't expect to be offered a lift anyway. Remember, it is their car as they will have forgotten all the times they have demanded lifts everywhere