DRIVING SCHOOL

At Ready To Go Driving School we pride ourselves on offering professional driving tuition, we have many years of experience to help individuals achieve their goal. Our experience and advice will help anyone looking to gain their full UK driving licence, please feel free to read our testimonials which can be found on our about us page or click here to view, more reviews about us can be found online at Freeindex.co.uk or Yell.com along with Google maps. We are confident in our ability to provide value for money, quality tuition along with the use of a clean modern vehicle fitted with dual controls for safety. Our instructors are patient, calm, and provide a friendly door to door service, all instructors are fully qualified and fully insured to help you begin your journey in learning to drive. 

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Over many years of teaching individuals to learn to drive we have noticed an increase of pupils wishing to attend a driving test before the pupil is ready, we have also encountered many recent enquiries such as below:

 

• "I have a practical test booked for next week, can I hirer your car?"

• "I am almost ready for test will you take me?"

• "I just need a few hours, after then I want to take me test which is booked this Friday, but I need your car."

• "I have not had any lessons yet but I have a practical test booked for the end of this month, will you help me."

• "I have been driving over a year with my parents but not had any professional lessons, my test is in two weeks time but need your car for test, is this something you can help with."

• "My driving instructor cannot attend my test will you help, its tomorrow!!"

• "My current driving instructor says I am not ready for my test, I don't agree and need to find another instructor."

• "I don't need many lessons as I can drive and had 10 hours already, I just need someone to take me to the test."

• "I need a driving instructor, I just need 1 hour to get used to your car before my test, are you available?"

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The above examples are just a few enquiries we have received mostly since the pandemic, some enquiries are understandable and no harm in asking, but we must stress we are a professional driving school and can only allow pupils to attend a practical driving test providing they are to test standard. Unfortunately with some of the examples above this would not allow enough time for us to ensure the pupil is ready in most cases. 

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The Driving Vehicles Standards Agency recently (July 2022) released a campaign called "Ready To Pass", you can find a link to this campaign by clicking here. Due to the pandemic (Covid-19) it had caused a large backlog with learning to drive along with demand for driving tests. During the pandemic the UK went into lockdown on more than one occasion, which meant driving instructors and examiners had to stop work, but also during this time learners had to stop lessons and were unable to attend tests. The DVSA have been trying to clear the backlog since the pandemic/lockdown ended, hence the "Ready To Pass" campaign but due to many reasons the backlog is likely to remain for many years to come, however we have noticed slight improvement as we enter the year 2024. 

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We understand that since the backlog started it has been frustrating for pupils looking to drive, but it has also been frustrating for driving instructors trying to help pupils progress but unable to find tests etc. We feel due to the backlog along with being unable to find practical tests this has changed the way pupils look to learn to drive, and has resulted in pupils booking tests before they are ready, along with not being able to find an instructor with availability to get started. 

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We have always been faced with the question "When can I go to the practical test?, I want to pass ASAP", we have always responded to this question with our honest opinion and advice, which is:

 

"Everyone learns differently but after the first few lessons we maybe able to give you a better idea of what to expect, however what we can say at this point is to expect 40 - 60 hours of driving tuition as this is the average amount of time it takes for most leaners to be at test standard, you can find more information regarding this on the government website or similar advice online being given from most reputable driving schools. Please note we can only allow pupils to attend the practical driving test with our tuition vehicle providing they are test ready, we would advice you to either cancel or postpone the test if you are not to the standard required. The time it takes could be anything from 10 hours to over 100 hours but this will always depend on ability and experience, along with lesson duration and how many lessons you intend to do per week. We would highly recommend at least two lessons per week for a minimum duration each lesson of 1.5 hour."

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Ready To Go Driving School was established in 2009, since then we have helped many pupils gain their UK driving licence. In that time we have experienced many different pupils that learn in many different ways and appreciate everyone learns differently. In recent time we have experienced more pupils looking to pass the test before starting lessons, and becoming more focused on attending the practical test then maintaining regular lessons. This often results in very little progress in learning and disappointment regarding the test. We often advice all pupils to focusing on regular lessons as this would be the key in passing the test. 

 

The costs of learning the drive has increased along with most things in the past few years, and the average lesson price is around £38-£50 per hour (2023) depending on location, we would say from our experience that over the last 10-15 years lesson prices have doubled, but at the same time so has many other things. In the course of learning to drive we would advise all pupils to budget for around £1500 - £2000, remember this is based on the average amount of lessons required, so the actual cost could be less or more depending on many factors such as private practice. If we said the average cost to learn to drive is around £2000 then I can see why many people may feel this is expensive, but if we compare the cost of learning to drive with many other things then I feel it can bring things into prospective. 

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• Driving lesson = £40 p/h

• Taxi journey = £60+ p/h (one way journey)

• Horse riding lesson = £50+ p/h

• Guitar lesson = £30-£40 p/h

• Chiropractor session = £50+ (often less than 1 hour per session)

• Gardener = £27 p/h on average 

• Plumber = £50-£100+ p/h

• Electrician =£50-£100+ p/h

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All the above services require skill and experience from each individual, along with tools, equipment, business costs etc. A driving instructor charges on average £40 p/h, this includes their skill and experience, door to door service, they also provide a vehicle often fitted with dual controls, each lesson covers general wear and tear on the vehicle along with running/maintenance/cleaning costs etc. We would honestly say that the average cost of learning to drive is certainly justifiable at a cost of £40 p/h, and even if for argument sake it costs over £5000+ to gain a UK driving licence then every pound in most cases would be money well spent, just think how much it changes an individuals life once they pass the test. The cost of learning to drive is often far less than a holiday abroad, or perhaps the latest mobile phone, it can often be less then the first year of car insurance. We often mention that it would be better to spend a little more on lessons to become a better driver, than to spend more on a car that you may struggle to drive.

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Are you ready to take the practical driving test?

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At Ready To Go Driving School we understand the standard of driving required to pass the practical driving test, our instructors have a high pass rate which reflects this. We will offer our professional opinion based on your current standard of driving, along with providing feedback throughout each lesson to help the pupil to progress towards their goal.

 

Due to the nature of learning it is not always possible to achieve the standard that is required in the average amount of time it takes, if the pupil is not to a test standard we will advice them to postpone the test to allow more time to prepare.

 

It is our responsibility to ensure the pupil is test ready before attending a driving test, if the pupil is unable to drive to test standard this can jeopardise the safety of the pupil and others involved. All our instructors reserve the right to refuse to attend the practical test if the pupil is not ready, we will always provide good reason before making this decision. The DVSA released the "Ready To Pass" campaign to help learners decide if they are ready, I have included the link to this campaign here from the government website.  

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We have also created a quick check below to see if you are test ready: