Learning To Drive

- Tips On Passing Your Driving Test

Learning to drive is a super exciting experience, in the UK you can begin learning to drive from the age of 17. There are exceptions to this, if you receive the enhanced rate of the mobility component of personal independence payment you can begin learning when you are 16 years of age.

There are lots of elements to learning to drive and most you have to complete before beginning the next, this guide breaks it down for you and makes sure you have covered all areas.

Get your provisional

You can send off for your provisional when you are 15 years and 8 months old. Your provisional licence gives you permission to legally drive on all UK roads under supervision. You must be supervised by an adult over the age of 21 who has held their licence for three years or more. You must also be covered by your instructors insurance or your own. You can apply for you provisional from the government website. Driving instructors will not begin teaching until they have seen your provisional licence.

Find your instructor

That`s where we come in, use our site to filter through driving instructors in your area and find yourself the perfect match. We recommend looking for a driving instructor who is local to where you live and has a good pass rate. A few other things to check out are:

• Price per hour
• Offers and deals
• Make and model of car
• Teaching style

Learn and practice

Once you have found an instructor who you are comfortable with, get straight into it with your lessons. Take things at your pace but always stay consistent with your learning. We recommend block booking lessons to keep you motivated and on track. If you are fortunate enough to have provisional insurance on a parent or friends car, get some additional practice in during your spare time (supervised of course).

Complete the theory and hazard perception tests

Once you have made some headway with your practical lessons, it is time to think about the theoretical side to learning to drive. Most instructors will discuss this with you during lessons, get them to test you as its great practice. For the best chance of success in passing your theory first time its best to do some serious revision. A lot of the theory test is based on the Highway Code, so get really familiar with this. Learning your road signs is useful and practicing hazard perception tests online will prepare you well. You can book your theory test on the government website, it currently costs £23 and there is usually a theory test centre within the city that you live.

Practical driving test

Once you have completed and passed your theory test you will be able to book your practical driving test, again this can be done on the government website. Discuss with your instructor before you book your test to make sure they feel you are ready, also discuss which test centre you will be taking your test at. Knowing the test centre means knowing the likely routes of the test so you can get some practice in beforehand. We recommend your book in a few longer driving lessons during the run up to your test to make sure you are prepared.