driving test

I was wondering if anyone can tell me the whole process, like what comes first for example and what are the steps of learning how to drive (+how much will each thing cost me, about the hours of driving lessons etc)
If I start now will I be able to finish it off by the end of September//October??

As with most thinks in driving, it depends.

You can budget at least £1000 for driving lessons (at £25 an hour that's 40 hours of tuition) , it could clock up to double or triple that if you're a nervous driver or have trouble passing the test. So be prepared, if you've got a decent amount of savings you can draw on then great, if not then consider whether you want to sink a load of money into now to potentially have to take a break until you can afford it again. Every practical test you take will cost £62 plus the cost of hiring your instructors car for the duration of the test and a lesson before hand - it's not uncommon to take 2, 3, 4 or even 5 or 6 tests. The theory test is £23 and most be taken before booking the practical, it lasts for 2 years so if you start learning to drive and then run out of money or give up (which happens to a lot of people) you will then need to retake the driving theory test.

As for passing by October - most folk take 2 hour lessons a week - which would take you to 20 weeks of tuition if you started now which takes you to January next year. You can of course do more lessons, but the longer you drive in one session the more fatigued you get and the less you take in not to mentioning the cost goes up quickly - intensive driving schools do exist and will cram a lot of lessons in a short period of time. However taking an intensive course is no guarantee of passing the tests and if you fail you'll either need to take weekly lessons/retake the intensive course - which can be added expense. If you have access to private practice with a friend or parent you might be able to cut down on the cost of lessons, if you don't expect to take longer to learn and need more lessons.

That's before you even get into the fact you can't even book a test at the moment unless you had one before lockdown, and may not be able to do so until after November/early next year depending on how long the backlog the takes to clear.

As with most thinks in driving, it depends.

You can budget at least £1000 for driving lessons (at £25 an hour that's 40 hours of tuition) , it could clock up to double or triple that if you're a nervous driver or have trouble passing the test. So be prepared, if you've got a decent amount of savings you can draw on then great, if not then consider whether you want to sink a load of money into now to potentially have to take a break until you can afford it again. Every practical test you take will cost £62 plus the cost of hiring your instructors car for the duration of the test and a lesson before hand - it's not uncommon to take 2, 3, 4 or even 5 or 6 tests. The theory test is £23 and most be taken before booking the practical, it lasts for 2 years so if you start learning to drive and then run out of money or give up (which happens to a lot of people) you will then need to retake the driving theory test.

As for passing by October - most folk take 2 hour lessons a week - which would take you to 20 weeks of tuition if you started now which takes you to January next year. You can of course do more lessons, but the longer you drive in one session the more fatigued you get and the less you take in not to mentioning the cost goes up quickly - intensive driving schools do exist and will cram a lot of lessons in a short period of time. However taking an intensive course is no guarantee of passing the tests and if you fail you'll either need to take weekly lessons/retake the intensive course - which can be added expense. If you have access to private practice with a friend or parent you might be able to cut down on the cost of lessons, if you don't expect to take longer to learn and need more lessons.

That's before you even get into the fact you can't even book a test at the moment unless you had one before lockdown, and may not be able to do so until after November/early next year depending on how long the backlog the takes to clear.

And I saw on GOV website that before I book my theory test I need to have driving licence number, how do I get that or even what it is ?? Plus regarding the driving lessons; do I understand right that £25 is only per hour? is possible to like pay for specific amount of hours and if so will that be cheaper??

ahhh and what do you mean by that >>>>> "most folk take 2 hour lessons a week - which would take you to 20 weeks of tuition"

And I saw on GOV website that before I book my theory test I need to have driving licence number, how do I get that or even what it is ?? Plus regarding the driving lessons; do I understand right that £25 is only per hour? is possible to like pay for specific amount of hours and if so will that be cheaper??

If you do a 2 hour lesson a week it's going to take you 20 weeks to reach that average of 40 hours, but to be very clear it could take a lot longer or it could be a bit quicker.

25 is the cheapest I could find near me, it could go down a bit with ten hour block bookings but these usually only apply for your first 10 hours. 1000 is the bare minimum I'd recommend having set aside, you'll likely need more.



You need to apply for your provisional from the DVSA. It's a long time since I applied for mine as I originally got it so I could go drinking rather than to learn to drive so I've no idea what the current price of that application is.

was it not 30 hours that you need it ??

According to the RAC it's 45 hours of lessons and 20 hours of private practise these days.

I remember being 30 hours on the old test system.

does it have to be 45/30 ?? to then do practice test, or can it be less ??

And I saw on GOV website that before I book my theory test I need to have driving licence number, how do I get that or even what it is ?? Plus regarding the driving lessons; do I understand right that £25 is only per hour? is possible to like pay for specific amount of hours and if so will that be cheaper??

As others have said you have basically no chance in finishing by september/october, you probably wouldn’t even be able to book a test then even if you were ready to take it.

Personally i did 1 hour a week of lessons, mine were £23, so it took about 9 months altogether, i think i had somewhere between 30-35 lessons and passed first time and i did no practice in like my parents car or anything. As someone else has said the average is 45 lessons + 20 hours practice with a family member but tbh i don’t think it takes a lot of people that long. Like i say i had 35 hours driving max and i wouldn’t say that i was a very confident or good driver as such and i passed fine.

You can take the test anytime, as in you don’t have to have had a certain amount of lessons, but obviously if you haven’t had enough lessons and aren’t up to scratch then you won’t pass. And it’s expensive to take the test. I’ve seen people on here say they’ve passed with only 15 hours of lessons, no idea how tbh but i guess some people are just naturally good at it, and others can take like 2 years to pass, so like 100+ hours of lessons and multiple tests.

You really can’t know how long it’ll take until you start and see how confident you are. But a way to speed up the process definitely would be to have either a 2 hour lesson a week or two 1 hour lessons a week.