instructor's fees whilst doing license test

Soldato
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13 Feb 2003
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Wife wants to use her own car for the test, but needs someone to get her to & from. She asked her instructor about this and he wants to charge for 2hrs. Is this normal?
 
IIRC I had to pay for my instructors time.

He just sat in the examiners place with a bunch of other instructors having a chat while a bunch of us drove off with the examiners.

Mind you he also gave me a card with £10 in it when I passed.

Which is a nice gesture but tbh that came to about 1% of the cost of me passing :p
 
IIRC I had to pay for my instructors time.

He just sat in the examiners place with a bunch of other instructors having a chat while a bunch of us drove off with the examiners.

Mind you he also gave me a card with £10 in it when I passed.

Which is a nice gesture but tbh that came to about 1% of the cost of me passing :p

bloody hell ive NEVER heard of an examiner doing that.
 
bloody hell ive NEVER heard of an examiner doing that.

Not the examiner, my instructor :p

Would certainly have been surprising if the examiner gave me a card.

Nah, my instructor was a decent chap, I'd had about 40-50 hours with him and we got on ok.


I guess you didn't get a card from your instructor :D
 
its 2 hours they cant be earning, if she does an hour before the test. Thats quite standard.

She wont be doing an hour before hand.

Yeah as others have said this is pretty standard for them to charge you to use their car during the test.

She wont be using his car. I said that in the op...

I could understand charging for one hour, but not for two.
 
She wont be doing an hour before hand.



She wont be using his car. I said that in the op...

I could understand charging for one hour, but not for two.

The test is 40 mins, will she be able to get to the test centre and back in the remaining 20 mins? If not then I would think 2 hrs is required.
 
The test is 40 mins, will she be able to get to the test centre and back in the remaining 20 mins? If not then I would think 2 hrs is required.
The test is 40 mins, but there is also the fact she may end up waiting for the instructor. Plus there's the chat when you've finished to tell you how you did. Then add the time to/from the test centre. The instructor will charge you 2 hours.
 
The test is 40 mins, but there is also the fact she may end up waiting for the instructor. Plus there's the chat when you've finished to tell you how you did. Then add the time to/from the test centre. The instructor will charge you 2 hours.

Yeah forgot to mention all the pre and post test time.
 
Yes normal and perfectly understandable. Dont worry about it and good luck for your better half :)
 
Not the examiner, my instructor :p

Would certainly have been surprising if the examiner gave me a card.

Nah, my instructor was a decent chap, I'd had about 40-50 hours with him and we got on ok.


I guess you didn't get a card from your instructor :D

Ha I had 4 instructors.
1st didnt turn up on my test day and told me id never booked it with him
2nd shouted at me for going through an amber light the SECOND it changed
3rd Told me I was fine to take my test just to keep practicing and was a lovely lady
Last I had 6 hours with the week before my test and was a very likable chap, learnt more in those 6 hours than any of the other lessons, just made it click for me.

I should point out i was learning to drive for ages due to illness on my part and then other family members.
 
Wife wants to use her own car for the test, but needs someone to get her to & from. She asked her instructor about this and he wants to charge for 2hrs. Is this normal?

Regardless of if your wife is using her own car or not it's going to take up 2 hours of his time. Some of which he'll be sitting on his ass reading a magazine but it's time he isn't earning money otherwise.

As everyone else I was charged 2 hours and it took about that factoring in pick-up time, brief prep talk and calm down :), sitting the test, debrief / overview and drive home.
 
Drive the car down the center the day before and tell her to catch a bus. Either she passes on the day and can drive back or collect it later. Use saved money to celebrate or commiserate :)
 
Drive the car down the center the day before and tell her to catch a bus. Either she passes on the day and can drive back or collect it later. Use saved money to celebrate or commiserate :)

Think we will probably do something like this. Even with taxis it's cheaper than 2hrs of instructor's time.

Worst case: we drop car off, taxi back. She gets taxi for test. Fails test, taxi back. I taxi over to collect car later. That will cost us £20-£25 which is half what it otherwise would be.
 
IIRC I had to pay for my instructors time.

He just sat in the examiners place with a bunch of other instructors having a chat while a bunch of us drove off with the examiners.

Mind you he also gave me a card with £10 in it when I passed.

Which is a nice gesture but tbh that came to about 1% of the cost of me passing :p
On my test it was me passing the examiner the envelope full of cash :D


Think we will probably do something like this. Even with taxis it's cheaper than 2hrs of instructor's time.

Worst case: we drop car off, taxi back. She gets taxi for test. Fails test, taxi back. I taxi over to collect car later. That will cost us £20-£25 which is half what it otherwise would be.

WORST CASE: Something out of the ordinary contributes towards a fail. Examiners are a strange bunch, probably not big risk takers and anything out of the ordinary isnt good.
 
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