Driving instructor dragging out lessons, advice needed.

Mark A

Mark A

Mark A

Soldato
Joined
19 May 2005
Posts
18,202
Location
Lancashire
Hi,

I have been taking 2 hour lessons once a week since the beginning of December with a driving instructor recommended by a mate. So far Ive done 30 hours and took a mock test yesterday and failed with 2 majors and 7 minors :( . He then tells me that I'm ready to take the test and book it for 2
weeks time :confused: , i said do you think I'm ready and he said yes, we just need to polish a few things up.

Then today my mate came round and we were chatting about our driving lessons and he was saying that he thinks hes dragging lessons out and trying to get as much money from him as he can. Ive also noticed i seem to be driving down a lot of straight roads at 30mph and not learning hardly anything in a 2 hour lesson. I don't have the opportunity to practice either as my mum doesn't drive and my dad drives a long wheelbase van.

Ive been stalling loads and he didn't tell me until yesterday what I'm doing wrong. Apparently I'm not using enough gas and lifting the clutch too fast right at the end. If he would have told me this at the beginning of my lessons i could have worked on it and wouldn't be doing it now :mad: .

I really don't know what to think tbh, i didn't think anything of it until today when my mate who recommended him was now saying hes a crap instructor. I don't really want to change instructors now as the next instructor i get could be just the same and id like to be driving asap. I was thinking of just seeing what happens next week and then make a decision, but should i book the test for 2 weeks time?.
 
My uncle is a driving instructor...he says that almost everyone fails their "mock" test, so I wouldn't worry about that personally.

You could change instructors but to be honest it sounds like your mate is just throwing a wobbley.

Do what you think is best. Perhaps do two 1 hour lessons a week? Tell him you want to practice on a wider variety of roads, do more manouvers etc.
 
You sound like you've lost confidence in your instructor. I'd change straight away. Find a self employed instructor who's been around for a while, not someone in one of those franchises.
 
Jaap74 said:
Why the hell did he recommend him then ??
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Maybe he'd only just started when he recommended him?

I'd also recommend the independant instructor route. I've been learning with a brilliant guy who just does it himself. He's a great teacher and also only costs about a third of what I was quoted by one of the big companies. (They wanted me to sign up for 30 hours at the start at about £20 an hour, and wanted to charge me £70-odd for a few hours on a simulator before they even let me on the road!) My current instructor is £12.50 an hour and he has me up to (pretty much) test standard after 16 1-hour lessons.

Go independant!
 
I had to change my instructor after 10 hours of lessons. His final estimate was 50 hours in total, my mum just laughed at this and we decided to go with someone a lot of my friend went with.

Reason she laughed was she's been taking me out, and i'm really getting good and i've done tonnes more with her than instructor, he seems to be dragging things out. I never stall and i have good sense of what's happening. I know the DSA average is 45hours, but we feel with my extra practice and how fast i picked it up he's just dragging it out.

He wants to do 4hours PER manouver, 9 hours on dual/single carriageways and sliproads and another 9 hours to go over everything. And many more hours on other things.
 
book the test and pass. It's not worth changing 2 weeks before the test, he says your ready and to book the test and then you say he's dragging it can't be both. Everyone fails the mock as there are ultra harsh and nit picking and looking for things to polish up on.

I would take the test in 2 weeks. If you fail then change instructors. It'll do more harm than good changing so close to the test.
 
Biscuity said:
50 hours!?!?

What's that a YEAR of lessons? :eek:
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Yeah tell me about it, he's really dragging things out and the thing is i'm a pretty good driver i feel and my parents say this too.
 
calnen said:
Maybe he'd only just started when he recommended him?

I'd also recommend the independant instructor route. I've been learning with a brilliant guy who just does it himself. He's a great teacher and also only costs about a third of what I was quoted by one of the big companies. (They wanted me to sign up for 30 hours at the start at about £20 an hour, and wanted to charge me £70-odd for a few hours on a simulator before they even let me on the road!) My current instructor is £12.50 an hour and he has me up to (pretty much) test standard after 16 1-hour lessons.

Go independant!
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Wow theres no one around here that charges £12.50 unfortunately. My mate had had a few lessons with him and was doing well when he recommended him but now hes saying hes not progressed any further after all this time.

Hes sub contracted i think, part of quicksilver driving school but i pay him direct after each lesson. There was no simulator or anything like that, iirc big chains like BSM use that. I asked him how long it usually takes at the beginning and he said it all depends on the learner, he said the fastest anyone has Lent with him was 14 hours. Hes also fully booked all the time and even works sundays sometimes to fit people in, which i thought was a good sign.

I'll see what happens next lesson before i decide to change instructors, i don't really want to start all over again.

My uncle is a driving instructor...he says that almost everyone fails their "mock" test, so I wouldn't worry about that personally.
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Yeah he said that after we stopped, he said don't be disheartened by this but I'm finding it hard not to as i thought i was doing really well.
 
The_Dark_Side said:
i recently read that the average number of lessons needed before passing the test is 43.
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I've got the DSA leaflet here which my instructor tried to back up his 50hours quote to me and it say 45hours and 22 hours private lessons :eek: . Fair enough some people need it, but i picked everything up so fast and extra practice.
 
Macca said:
I've got the DSA leaflet here which my instructor tried to back up his 50hours quote to me and it say 45hours and 22 hours private lessons :eek: . Fair enough some people need it, but i picked everything up so fast and extra practice.
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as with all averages mate, some people will need way less than that just as others will need way more.

it can't be cheap to learn to drive for the average person though.
 
The_Dark_Side said:
as with all averages mate, some people will need way less than that just as others will need way more.

it can't be cheap to learn to drive for the average person though.
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Yeah i know that and that's why i feel my EX-instructor shouldn't be trying to make people stick to the same amount of lessons regardless of how fast they progress and pick things up.
 
Macca said:
Yeah i know that and that's why i feel my EX-instructor shouldn't be trying to make people stick to the same amount of lessons regardless of how fast they progress and pick things up.
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the sad fact is that a lot of people seem to end up having more lessons than they really needed to pass.
 
i had an old instructor who did this and it made me hate driving , id done 4 hours and got no where even though i felt i knew what i was doing

a year of no driving later i just booked up my driving test because my theory was due to run out

rang BSM "i need some lessons my tests in 3 weeks ,

1st hour he took me too an industrial estate by the 3rd hour id done every maneuver

spent 10 hours practising them

passed test with 1 minor for flicking my indicator from left too right when trying to cancel it

no mock tests or anything

result :D
 
The_Dark_Side said:
the sad fact is that a lot of people seem to end up having more lessons than they really needed to pass.
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Yeah most likely, but i can't afford to :p I have to pay for all my lessons, tests, car and stuff when it comes. And right now i'm waiting to hear back from a few employers for a job :( .
 
Macca said:
Yeah most likely, but i can't afford to :p I have to pay for all my lessons, tests, car and stuff when it comes. And right now i'm waiting to hear back from a few employers for a job :( .
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i wonder how much money it costs the average driver, from paying for a provisional+lessons to passing the test, buying their first car and insuring it.

on second thoughs i dread to think...even if you put, say, a £2k celing on the purchase price of the car.
 
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