VIEWS OF A QUALIFIED BOY RACER... (Driving Courses in general)

Member Name: jamespugh

Product:	Driving Courses in general
Date:	21/06/02 (1293 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gets you driving, Go anywhere you want

Disadvantages: Costs a lot, Takes a lot of time

If its coming around to that age when you will want to start driving or maybe it?s the kids and you?re the confused parent; Well this should help those that are interested out;

***WHICH DRIVING SCHOOL TO CHOSE?***

There are generally two ways of thinking when it comes to which driving school to chose and how much to pay;

JONS CARS, RED-DRAGON etc.

These are companies that offer driving lessons at a cheaper rate, but may not be quite up to the standard of BSM. They may also not be able to provide helpful documentation about the car which I found helped my diving. E.g. I was shown a diagram to show simply how the gears of the car worked. I was also given a booklet to track my progress throughout the course, to see what aspects of driving I had covered e.g. three point turns etc and which aspects I was having trouble with.

BSM, AA etc.

These sorts of driving schools will generally cost a little more expensive to have lessons with; they are the bigger companies, as of course that mean as much profit as possible. BSM (British School of Motoring) was the company that I entrusted to teach me how to drive, and I was rite, they did a good job.

JOHNS CARS; REDRAGON CARS

These people or teachers will cost a few pounds more per lesson that the other driving schools, sometimes they much smaller companies, sometimes one or two people.

Thinking on it if you are paying more per lesson (i.e. BSM), but it takes less lessons it may even cost you less for lessons; now get your head around that one! It all needs to be carefully thought through, if you know a good teacher that has passed a mate in a low amount of lessons then go for it, otherwise go for more expensive, better quality schools of motoring.

***HOW MANY LESSONS WILL I/THEY NEED?***

It all depends on how good you are to start with, some people have a flair for driving and some are hopeless. I took lessons with BSM and had in t
otal 22 hours of lessons, not including test. One of my mates was hopeless at driving, he was with the AA and he took 36 hours. I suppose generally/on average it will take somewhere between these two amounts, 22 and 36 hours.

***HOW MUCH WILL IT ALL COST?***

Again this all depends on how many hours it takes you to pass. There calculations can be used to gauge how much its going to cost you or your parents;

ME (BSM) total 22 hours + 1 test + 1 theory test;

+ 22 at £16.50 an hour = £363
+ Multiple choice test at £35
+ 1 test at £40 (Includes hire of the car plus the test)

= (£363+£35+£40) = £438


MY MATE (AA) total 36 hours + 3 test + 1 theory test

+ 36 at £16 an hour = £576
+ Multiple choice test at £35
+ 3 test at £40 (Includes hire of the car plus the test) =£120

= (£576+£35+£120) = £731

***HOW LONG TILL I PASS?***

It all depends on how long you take, how many hours of tuition you may need!. I took 22 hours two pass; I started lessons on March the 1st and passed on June 12th so that took me 3 months.

A quick tip I would give if you want to save both time and money is two take two hour lessons together in one go, two a week rather than splitting them up at an hour at a time. It sometimes takes 30 minutes or so to get out of your area, and to travel to the best places to practice roundabouts for example. It makes better sense to give yourself two hour lessons and to really get into the lessons.

***WHATS THE DRIVING TESTS LIKE?***

The test really isn?t as hard as you would have though (maybe that?s juts because I passed first time). The hardest part is controlling your nerves surprisingly, not the car as you may have thought.

What BSM did with me was to have an hours practice before the final test and then go for a coffee and listen to the radio in the car, it really did settle my nerves.

All you have to do it?s a
short-ish 20 minute run in the car, that?s it. The examiner isn?t going to bite your head off, he?s only human, well most are. Just show them what you have learnt, and just think if you fail its going to cost you another couple of hundred pounds! That will spur you on I bet???

***WHAT CAR WILL I GET TO LEARN IN?***

Hold on, nothing flashy here. IT will be a Vauxhall Corsa , Peugoet 206 or Ford Fiesta; its will be nothing too expensive or anything with a big engine.

***SUMMERY***

This isn?t an advert for BSM, although more expensive they got me through the test quickly with a high standard of teaching which it proved to be.

Basically don?t worry; driving will become earlier as you go along, although it doesn?t seem like that at the start.

I hope this as help potential learners;

P.S Please pull over and let me pass if you see me behind you, I am a fully qualified ?boy racer?.

***Jamespugh***

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