Driving lessons - instructor taking the rise?

PinkCakes

For my son's 40th birthday, I paid for 10 driving lessons, with AA school of motoring, at a cost of £285. He's been having 2 hours, once a week, and has now taken all 10 lessons.

He tells me that he's only done straight driving, so no reversing, parallel parking, etc.

I think the instructor is taking the whatsit. What do you think?

Am I missing something here by reading the replies…….. PinkCakes is saying her son has ONLY done STRAIGHT driving within the 10 paid lessons , there is more to learning to drive than to just drive straight that’s plainly obvious . There are many other manoeuvres that needs to be learnt , reversing , parking , three point turns , hill starts , ect , which when I’d learnt to drive was included in every hour that i were out on the road , just driving straight for the 10 lessons doesn’t seem right to me , unless the way pupils are taught have changed dramatically. I’d phone AA to enquire.

Jo1960 & missdeke, I had that driving instructor too.....

I learned to drive when I was 30 (moved out of the city to a small town so I had to) and needed a LOT more than 10 lessons. As someone-else has said, a rough guide is one lesson for every year of your age but it really depends on the individul person - some people are very nervous learners and need more, plus practice in between lessons = fewer lessons needed. I can't remember how long it took me to do more than straight driving - although parallel parking was a LONG way down the line and certainly not after 10 lessons. I wonder if your son really wants to learn to drive - as he's reached 40 without doing so? Does he want to continue? Certainly after 10 lessons I wouldn't expect a 40 year old to be ready for his test. Sorry.

It will take him longer to learn at 40 than 20 I’m afraid. If he wants to practice with you or anyone else in the car I can thoroughly recommend covered on demand learners insurance. You only pay for the days the learner actually use the car . you have a pin code and a monthly chart and you just put the days in that the learner is going to drive . We found it so useful for my son who had to keep his driving ticking over through the lockdown .

Until very recently, my daughter was a driving instructor and most of her pupils took between 25 and 30 hours of lessons in order to be ready for their test. She said it wasn't just a matter of teaching them how to pass the test, more importantly they have to learn how to drive correctly, thoughtfully, learn how to detect possible dangers and stay calm in all situations. She had an extremely high success rate, excellent feedback from pupils and a huge waiting list.
On another note. It may be worth only learning to drive an automatic anyway as in 9 years all new cars sold will be electric anyway i.e. automatics in all but name

is parallel parking in the requirements?

Yes.

In 1969 I took my test in a 3 wheeler! My boyfriend taught me to drive in it.
I passed. Before I sent off the pink slip I married and we went to Australia - £10 poms!
As I hadn’t sent off my slip my licence didn’t count so I had to take a test again, which I did and passed.
I returned to England suddenly after my husbands death and didn’t even think about getting an international licence, as I had 3 children and was pregnant at the time, so had to take my test again once I had sorted things out back here.
I failed the test!!!
So I took a couple of lessons and passed it.
I think I might be one of very few people who took their test 4 times and passes it three times! ?
And with very few lessons. ?

Stupid suggestion, but is it that he's saying he's only done 'straight driving' meaning just driving (but covering all that you'd expect), & no car maintenance, teaching o f road signs etc.?

I have a couple of nephews who use the expression 'straight' to mean straight in this manner (a bit like straight talking).

I was a self employed driving instructor for 45 years and no two pupils were the same. I taught my two sons too. Both passed 1st time at 17. One had 12 lessons, the other needed at least 30. So it is a very individual thing.

Oh the joys of learning to drive I started learning to drive MANY moons ago with BSM I don’t suppose they exist now but they were excellent. I lived away from home got no practise and failed first time of course. Back home I was able to practise thanks to a good neighbour, and passed my test. I think it’s the amount of practise between lessons that count. Good luck to your Son he will get the hang of it and enjoy years of driving I am sure

Your DS is 40 and now learning to drive. As he has left it later in life perhaps he has anxiety about learning hence not progressing as quickly as you'd expect a teenager. He needs to have feedback on his progress before you can pass comment.

I started with AA many years ago, probably an entirely different set up now, but you were allocated an instructor rather than choosing one. Unless you went to them in the city centre, the previous learner picked you up and you dropped them off somewhere convenient! It wasn’t the driver’s own business, they joined the AA pool of drivers. They had a starter course which was generally cheaper than self-employed driving instructors. I never booked again when my instructor said she had put one learner’s spectacles under the back wheels to make her do a proper hill start! I found a local self-employed instructor I liked and we discussed progress and any problems I had with his tuition etc. It took ages for me to learn to drive and I did ask lots of questions but I was competent when I took my test and passed first time. I would move him to a local driving instructor with good recommendations.

When my children were learning to drive I took them out every evening to practice. Some nights I wasn’t popular because they had other plans for their time!! But they both passed first time.

Pinkcakes
I would say that the price of your sons lessons is about average at the moment and cheaper than many. As others have said he will have learned a lot more than he realises even doing just 'straight driving', and of course he will have had to make left and right turns, starts & stops, signalling etc etc.

My husband was a driving instructor for over 30 years and a very good one. Almost all his pupils were recommended to him and he often taught more than one generation of families. His oldest pupil was 89 and she passed first time! He often told pupils he could teach them to pass the test, or he could teach them to drive well and become good, confident drivers.

We too have a 40 year old son who doesn't drive, and doesn't want to, because taking tests/exams of any kind terrifies him. Hence he left school with very few exam results. He took lessons about 12 years ago but when he was ready for the Test he 'chickened out'.

In my husband's experience older people just need more lessons and often their progress is slower. On a one hour lesson it might take them 15 minutes to relax and familiarise themselves again with the handling of the car. Then the learning process begins in earnest, but during the last 10-15 minutes their concentration wanes as they begin to tire. Two hours is a long time to concentrate on multi-tasking which is what driving is! Two hour lessons are often better reserved for nearer the Test date when they are more competent and relaxed and can enjoy a longer drive while their instructor observes and picks up on any faults that need to be dealt with. Your son could try having two one-hour lessons a week to see if it suits him better. His instructor may then devote one of the lessons to manouvering etc.

I wish him luck!

Well this has set me thinking, I am pretty sure I was paying 17/6 per lesson in 1967 and it took me absolutely ages to get to grips with it so I doubt we did reverse driving and uphill starts for a while. In actual fact when being taught to reverse around a corner I was told to line the kerb up with a letter on the rear screen. I never did understand what he meant and would simply guess! My own children were given £200 for their lessons and both managed to pass without adding any more . Your son will get there eventually and if slower than a seventeen year old, so what.? Better to learn correctly.

I don’t think PinkGates is complaining about the cost, but on the fact that her son has done so little on his lessons. Perhaps as you booked the lessons you should ask the instructor (or the company he works for) why this is so.

They do say that you need a driving lesson for every year of your age. So when you get to forty you need roughly 40 lessons. I have offered to pay for my granddaughters to have driving lessons when they reach 17. I think when your young you pick things up quicker.

I think it depends on the pupil, degree of nerves, their capacity to learn new things, commit to memory the tasks and gain their confidence. A car is a dangerous weapon and in the wrong hands is lethal.

I think 2hour lessons when you first start driving is too long. Start with an hour, and when you get more experienced and coming upto the test up it to 2hrs. You are probably expecting too much as he has only had five lessons.

As the wife of a driving instructor, I feel I can respond with a bit of insight. It takes an average of 40 hours tuition (for a complete novice) to pass a test in the UK. £28/hr is actually on the less expensive side these days. If you think it’s expensive, think about getting in a taxi for an hours journey, how much would it cost? Also, driving forwards is about road craft, anticipation of oncoming vehicles, stopping, starting, hill starts, roundabouts and so much more. I believe the AA are pretty good at what they do with a pretty standardised way of teaching. Once he has mastered the basics he will then go on to learn the manoeuvres needed to pass a test.

I was absolutely hopeless when learning to drive in my thirties. I needed to learn so I could get to university as a mature student, or I should have given up I found it so stressful. My instructor, a grandmother, told me that doctors and other intelligent people took longest to learn as they took in too much interference from their surroundings. I had 37 lessons in the end and passed at the second test. Perhaps your son isn’t getting enough practice between lessons.

I was 38 when I passed my test in 1988 after 3 instructors and over a year's teaching. We all have different aptitudes. The third (& successful) instructor got me doing coordination exercises which helped. Thank goodness, as I had it was in the contract of my new job that I had to get my driving licence within a year!

Jaxie

I was absolutely hopeless when learning to drive in my thirties. I needed to learn so I could get to university as a mature student, or I should have given up I found it so stressful. My instructor, a grandmother, told me that doctors and other intelligent people took longest to learn as they took in too much interference from their surroundings. I had 37 lessons in the end and passed at the second test. Perhaps your son isn’t getting enough practice between lessons.

Jaxie My husband said the same as your instructor that the more intellectual pupils invariably took longer to learn, as if their minds were too busy with 'higher' things. Over the years his pupils included several doctors, lecturers, two ambassadors, an astro physicist (!), three pop stars and a footballer - a mixed bag. But his favourites were usually Mr or Mrs Smith/Brown/Bloggs who really needed to drive and paid attention and tried their hardest. It was a job he loved and ex-pupils still contacted him long after he retired to enquire about lessons for their GC and GGC.

He's 40 and only had 10 2hour lessons I was in my 20s when learning and told to expect to need one and a half lessons for every year of life before being ready for a test

I don't think 2 hr lessons are always a good thing. I had several of these and it seemed only about half of the time was spent actually driving and the rest of the time listening to the instructor rabbit on and mostly not about driving. At the time I didn't have the confidence to complain.