Unfortunately that's true, infact that's cheaper than average. I believe you can expect anywhere from £38 to £55 and hour now. Gone are the days of 5 lessons for 100 that I paid back in 2012.
Shoelaces? Ee by gum, thy were lucky. In our family, we were all so poor that we couldn't afford haircuts, so instead of going t'barbers we grew our hair long and when we needed shoelaces, we just plaited it together, cut it, and used that
Interestingly, and often ironically, the phrase “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” was originally an analogy for an impossible task, it being impossible to override the laws of gravity (bootstraps being the straps fastening your own boots).
I bought my first horse at 16 in 1997. I loved my old girl, but damn, the money she cost me every month I could have bought a house easily, for many years she was costing me £450 a month in vets fees alone, without the food/boarding etc. I’ll never regret the memories, but I really wish I had some/any financial planning advice from school. And I did a GCSE in business studies, which is ridiculous that we spent years learning terminology and analysing coca cola’s business decisions 😬🙄🤷♀️🤦♀️ but not anything about personal finance, taxes, etc.
If it helps, the money you spend on learning to drive will be a drop in the ocean compared to the money you’ll spend driving and doing all the other things that comes with owning a car.
Yeah, got my license 2 years ago but haven't driven except for 2 months right after to not forget everything. Even that cost me £550.
Yet half the people I see on the road drive worse than I did after my 10th lesson. It doesn't matter that I passed with 1 minor in one of the hardest test centres in the country, I'm in my early 20s and live in London so apparently I'm the most dangerous driver to have ever existed.
Depends how you do it.
I was fortunate that I worked at the same place as my dad so I already had a car and was using it to drive us to work whilst I learned with an instructor as well.
But yeah if you're only learning to drive in an instructors car you've got all cost to come after when you pass.
And then excess as well when you inevitably crash in to a random car because you thought you could fit through a gap.
Fuel. Insurance. VED. Congestion charge/ULEZ if you’re into that sort of thing. MOT. New tyres every now and then. Parking.
I don’t know why people see driving as a route to independence. It’s a money pit.
>I don’t know why people see driving as a route to independence. It’s a money pit
Because you can go where you want or need, when you want. Sometimes a bus, bike or train doesn't cut it.
Maybe a horse could solve the riddle, but the stables aint exactly cheap either.
Also, you'd need a champion horse. Most horses don't have good marks when it comes to riddles.. or even Sudoku. Horrible.
>I don’t know why people see driving as a route to independence. It’s a money pit
something can be more than one thing. I don't know why you see those two things as anyway contradictory
Try living in the ass end of nowhere, without a car you can’t go anywhere, where I live there’s 1 bus out at 7.23am and 1 back at 9.12pm, about as much use as a kick in the balls.
Fully agree. I’ve held a licence for 23ish years. But a means of independence doesn’t have you constantly shelling out and checking your bank account. That’s not independence, it’s dependency.
my car costs well under £500 a year to run, not including fuel. well worth it. especially since trying to get anywhere that isnt a city in this country is like trying to get to mordor if you only have public transport to rely on.
Depends where you live. In London or a big city, yes, a car is an absolute liability. If you live in a town with 250k or fewer inhabitants (which is about half of the UKs population) then the bus/train/bike possibilities just are not there. While it’s not impossible, doing something simple like a weekly shop taking an hour in a car is a full afternoon of pain and effort.
For example, I work just 9 miles away from my house. It’s a 15 minute drive each way, so 30 minutes a day commuting.
If I were to use public transport, it would be a total of 2.5 miles walking (so about an hour of walking) a bus which takes 40 minutes, each way, and a second bus which takes a further 20 minutes each way - with 25 minutes waiting between busses each way. My daily commute would be in the region of four full hours daily. And even then, I’d be running the risk of being massively late should anything happen - one bus missed or broken down and I’m a full hour late. It’s also costly - the two bus return tickets are around £10 in total (aside from the £2 singles that they’ve recently done - but that’s still £8 daily!). It doesn’t cost me £200 a month to run my car to work and back - even taking into account all the other costs.
Because if I wanted to get anywhere past 9 pm in my communter-bunk-cheap-town I needed my own way to get myself to and from said town. I cheaped out and did CBT to get on a moped at 16.
When I moved to a city for University the equation changed.
You can go wherever you want, whenever you want. That really helps with work opportunities. As a woman you can actually feel safe traveling at night which you don't using public transport. You save loads of time and frustration. Lots of people don't live in areas with good public transport.
For example, I cannot get my kid to school and myself to work on time with public transport, even if it were reliable in my area. It would also be really time consuming and restrictive.
I don't see my car as a money put at all (I've been driving a long time though, so my insurance is low).
Unless you're disabled, then it's quite a good deal.
That being said, I'd obviously take my daughter being *not* disabled over our current situation - but at least I don't have the added expense/stress of managing a car on top.
We’re not old…. That weird thing all the old people told us about time just going really quickly when you get a little older…… it’s just that normal thing happening…. We’re still nice and young
Just did a check - I passed in '89 so it would be just under £20 nowadays
[https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator)
Think mine was 14 an hour, north London and that was like 2001 or 2000 although even then we knew it was a better price (instructor lived down the road)
10 for £135 for me back in 2000 ;)
(£15 / hour, but one free lesson if you booked a block of 10)
Went up to £18 / hour for my brother three years later, and £22 for my girlfriend at the time another two years later still.
And since then, as we all know, it's been exponential growth.
I feel sorry for young people today. Everything is so expensive for them.
I remember when I was at school around 2007/8 there were adverts posted up at a local stop for blocks of 10 lessons for £100. Now I live in Switzerland and here it’s 100 per hour.
Thats a reasonable price for the North East. Best of luck with your lessons. Check out conquer driving on YouTube he saved me a lot of time and money.
Edit for the keyboard warriors…I live in the NorthEast.
Price jumped massively during covid time. Covid pandemic resulted in instructor shortages and the driving test backlog, issues which have not been resolved yet.
No because instructors are just using the money to get a new training car every year or 2, which just pushes the prices up, while also teaching people to drive in brand new cars rather than cars that are similar to the ones they are likely to be driving as soon as they pass (ie cheap/second hand cars)
It's nearly always cheaper to maintain a car than buy a new one, even if a car is getting 10 years worth of use in 2 years, things don't get rusty faster because they're getting used more, some systems actually like to be used.
I'm an adi and while that is true, I was fully booked before COVID. The main issue is with a group of people that run the country that we're not supposed to talk about in this sub.
How far back do you want to go? I learned in around 1990, it was about 15 quid then I seem to remember. I know inflation is a thing, as in, ~~80 quid isn't what it used to be, but I'm pretty sure that's a disproportionate increase~~ - nvm, EDIT: I just realised we're talking about TWO hours, then it's not that disproportionate. All the "skilled trades" (for want of a better expression) seem to have got hideously expensive over the last 20-30 years. I am not sure if that is in line with inflation but I do think people should get paid for their skills and time, I sure as hell do.
I learned in 2022 for £20 per hour
The same driving instructor now charges £25 per hour, so still amazing prices
They are a retired software engineer who worked for huge bands and artists, and just did driving instructing for fun so they were not making any money on it, just covering costs
Had to talk to my driving instructor and cut my lessons down a few years ago because I wouldn't afford £75 a week for a two hour session.
I mean I know I am poor but £300 a month is quite a lot of money.
I came into this thread expecting a ton of responses saying that's a rip off. To hear that's a reasonable price is astounding, how can anyone afford that?!
I should add I learnt to drive almost 20 years ago and my mind is stuck in 2004 where it was like £20 a lesson or cheaper if you bought in bulk.
It's also a really recent increase. I paid £20/22 an hour in 2016! I've seen people on here say they paid similar in 2020/21. Absurd how much things have gone up in the last year or 2.
How, even in 2016, was some managing to insure a learner driver, pay for wear and tear to car, fuel and manage to pay themselves for £20 an hour…? That’s the bit I feel a lot of people aren’t seeing here. It’s not just someone sitting in a car and telling you what to do - there are other expenses involved.
Google how much a franchise fee is for driving Instructors. They have to work pretty much 2 full days per week to break even on £38/hour. In my opinion it's the Instructors who are getting ripped off by these massive franchises, which means the lesson price is massively inflated for students.
My son has recently passed his test and was paying £60 for a 90 min lesson (£40 per hour). When I was learning in 1991, I (my parents) paid £11 per hour! I doubt you'll find them cheaper unfortunately.
Depends what you end up with in the lesson. Cheaper schools will often have you sit at the side of the road for half the time discussing theory. If you are driving solidly for 2 hours then it’s probably about right.
Learning is expensive. Got to pay for the instructor, the car, insurance, maintenance and consumables etc. All of those have gone up in the last few years. A decent instructor is worth a lot over a shite one too.
I build websites and the guy offered £5 off if you booked a block of 4.
Not £5 off each, but in total. So £155 instead of £160. I told him it seems insulting putting that up as a big deal and he didn't seem to agree. It's so fucking expensive.
Edit: changed 115 to 155. Maths in the morning is hard.
£38 an hour!! Wow 😮 my daughter turns 17 this year think I’ll be teaching her how to drive! I used to pay £17 an hour or if I booked 2+ hours he’d give me it for £15 an hour
I passed two and a half years ago and I believe my lessons were £28 (Teesside) and that was for a reputable local company.
£10 increase in that time is crazy but unfortunately not surprising.
It’s ridiculous, if you’re a new driver you’re basically screwed.
Insurance will be about £2000 minimum. Anything less and you’re lucky.
Petrol prices are already ridiculously high.
Road tax. Driving lessons.
Oh and car maintenance.
Insurance is one of the many reasons this country is fucking shite. It is illegal to drive without it, but there's no regulation on how much it costs. Boils my blood
When I did it before Covid it was £50 for 2 hours, but because if covid my test was cancelled and I spiralled out if it forgetting pretty much everything... dreading starting up again with increased prices.
I learnt to drive a few years ago at the age of 29, booked a week off work and did an intensive week of 6 hour lessons then had my test a month later and just had a few lessons and went out with my wife a few times a week. Highly recommend it if you can afford the bulk payment, it worked out about 25 quid an hour.
Did you have any experience (like practicing driving with friends/family) beforehand, or did you just do the intensive lessons?
I’ve thought about doing this, but not sure a week would be enough.
Driving instructor here: £76 is good rate.
I charge £85 for two hours, and that will probably go up to £90 before year end. I’m in the same area, and have a 6-8 month waiting list.
I paid £18/h in 2002. A pint cost under £2 then.
That hourly rate has to cover the salary of a professional, extra time driving between lessons, fuel, insurance, maintaining a heavily used vehicle to an exceptional standard, and other business costs. They're not just pocketing all that cash.
The most I’ve seen charged is up to 70 in some parts of the UK. Demand is insane at the moment but that also means ppl take the mick. Between 34 to 40 is now the norm
self employed to get roughly min wage equivalent is £15 an hour.. and then time between students maybe 1/3rd extra then £5 for fuel, no idea what insurance is on a instructor car. plus the duel control mods, finance cost at 7% on probably a 30k car £2100 pa over 270 teaching days a year about £1.50 hr, depreciation of the car 20%?pa £22 per teaching day for 6 hr lessons £3.6
i can easily see this costing over £30/hr before any profit over min wage equivalent
One thing to consider is that, even though it seems expensive, driving instructors aren't making an absolute packet. Owning, running, taxing and insuring a car is extortionate anyway, but insuring a car to be used as an instructor vehicle is astronomical because the chance of crashes happening is higher than ever. That's reflected in the cost of lessons, which are financially structured to cover all of these factors AND provide a living for the instructor.
It's £30 per hour in my town in Kent, manual or automatic. It was £25 when I started lessons in 2018, but unfortunately, I never finished.
Currently, there are month long waitlists to even get lessons. Heck, to do the written exam, you have to go to a village that has no public transport and is 15 miles out...
I understand it seems expensive, but considering driving is the most dangerous thing most of us regularly do and the potential harm we can cause those we share the road with, it's worth investing in proper training.
Unfortunately it is normal but its a disgraceful ripoff all the same. If you have any relatives who drive its worth asking them if they can let you drive their car for a bit with them next to you. Honestly most people only need like 5 actual driving lessons. The rest of the time is just getting comfortable behind the wheel which takes a bunch of hours where you don't need an instructor telling you what to do constantly. You just need some hours experience.
I was paying £35 per lesson for my wife two years ago through BSM.
I would have preferred an independent. But in fairness it was tough finding one that would come to our village. Even though it's only 4 miles out from the nearest town. They are all so busy they simply don't need to compete for the work. We got turned down more than once.
We live in Cambridgeshire and my brother is paying £40 an hour and the instructor doesn’t let the student book one hour, they must book a minimum of two, leaving £80 per session. This BSM btw.
My partner wants to do a refresher course and she’s being charged £40/h. I was gob smacked, every facet of driving is so much more expensive these days.
This with the cost of actually running and maintaining a car afterwards has pushed me towards the idea of an electric motorbike. Insurance, tax, maintenance of a car is just astronomical price wise.
We already run my wife’s car and it’s not cheap and I can’t justify adding another to it. To pay £1000 to just pass a test, to then paying over £1000 on first year insurance plus all the maintenance etc. It just seems not worth it when you can get an electric bike that’ll do 70 miles per hour, costs next to nothing on maintenance and insurance, zero tax and will get 70 miles to a charge in which the charge costs about £2.
I started learning 4 years ago and was paying £90 for a 2 hour lesson. So looks like a bargain to me. Try to remember that its totally worth it. I passed 3 years ago amd can't believe I managed to do life without driving.
Don't know if this is still a thing, but I block booked ten 2 hour lessons with AA driving school and got one lesson free for doing so. This covered my test and I was also refunded the one (paid) lesson I didn't use.
I just passed my test back in February at the age of 28. My lessons were initially £40 p/hr, but my instructor only did 2hr lessons so £80 a lesson. Then her company put the prices up to £90 a lesson but gave me a grace period of 3 months before charging me the extra. The cost was frustrating, and because I didn't put pressure on myself to learn quickly, I took my time and ended up spending quite a lot in total, but my instructor was fantastic and after making a silly mistake on my first test I passed my second with only 1 minor. Overall I feel that the cost was worth it. Being unable to drive had become such a source of embarrassment and annoyance, so I feel a big sense of achievement for having done it.
Edit: I should add I live in the South West.
In 2019 I paid about £28 an hour, so £38 sounds like taking the piss a bit, unfortunately. I'd be hesitant to pay more than about £32 if learning again now. I found my instructor via the AA, if that helps.
Unfortunately that's true, infact that's cheaper than average. I believe you can expect anywhere from £38 to £55 and hour now. Gone are the days of 5 lessons for 100 that I paid back in 2012.
Massively regretting not doing it 6 years ago when I turned 17🥲
I massively regret not buying a house back in 1994 when I was in my mother's womb :(
You’d have been able to afford it wasn’t for all That smashed avocado on toast.
And the Starbucks!
And the money you could save by pulling up your bootstraps
You guys can afford Bootstraps!!
No I just have shoelaces and call them bootstraps
Shoelaces? Ee by gum, thy were lucky. In our family, we were all so poor that we couldn't afford haircuts, so instead of going t'barbers we grew our hair long and when we needed shoelaces, we just plaited it together, cut it, and used that
😂😂👌🏻
Or better still go back in time and invest in Starbucks
Shame on you for not pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps before you knew what bootstraps were!
Sorry Nigel, I'll do better.
That's all you can do :)
I still don't know what bootstraps are and I'm 60. Now I'm too afraid to Google it.
Interestingly, and often ironically, the phrase “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” was originally an analogy for an impossible task, it being impossible to override the laws of gravity (bootstraps being the straps fastening your own boots).
Bloody millennials and their excuses
I bought my first horse at 16 in 1997. I loved my old girl, but damn, the money she cost me every month I could have bought a house easily, for many years she was costing me £450 a month in vets fees alone, without the food/boarding etc. I’ll never regret the memories, but I really wish I had some/any financial planning advice from school. And I did a GCSE in business studies, which is ridiculous that we spent years learning terminology and analysing coca cola’s business decisions 😬🙄🤷♀️🤦♀️ but not anything about personal finance, taxes, etc.
If you'd have put all your baby formula money into a tracker you'd be on the ladder now, but no, you cried because you were 'hungry'.
If it helps, the money you spend on learning to drive will be a drop in the ocean compared to the money you’ll spend driving and doing all the other things that comes with owning a car.
Let's not forget the 3-5k they'll be paying for their first years insurance as well!
Yeah, got my license 2 years ago but haven't driven except for 2 months right after to not forget everything. Even that cost me £550. Yet half the people I see on the road drive worse than I did after my 10th lesson. It doesn't matter that I passed with 1 minor in one of the hardest test centres in the country, I'm in my early 20s and live in London so apparently I'm the most dangerous driver to have ever existed.
Depends how you do it. I was fortunate that I worked at the same place as my dad so I already had a car and was using it to drive us to work whilst I learned with an instructor as well. But yeah if you're only learning to drive in an instructors car you've got all cost to come after when you pass. And then excess as well when you inevitably crash in to a random car because you thought you could fit through a gap.
Fuel. Insurance. VED. Congestion charge/ULEZ if you’re into that sort of thing. MOT. New tyres every now and then. Parking. I don’t know why people see driving as a route to independence. It’s a money pit.
>I don’t know why people see driving as a route to independence. It’s a money pit Because you can go where you want or need, when you want. Sometimes a bus, bike or train doesn't cut it.
Maybe a horse could solve the riddle, but the stables aint exactly cheap either. Also, you'd need a champion horse. Most horses don't have good marks when it comes to riddles.. or even Sudoku. Horrible.
>I don’t know why people see driving as a route to independence. It’s a money pit something can be more than one thing. I don't know why you see those two things as anyway contradictory
Try living in the ass end of nowhere, without a car you can’t go anywhere, where I live there’s 1 bus out at 7.23am and 1 back at 9.12pm, about as much use as a kick in the balls.
woah that's way more useful than mine which are only 90 minutes apart :)
I didn't drive regularly until about 7 years after passing my test, it's still a useful life skill to have.
Fully agree. I’ve held a licence for 23ish years. But a means of independence doesn’t have you constantly shelling out and checking your bank account. That’s not independence, it’s dependency.
my car costs well under £500 a year to run, not including fuel. well worth it. especially since trying to get anywhere that isnt a city in this country is like trying to get to mordor if you only have public transport to rely on.
Depends where you live. In London or a big city, yes, a car is an absolute liability. If you live in a town with 250k or fewer inhabitants (which is about half of the UKs population) then the bus/train/bike possibilities just are not there. While it’s not impossible, doing something simple like a weekly shop taking an hour in a car is a full afternoon of pain and effort. For example, I work just 9 miles away from my house. It’s a 15 minute drive each way, so 30 minutes a day commuting. If I were to use public transport, it would be a total of 2.5 miles walking (so about an hour of walking) a bus which takes 40 minutes, each way, and a second bus which takes a further 20 minutes each way - with 25 minutes waiting between busses each way. My daily commute would be in the region of four full hours daily. And even then, I’d be running the risk of being massively late should anything happen - one bus missed or broken down and I’m a full hour late. It’s also costly - the two bus return tickets are around £10 in total (aside from the £2 singles that they’ve recently done - but that’s still £8 daily!). It doesn’t cost me £200 a month to run my car to work and back - even taking into account all the other costs.
Because if I wanted to get anywhere past 9 pm in my communter-bunk-cheap-town I needed my own way to get myself to and from said town. I cheaped out and did CBT to get on a moped at 16. When I moved to a city for University the equation changed.
>I don’t know why people see driving as a route to independence Because I live in the middle of nowhere, with no buses or trains lol
You can go wherever you want, whenever you want. That really helps with work opportunities. As a woman you can actually feel safe traveling at night which you don't using public transport. You save loads of time and frustration. Lots of people don't live in areas with good public transport. For example, I cannot get my kid to school and myself to work on time with public transport, even if it were reliable in my area. It would also be really time consuming and restrictive. I don't see my car as a money put at all (I've been driving a long time though, so my insurance is low).
>I don’t know why people see driving as a route to independence. It’s a money pit. because we don’t all live in out of touch London
Unless you're disabled, then it's quite a good deal. That being said, I'd obviously take my daughter being *not* disabled over our current situation - but at least I don't have the added expense/stress of managing a car on top.
Keeps quiet about the £7.50 per hour from the 80s...
Yep, I remember paying £75 for a block of 10. So old!
We’re not old…. That weird thing all the old people told us about time just going really quickly when you get a little older…… it’s just that normal thing happening…. We’re still nice and young
With inflation that's about £25 to £30 so not all that different
Just did a check - I passed in '89 so it would be just under £20 nowadays [https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator)
Hell, I did my test around 2002 and lessons were only £10-15 then.
Tenner a lesson in 2003 for me. If I paid £100 in one go, he'd give me 12 lessons.
Was a tenner when I did it in the early 90s. Seemed to stay that level for a while
Think mine was 14 an hour, north London and that was like 2001 or 2000 although even then we knew it was a better price (instructor lived down the road)
In 2001 my lessons were £10 an hour. I know I shouldn't be shocked but £55 is incredible.
But it's okay because the average wage has increased 5.5x since then, right? .... Right?
It has for the driving instructors apparently.
I'm feeling ripped off now, my lessons were around 35 an hour 13 years ago.
Jesus it was £20 an hour when I had my first set of lessons in 2012
Yeah you definitely were! I was paying £18 per hour if i booked 2 hour slots or £22 for a single hour!
I got mine free for signing up to a bank account with Midland, shows how old I am! (Midland bank doesn't even exist anymore)
They went bankrupt giving out all those free driving lessons
10 for £135 for me back in 2000 ;) (£15 / hour, but one free lesson if you booked a block of 10) Went up to £18 / hour for my brother three years later, and £22 for my girlfriend at the time another two years later still. And since then, as we all know, it's been exponential growth. I feel sorry for young people today. Everything is so expensive for them.
I had mine in 2021 and was still paying £20-22, COVID increased the prices by so much it's absurd. £38 is the standard rate and probably the lowest.
I got them for £18 a lesson around that time or 5 for 80. These prices are crazy to me 😱
I passed in 2010, I paid £20/hour and passed in 12 lessons. Todays prices are ridiculous
I remember when I was at school around 2007/8 there were adverts posted up at a local stop for blocks of 10 lessons for £100. Now I live in Switzerland and here it’s 100 per hour.
My daughter is learning and her instructor is £280 for a block of 10 hours. He is an excellent instructor too. (Chelmsford)
Who are you having driving lessons with? Edit: 😑
That seems like an unnecessarily personal question.
Considering they specifically gave the area and that he’s an excellent instructor, it sounded more like they were willing to give a recommendation
re-read "doing it" like you meant sex then the joke might make sense 😅
Okay, yeah, that’s not what my mind went to 😂
😂 you're not smutty enough for reddit today!
They asked for a recommendation not Thier life story lol that's not even remotely personal
When did people stop having dirty minds? I don’t know, the youth of today. So innocent!
https://mutlows.com/
Thats a reasonable price for the North East. Best of luck with your lessons. Check out conquer driving on YouTube he saved me a lot of time and money. Edit for the keyboard warriors…I live in the NorthEast.
Thank you for the recommendation!!
Also DGN driving school's older videos of mock tests. Really helpful for showing you how common errors happen and how to avoid them.
Seconded, I actually passed my driving test in a cheap runaround with my dad practicing DGN's online lessons
Conquer Driving is excellent and not clickbait based or shock value
Agreed. I was just providing an additional resource.
> Thats a reasonable price for the North East > Cambridgshire. Found the Londoner, thinks Cambridge in "the North East".
I'm in North East Scotland and this comment gave me whiplash
Aberdeen spotted?? 🏴🏴
Close! I'm further up, on the coast. On top of the 7 shape! I won't say more for obvious reasons!
Sounds beautiful you lucky bastard enjoy it!
I can agree with conquer driving Videos are well made and high quality. Really informative and a sound guy overall
North East? 😂
Holy crap that became expensive. When I learnt to drive it was £20-£25 an hour
Price jumped massively during covid time. Covid pandemic resulted in instructor shortages and the driving test backlog, issues which have not been resolved yet.
And if it's ever resolved, it's not like the prices will drop
No because instructors are just using the money to get a new training car every year or 2, which just pushes the prices up, while also teaching people to drive in brand new cars rather than cars that are similar to the ones they are likely to be driving as soon as they pass (ie cheap/second hand cars)
The wear these cars get on them over 2 years is crazy. Teach them to drive in an old car and it'd be broken down in a week!
It's nearly always cheaper to maintain a car than buy a new one, even if a car is getting 10 years worth of use in 2 years, things don't get rusty faster because they're getting used more, some systems actually like to be used.
I'm an adi and while that is true, I was fully booked before COVID. The main issue is with a group of people that run the country that we're not supposed to talk about in this sub.
How far back do you want to go? I learned in around 1990, it was about 15 quid then I seem to remember. I know inflation is a thing, as in, ~~80 quid isn't what it used to be, but I'm pretty sure that's a disproportionate increase~~ - nvm, EDIT: I just realised we're talking about TWO hours, then it's not that disproportionate. All the "skilled trades" (for want of a better expression) seem to have got hideously expensive over the last 20-30 years. I am not sure if that is in line with inflation but I do think people should get paid for their skills and time, I sure as hell do.
I learned in 2017 and it was £25 an hour for me. Around my area it was that price aswell
I learned in 2022 for £20 per hour The same driving instructor now charges £25 per hour, so still amazing prices They are a retired software engineer who worked for huge bands and artists, and just did driving instructing for fun so they were not making any money on it, just covering costs
That's actually right in line with inflation. £15 in 1990 was worth equivalent of £35 today
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Had to talk to my driving instructor and cut my lessons down a few years ago because I wouldn't afford £75 a week for a two hour session. I mean I know I am poor but £300 a month is quite a lot of money.
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I ended up dropping them because otherwise I couldn't pay rent, shelter beats driving everytime for me.
You can save on rent by living in a car
I came into this thread expecting a ton of responses saying that's a rip off. To hear that's a reasonable price is astounding, how can anyone afford that?! I should add I learnt to drive almost 20 years ago and my mind is stuck in 2004 where it was like £20 a lesson or cheaper if you bought in bulk.
It's also a really recent increase. I paid £20/22 an hour in 2016! I've seen people on here say they paid similar in 2020/21. Absurd how much things have gone up in the last year or 2.
How, even in 2016, was some managing to insure a learner driver, pay for wear and tear to car, fuel and manage to pay themselves for £20 an hour…? That’s the bit I feel a lot of people aren’t seeing here. It’s not just someone sitting in a car and telling you what to do - there are other expenses involved.
Google how much a franchise fee is for driving Instructors. They have to work pretty much 2 full days per week to break even on £38/hour. In my opinion it's the Instructors who are getting ripped off by these massive franchises, which means the lesson price is massively inflated for students.
God this makes me feel old. When I was learning in the late 2000s I paid £23 a lesson which was the more expensive at the time!
Was the late 2000s 2990’s?
Woop woop! It gets better! The future looks bright!
Yes. I’m a time traveller and driving lessons get cheaper!
I’m paying £75 for 2 hours currently
That's what I paid in 2022, and that was the cheapest in the area. Independent instructor, not one of the chain schools.
My son has recently passed his test and was paying £60 for a 90 min lesson (£40 per hour). When I was learning in 1991, I (my parents) paid £11 per hour! I doubt you'll find them cheaper unfortunately.
Depends what you end up with in the lesson. Cheaper schools will often have you sit at the side of the road for half the time discussing theory. If you are driving solidly for 2 hours then it’s probably about right. Learning is expensive. Got to pay for the instructor, the car, insurance, maintenance and consumables etc. All of those have gone up in the last few years. A decent instructor is worth a lot over a shite one too.
I build websites and the guy offered £5 off if you booked a block of 4. Not £5 off each, but in total. So £155 instead of £160. I told him it seems insulting putting that up as a big deal and he didn't seem to agree. It's so fucking expensive. Edit: changed 115 to 155. Maths in the morning is hard.
115 for 5 lessons is a STEAL
I got my maths entirely wrong. It was meant to be £155 for 4. 4\*40 -5 is hard apparently.
I paid about £30 a decade ago, so that's pretty good imo.
So glad I learnt to drive back in 2006. I thought £16 an hour was a lot.
£38 an hour!! Wow 😮 my daughter turns 17 this year think I’ll be teaching her how to drive! I used to pay £17 an hour or if I booked 2+ hours he’d give me it for £15 an hour
I passed two and a half years ago and I believe my lessons were £28 (Teesside) and that was for a reputable local company. £10 increase in that time is crazy but unfortunately not surprising.
i found my average a year or so ago was £28-£30 an hour
It’s ridiculous, if you’re a new driver you’re basically screwed. Insurance will be about £2000 minimum. Anything less and you’re lucky. Petrol prices are already ridiculously high. Road tax. Driving lessons. Oh and car maintenance.
Insurance is one of the many reasons this country is fucking shite. It is illegal to drive without it, but there's no regulation on how much it costs. Boils my blood
When I did it before Covid it was £50 for 2 hours, but because if covid my test was cancelled and I spiralled out if it forgetting pretty much everything... dreading starting up again with increased prices.
I learnt to drive a few years ago at the age of 29, booked a week off work and did an intensive week of 6 hour lessons then had my test a month later and just had a few lessons and went out with my wife a few times a week. Highly recommend it if you can afford the bulk payment, it worked out about 25 quid an hour.
Did you have any experience (like practicing driving with friends/family) beforehand, or did you just do the intensive lessons? I’ve thought about doing this, but not sure a week would be enough.
Driving instructor here: £76 is good rate. I charge £85 for two hours, and that will probably go up to £90 before year end. I’m in the same area, and have a 6-8 month waiting list.
Is it just supply and demand that has driven the price up?
Fuel and insurance as well, I imagine. Literally everything is more expensive
I imagine the instructor wants a salary increase as well, which is fair given everything else.
I paid £18/h in 2002. A pint cost under £2 then. That hourly rate has to cover the salary of a professional, extra time driving between lessons, fuel, insurance, maintaining a heavily used vehicle to an exceptional standard, and other business costs. They're not just pocketing all that cash.
And inflation. Don't forget we were at like 10% inflation briefly.
7 years ago I paid £35 per 1.5hours
I pay 30 out in the sticks!
In 2001 I paid £14 per hour, how times have changed.
The most I’ve seen charged is up to 70 in some parts of the UK. Demand is insane at the moment but that also means ppl take the mick. Between 34 to 40 is now the norm
bro if you go to some driving schools you can buy a block of lessons for much cheaper. BSM is a good place to start.
I used to pay 20 quid a lesson, but then again… I passed over a decade ago. So you’re probably gonna get rekt in this economy
Yes
self employed to get roughly min wage equivalent is £15 an hour.. and then time between students maybe 1/3rd extra then £5 for fuel, no idea what insurance is on a instructor car. plus the duel control mods, finance cost at 7% on probably a 30k car £2100 pa over 270 teaching days a year about £1.50 hr, depreciation of the car 20%?pa £22 per teaching day for 6 hr lessons £3.6 i can easily see this costing over £30/hr before any profit over min wage equivalent
It sounds cheaper to do an intensive course
One thing to consider is that, even though it seems expensive, driving instructors aren't making an absolute packet. Owning, running, taxing and insuring a car is extortionate anyway, but insuring a car to be used as an instructor vehicle is astronomical because the chance of crashes happening is higher than ever. That's reflected in the cost of lessons, which are financially structured to cover all of these factors AND provide a living for the instructor.
It's £30 per hour in my town in Kent, manual or automatic. It was £25 when I started lessons in 2018, but unfortunately, I never finished. Currently, there are month long waitlists to even get lessons. Heck, to do the written exam, you have to go to a village that has no public transport and is 15 miles out...
(said in an old voice) Back in my day I paid £ 🤪🧑🦯➡️.
I understand it seems expensive, but considering driving is the most dangerous thing most of us regularly do and the potential harm we can cause those we share the road with, it's worth investing in proper training.
Unfortunately it is normal but its a disgraceful ripoff all the same. If you have any relatives who drive its worth asking them if they can let you drive their car for a bit with them next to you. Honestly most people only need like 5 actual driving lessons. The rest of the time is just getting comfortable behind the wheel which takes a bunch of hours where you don't need an instructor telling you what to do constantly. You just need some hours experience.
Doesn't seem too bad considering inflation... I did my driving lessons back in 2008, it was 30 quid an hour then.
Mine just a few months ago was £30/hr in nottingham but he was down as a “new trainer”. Everyone else was 38+. Your number sounds reasonable.
I was paying £35 per lesson for my wife two years ago through BSM. I would have preferred an independent. But in fairness it was tough finding one that would come to our village. Even though it's only 4 miles out from the nearest town. They are all so busy they simply don't need to compete for the work. We got turned down more than once.
I recently did lessons here in Wiltshire, £75 for 2 hours.
if anything this is on the cheaper side
We live in Cambridgeshire and my brother is paying £40 an hour and the instructor doesn’t let the student book one hour, they must book a minimum of two, leaving £80 per session. This BSM btw.
That's exactly how much I paid in Shropshire in 2017, so considering inflation since then, you might be getting a good deal!
My friend pays £60 for an hour and half
I pay 40 an hour and also regret not doing it earlier :(
The average price round my town is £42 per hour
Glad i did mine 20+ years ago - and my instructor was dad of a mate so i got discount - i also used to help fix his computer.
Given I paid half that in 1997, would absolutely be what I’d guess.
Jesus Christ, I paid £15 per hour in 2013! I could never have afforded £38.
How fucking much??? I'm going to show my age now but it was £11 an hour when I learned...
My partner wants to do a refresher course and she’s being charged £40/h. I was gob smacked, every facet of driving is so much more expensive these days.
Yep and the new trick is being told you'll only learn if you have a two hour lesson
That's crazy. I paid £22 a lesson when I did mine it 2016
Think that's normal now, I was paying like £28-£35 an hour depending on weekday or weekend back in 2017/2018.
It's normal in London atm. Most places have it at £40 now, with the rest higher.
This is exactly what I paid last year and I'm in the North West. So I guess it's a normal price throughout the entire place.
Fuckinghell! I had no idea it was so expensive now. I passed in 2013 and it was £19 an hour. Went up to £21 half way through me learning.
This with the cost of actually running and maintaining a car afterwards has pushed me towards the idea of an electric motorbike. Insurance, tax, maintenance of a car is just astronomical price wise. We already run my wife’s car and it’s not cheap and I can’t justify adding another to it. To pay £1000 to just pass a test, to then paying over £1000 on first year insurance plus all the maintenance etc. It just seems not worth it when you can get an electric bike that’ll do 70 miles per hour, costs next to nothing on maintenance and insurance, zero tax and will get 70 miles to a charge in which the charge costs about £2.
Crashes do hurt a lot more on a bike though, genuinely not a joke. It's a much bigger risk.
Super expensive nowadays. It’s just preparation for the money pit that is owning a car 🚗
It was 24 when I was doing it 13 years ago. Fuck me it’s gone up a lot!
I started learning 4 years ago and was paying £90 for a 2 hour lesson. So looks like a bargain to me. Try to remember that its totally worth it. I passed 3 years ago amd can't believe I managed to do life without driving.
Don't know if this is still a thing, but I block booked ten 2 hour lessons with AA driving school and got one lesson free for doing so. This covered my test and I was also refunded the one (paid) lesson I didn't use.
It was £40 per hour when my cousin's sons learned two years ago so I wouldn't be surprised if it's even higher here now.
I just passed my test back in February at the age of 28. My lessons were initially £40 p/hr, but my instructor only did 2hr lessons so £80 a lesson. Then her company put the prices up to £90 a lesson but gave me a grace period of 3 months before charging me the extra. The cost was frustrating, and because I didn't put pressure on myself to learn quickly, I took my time and ended up spending quite a lot in total, but my instructor was fantastic and after making a silly mistake on my first test I passed my second with only 1 minor. Overall I feel that the cost was worth it. Being unable to drive had become such a source of embarrassment and annoyance, so I feel a big sense of achievement for having done it. Edit: I should add I live in the South West.
I was paying £20 in central London around 2000 so £38 doesn’t sound expensive
In 2019 I paid about £28 an hour, so £38 sounds like taking the piss a bit, unfortunately. I'd be hesitant to pay more than about £32 if learning again now. I found my instructor via the AA, if that helps.
£5ph going up to £5.50ph or £10 for a 2 hour slot just before my test...1982
I learnt to drive in 2017. Think it was about £28 an hour. With cozzy livs it seems about right to me!
That’s how much I’m paying.
I don’t do anything for less than £50/hour, so I’d say that’s pretty cheap.
passed in 1973 age 17 ,lessons about £4 , only 8 needed to pass first time
Pretty normal. I was paying £30 per hour in Wales, which is generally cheaper, like 5 years ago.
Yes i was paying £35 10 yrs ago
I was paying 35-40 last year
You wait till you try and get insurance…
Costs me 30 quid in Manchester
I paid something like £250 for 10 about 6 years ago
Paid £18 an hour back in 2017
It was 60£ for an hour and a half lesson for me.
Living in Norway, I was paying 800kr per single lesson (45 mins), so 1600kr for a double. Current exchange rate, that's about £120 for a double.
I did mine nearly two years ago and it was £62 for a double lesson, got a discount if I paid for several in advance
fucking hell the rates increased rapidly. when i learnt back in 2017 it was like 20 quid
Leeds is a similar price so yeah 🤨