Top 3 tips and tricks to get your driving license

Posted by Daniel Hardman on October 17th, 2019

It may come as a surprise to you, but the best way to get your driving license cheaply in the UK is not necessarily to pay the least for lessons. We've interviewed a popular driving test cancellation company - DrivingScout (https://drivingscout.uk) - who've provided us with some great tips we wanted to share with you today.

A lot of candidates focus on the wrong part of their driving lessons, and without keeping an eye on the all-important prize (your license!) it’s easy to spend money in the wrong place. Ask yourself this: if you went to a restaurant where the mains were £1, how many £5 starters would you buy? The answer: not many!

Most importantly, this isn’t about the price of your lessons. You could be paying £15 per hour, or £30 per hour, and it won’t make as much of a difference as you think. This is not the limiting factor to ensuring you pass your test quickly - and most importantly - cheaply as possible.

So, what is the trick? The answer is: not wasting lessons. Wasting lessons comes in many forms, from talkative instructors to those who put two candidates in the same car to cut down on the handover time (but costing you valuable lesson time too).

Here are our top tips to ensure you’re able to pass your test as quickly as possible.

#1 - Keep your eye on the prize

Trust your gut for when you're at test standard. The test day itself is as much luck as it is a skill - so stop waiting for a ‘click’ before you take your test - that’s not a real moment in your life and you’ll be waiting years for it to happen. You need to make it happen.

Once you think you’re about 80% of the way there to test standard, start scheduling your test. This means you’ll be 90% of the way there and if you pass - you’ve saved 10% of your lesson costs (on average, that’s £200+).

#2 - Don't waste lessons 

Don't let your instructor tell you their life story - it's not relevant to passing your test. Keep it classy and professional, but keep them on track. A few “that's really interesting - can we pick this conversation up again at the end of my lesson?” will get them knowing and they'll respect you for it.

Avoid instructors who encourage you to pick up or drop off another student as part of your lessons. They are effectively cheating you of your lesson time, if you spend 10% of your lesson doing this - then after just 10 lessons you’ve wasted a full one. It’s like a terrible discount scheme: pay for 10 lessons, get 9. That’s not the way around that you want it.

#3 - Schedule your test for the moment you're 80% ready 

Use a driving test cancellations company such as DrivingScout to schedule your test the moment you're ready. They'll skip you to the front of an average three-month waiting list and can get you a test as soon as the next day after your request one - for a very reasonable rate.

This means you can take your test quickly and efficiently - multiple times if you need to. If you fail, that’ll also get you back with another cancellation and no additional cost.