As per the topic title?
I’m intrigued if it’s doable.
Obvs I can teach car control and all the obvious things, but I suspect there are things that I don’t know how to teach, as in what the examiner expects.
Any thoughts or points to resources?

In all likelihood I’ll not embark on this, but I’m curious to hear if it’s doable.

Have a look on Ashley Neal’s YouTube channel.

Best source I’ve seen for learning how to drive…not just passing a test

I’m sure it will be do-able….but it was the last thing I wanted to do with my daughters 10+ years ago. We went to an old airfield and paid £20 ish an hour to drive our own car round their little private road system and that helped enormously but I was happy to pass on the baton to an instructor for some proper road lessons.

stuff changes mind.

Me and my dad had a blazing row when he tried to tell me to engine break down the gears and i kept telling him i was told not to.

they will also be much better at checkign the checking etc.

you don’t want your bad habits to be applied to the next generation.

Must be doable, but just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Eldest had about 10 lessons with an instructor before I took him out. And he was correcting some of my errors. My driving improved from taking him out.

Instructors also know all the test routes and how best to deal with the tricky junctions.

He passed first time last year and I’m taking none of the credit for it.

My mum me. Me my then girlfriend. That was along a time ago. More recently junior had 20 hours then did 5000km with us parents.

Interesting. My parents refused to take me out when I learned, they said it would cause too much grief. I’ve taken junior out a few times without too much drama, but I don’t think I’m Surfmat good enough or patient enough to take it on.

I remember a few robust discussions with my father , particularly trying to get out of junctions. I tihnk there’s value going somewhere quiet, and just doing a lot of starts and stops so that hassle is out of the way, but get a pro to teach the rest

My parents refused to take me out when I learned, they said it would cause too much grief. 

Friends of ours decided they’d take their two lads to a big empty car park for a first lesson. Sensible 17 year old and less sensible 19 year old who was too disorganised to get his provisional license since he turned 17.

Sensible one listened, proceeded cautiously and made it back unscathed. Older one insisted he’d done enough Mario Kart to know what he was doing and dinged the car. In an empty car park.

He’s working all summer to fund lessons.

Its doable, but painful and needs whoever instructs to be up to speed, no point doing it if you’re not assessing them on mirror usage, lane discipline and so on, as well as being aware of the potential risks.

A decent instructor is worth it though, there’s a lot of poor ones to avoid though, that’s the biggest issue, finding a good one.

Another benefit is you’ll know the car will be up to spec for the test, examiners have more wiggle room to reject cars due to safety issues these days

It was fairly normal where I grew up 30 years ago. I had 3 lessons and learnt 4 things:
– if you’re going to squeeze through a gap, slow down, 3′ either side of you and it’s no more than 30mph, 2′ – 20mph, 1′ – 10 mph. 6 inches @ 30 mph was not going to get you through your test.
– I got told to slow down well before corners to avoid coasting rather than risk hanging on the clutch and coasting. a well meaning uncle thought not dropping the gears until later would help smooth things out which was true but coastign will fail you whereas a bit of lumpiness is tolerated at tests
– check if your instructor smokes. Mine did constantly and both him and his car were unpleasantly smelly
– your 50+ years old instructor will pay as much attention to young girls as your driving

Personally, i’d say if you can get the miles in without falling out then you don’t really need one.

My grandfather taught me, and my father also took me out for lots of practice once I’d picked up the basics.
So, I passed test first time when I was 18 without having to pay for any lessons.

That was multiple decades ago with no theory test…

(Granted, my grandfather was a retired driving instructor who knew all the typical test routes 👍)

How could it cause more grief? By 16/17 they’re already up to 11 and can’t get any louder.

I found it one of the few “bonding” activities we did at that age. As others have noted it brought me and Madame up to speed with with all the new methods and rules.

It’s all a lot more rigorous than back in the day. The examiner gave a nod of satisfaction as I double declutched/heel and toed up and down a crash box and difn’t flinch when the passenger window dropped into the door on a freezing wet November day. He declined the offer to stop somewhere safe and put it back up.

I taught junior in a car with a mecanical handbrake and narrow enouvh to steer from the pasdenger seat. I wouldn’t do it with an electric handbrake and wide cockpit.

Baz on here did.

It’s doable but be wary of passing bad habits

Mrs F taught me how to drive and I passed first time. She was a driving instructor though which definitely helped. She made me drive everywhere. Mad narrow roads on the way toward Buxton. All the way to Stratford Upon Aven, around Anglesey etc.

Taught son2 in my Twingo. Right up to one month before test and then he had a lesson and then the instructor pulled out and the use of his car as well. So he had one further lesson with another instructor and took the test in my Twingo (133 RS). He passed. One minor. Examiner did question the revs on the dual carriageway (no sixth gear). One day he will repay and teach me to fly.

How could it cause more grief? By 16/17 they’re already up to 11 and can’t get any louder.

I used to take my girlfriend out for driving practice when she was learning…let’s just say we didn’t have any fun afterwards if I had to point out some driving errors she made…

You can also pass on some good habits. Junior jas adopted some of our defensive habits such as slowing and caution on junctions where he has priority.

Once he’d pased I felt a lot happier about lending him the car knowing he had much mote experience than if he’d just done the minimum to get thruugh the test with a school. The lack of tyre wear and fuel/elecricity consumption he returns tell me his driving is smooth.

Just after passing the test he did the Mongol rally, some of the hardest parts on his own after his codriver lost his passport. That improved his patience and anticipation.

My dad taught me (1967) and then I one lesson with an instructor who took me round the usual test circuit and pointed out the things to know. One crucial thing was a housing estate with no signage or give way lines at any junctions, including cross roads; if hadn’t know about that I think I’d have assumed that in the absence of signage on the road I was on, it was the priority road. (Anniesland, Glasgow – there are give way lines now).

Interesting, Grrybeatd. What was/is the rule for unmarked junctions? Everywhere in Europe I drive it’s priority to traffic approaching from the right. But in th UK I’ve forgotten.

I suspect there are things that I don’t know how to teach, as in what the examiner expects.

Very much this IME. I sat with my daughter while she practised but she was taught by the DI. Some stuff she did and i queried (eg: speed at r/bouts, not using handbrake and neutral at lights) she pushed back and said that her DI had never picked her up on it so that’s what she was going to do.

She passed first time with one minor despite ignoring all my suggestions for improvement so can only suppose my driving is not ‘test grade’

I wouldn’t until they’re declared ok to drive without dual controls by an ADI
We still had a couple of moments

It must be doable. However with modern cars the use of gears has changed and more slowing down with better brakes that we all had, so I’m guessing it’s better to have at least 3 lessons and then carry on from there.

Many people I know choose to learn to ski from friends and end of with decades of bad habits and not learning the rules of the piste.

My father gave me great advice: read the road ahead, not just the bit in front.
As greybeard said, in my day many cross roads were unmarked, where I was taught to slow right down and treat it as a sort of roundabout.
Too many instructors teaching ‘how to pass’ the test and not ‘how to drive’.

not using handbrake and neutral at lights

That’s an odd thing to teach. Riding the clutch is not good. That’s from the missus not me btw.

More recently junior had 20 hours then 5000km with us

So nothing like the UK system as he would have had his license after 20hrs at autoecole had he been deemed competent.

What was/is the rule for unmarked junctions?

In Glasgow in 1967, it was: Approach as if you may have to give way, and if there’s another vehicle, whoever got there first has priority. If you arrive at the same time, identify the age, weight and condition of the other vehicle and its driver, and decide whether you want to claim priority.

Of course it is doable. But let someone else earns that money unless you are really tight because you are not going to save a lot.

Driving the car is not difficult but knowing how to control the car, the rules and the road manner is entirely a different thing.

I have been driving in far east for nearly 2 decades before I got my UK license, so I thought how hard could it be to drive on the UK road? 150 Mph? Yes, I did that on M1 many years ago with my foreign license and stopped by Jaguar Police car LOL!

Then I wanted a proper UK license and that’s where things got harder as I was driving like boy racer hooligans LOL!

So I got a driving instructor to see if I was ready to take the test immediately (after passing the computer test). Was on the road driving with the instructor and for some reasons my boy racer mentality stepped in. I was driving like a boy racer with instructor got panicked and immediately told me to slow down because I failed or broke all the road manners. LOL!

In the far east signal indication is king. Once you give the indication you can cross the lane because other people will “let” you join the lane. Using the car honk is like “greeting” others and everyone does it. No one get upsets over it. Changing lanes is not an issue at all. However, we don’t have many roundabouts but in the UK it is a norm and needs getting use to.

Anyway, it is doable but it will also be a waste of your time to save that 20 to 30 lessons.

That’s an odd thing to teach. Riding the clutch is not good. That’s from the missus not me btw.

Not riding, fully dipped. I also thought strange but 1 minor says that the examiner didn’t.

Not riding, fully dipped. I also thought strange

In a modern car – dipped clutch and brake means stop start activates

Neutral and hand brake means it doesn’t.

Therefore it’s seen as more “eco” to drive that way

makes sense…… doesn’t work in a 15 year old Mitsubishi Colt

Tbh I’ve always thought they taught alot of nonsense.

It was confirmed when I resat my test in 2017 after 15 years of driving and what the instructor made me do for the test….. Including an over the shoulder life saver through the solid metal panel of a van……

Which while I get it…..proves that the license is nothing more than a tick box exercise.

We only took lessons at the end as the instructor will be familiar with routes from the test centre and perhaps most up to date thinking (although brakes to slow is now standard). When he pulled out after one lesson, the franchise were no help whatsoever. And we were unable to secure any instructor willing to take a lesson in my car.

In the event, I spent a weekend riding the mean streets of Uxbridge and all was good. But lessons at the end I think are more helpful to polish the learner skills and experience of routes for testing.

You don’t even really need that; all the routes are available now online anyway. They disclaim them to say they aren’t necessarily fixed, but as long as you cover the streets in whatever order so they’ve seen them and the major junctions and tricky bits, it’s all good.

We had a test booked asap after doing the theory but it was still months in advance so we subscribed to one of the cancellation apps. Then we got offered a test in Portsmouth (booked one was Guildford) and we went down there for an hour one evening and then a couple of hours before the test and she was fine.

Not riding, fully dipped. I also thought strange but 1 minor says that the examiner didn’t.

That’s bizarre. Mrs F was a driving and advanced driving instructor not so long ago and not using handbrake and neutral when stopping for any length of time was was a big no.

My cars engine stops when I release the clutch, brake and put the car in neutral. Starts again when the clutch is engaged.

Yes. Taught my son last year after he couldn’t get on with driving instructor and was too difficult with covid and shortages to get another. He’s passed and driving around now. Was painful initially as he was a bristling teenage nitwit but once he realised this didn’t work on the road progress was made. Glad to say it’s turned out fine. Did all of it in our own car Inc the test..honda jazz.

I learned to drive with my dad. Had 7 lessons (incl one before test) to see where they took people on test routes and to brush up on specific test manoeuvres. Passed 1st time.

Many years ago, my then girlfriend had failed her test a few times. I figured it was probably nerves, she must be able to drive or the instructor wouldn’t have put her in for a test.

So we picked up an old Vauxhall Nova, (as that was what she wanted).
First ‘lesson’, she drove straight across a tee junction into the verge on the other side of the road. I had to grab the wheel more than once on other lessons. To this day I don’t understand why the instructor put her in for test(s).
She was quite firey, maybe they were scared?

We persevered and with the extra practice, she passed her test.

Eldest son passed his test a couple of weeks ago. I initially took him out in our car to teach him the basics. Starting, stopping, steering, gears. After that he had an instructor.

Failed his first test as he did the wrong thing when turning left at a crossroads and meeting oncoming traffic which was approaching on his side of the road at speed.

Following that him and his instructor had a disagreement about how many more lessons he needed. So he ended up buying bolt on insurance for our Octavia and I took him out practicing. He took the test in the octy the second time and passed with two minors. Examiner said it was a good drive at the end.

My observations from when I went out with him to practice…

1. Changing down and using engine braking on a steep hill was something he’d been told NOT to do. He thought that was mad and I agreed, so he started knocking it down to third on steep hills in a 30 zone rather than riding the brakes.

2. When stopped at lights he kept it in gear, clutch down and foot on the foot brake. Again he’d been taught to do that, so I explained out of gear and handbrake on, so when your foot slips off the clutch you don’t launch into the car in front, plus stop/start activates and saves the kids.

3. Parallel parking was awful. Had been taught based on visual queues on his instructors fiesta. So we talked about how the car pivoted round the rear wheel and he got quite good at it.

4. Generally wasn’t reading the road or driving defensively/assertively enough. So silly things like when moving over onto the other side of the road to go past parked cars, knock the indicator on to let oncoming traffic know you’re coming through. Conversely taking your lane in a meet situation where room is right to dissuade oncoming traffic from squeezing through on your side of the road.

So I wouldn’t want to teach him to drive but I wasn’t that impressed with his instructor, based on the evidence I saw. Although he was recommended by one of his mates who passed first time 🤷‍♂️

My dad did for me and my brother. No instructor lessons at all, this was however 30 years ago! He got a lad who was a couple of years older than me who had recently passed to go out with him and tell him the current techniques, which undoubtedly helped a lot. I passed first time.

I taught myself.
Well, I taught myself to rag round a disused quarry in a MOT failed Ford Prefect that my dad paid £6 for actually. I was 13 & had a succession of bangers before I was 17.
Dad thought it’d be a good idea to have some road lessons before I put in for my test. Just as well cos after my 1st lesson the instructor said, ‘no problem driving the car but he’s got all the bad habits of an experienced driver’. I had to iron them out before my test.
So yes it’ll be doable but beware of passing the bad habits on.