Latest news with #drivingtest
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How much does it cost to become a driver in the UK?
It's 90 years since the driving test became compulsory in the UK. Back then it cost just 37.5p to sit the test, and around two thirds of people passed. Now it costs £23 for the theory test, £62 for a practical test on a weekday and £75 at the weekend — and fewer than half of people pass. But the cost of multiple tests is far from the only cost of getting on the road. It starts pretty cheaply, with £34 for the provisional licence, but then the costs start mounting. On average you need 45 hours of driving lessons and 22 hours of practice before you're prepared for your practical test. Assuming you know somebody who is prepared to take you out, 45 hours of lessons at a typical cost of £45 will set you back £2,025. If you need more lessons or they're pricier in your area, it'll cost even more than that. Once you've passed, you need to buy the car. On average people's first cars cost £5,500. Then there's insurance — the cheapest models can be covered for about £1,500, but beware, because you can easily find yourself facing a bill of around £2,500 for something that doesn't feel particularly fast or risky. Read more: How getting ahead on your tax return can help cut your tax bill Add on £195 for the standard rate of car tax, and before you've driven a single mile — and accounted for petrol, servicing and the MOT — it will have set you back £10,352. It means you need to consider how to cut the costs. These are in such high demand that there's not much haggling to be had, but check whether you can get a discount for block bookings. It's also worth considering the balance of official lessons and private practice. If you have a friend or relative who is a calm and confident driver, they may be prepared to take you out more in order to save on lessons. There are a variety of techniques that can help you negotiate a good deal when buying a second-hand car. Research the going rate before you start, so you know what's reasonable. Check the car's condition — if there are dings and scratches you can use this as leverage for a lower cost. Consider the deal you'll accept, and be prepared to walk away if they won't go low enough. If you get within touching distance of what you consider to be fair, you can ask for them to throw in a service or MOT to make up the difference. Picking the right car is key, so take the time to check what it'll cost to insure before you buy. There's no point picking up a bargain that costs thousands of pounds extra every year in insurance. Check if you can save money by adding a second named driver. This is very different from insuring it in someone else's name and adding yourself second — that's called fronting and is illegal. Putting an older and more experienced person on the insurance as a second driver can still shave hundreds or even thousands of pounds off the cost. Including it in a multi-car policy with other reliable drivers in the same household can also help. You could also consider a telematics policy, where you have a "black box" in the car monitoring your driving. If you drive carefully at safer times of day this can lower your costs — although riskier driving could see your premiums rise significantly — and you could even have the policy more: Real cost of a 2025 summer holiday as families priced out or fined How to tell if you're rich Who wears the financial trousers in your relationship?Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Irish Times
14 hours ago
- Automotive
- Irish Times
About 600 learners fail to show for driving tests each month
Almost 2,400 learner drivers failed to attend for their driving test appointments in the first four months of this year, it has emerged. This brings to 17,500 the number of unusable driving test slots since January 2023 because of 'no show' candidates, which means the Road Safety Authority (RSA) received almost €1.5 million in non-refundable test application fees. It has also emerged that there are no driver testers in 12 of the State's 57 car test centres. Currently, 137 driving testers are in place at 45 centres. The RSA is recruiting and training new testers and expects to have 200 in place by the end of the year. The RSA has said that while some test centres do not have driving testers, this does not infer that these centres are not being serviced. 'The service is managed to balance available skilled resources across all locations,' the authority said. READ MORE Across the 57 test centres, 6,440 learner drivers failed to show up for their test in 2023. This increased to 8,663 last year. Figures released by the RSA to Fine Gael TD Emer Currie show 2,387 candidates did not show for their test scheduled in the first four months of this year, having failed to cancel in advance of the test. Ms Currie said no-shows this year are working out at 600 a month. 'That level of waste should be re-examined when so may people are desperate to take their tests,' she said. 'It also brings into focus the bizarre situation where learner drivers can miss driving tests but continue to reapply to renew their learner permits.' Once a learner has written confirmation that they applied for their test, they can then apply to renew their learner permit. [ Irish motorists face up to 10 months wait for driving tests with longest in Dublin and Meath centres Opens in new window ] The Dublin West TD added: 'The RSA should be clamping down on waste and workarounds. I'm not sure we are seeing the urgency we should if people are gaming the system.' Chair of road safety campaign group Parc Susan Gray said that since the beginning of 2023 up to the end of April, the authority 'has received €1,486,650 in payments from the no-shows'. 'We believe the RSA are rewarding these drivers for not showing up by issuing a new permit at a cost of €85, which will last a year. Then the learner will be back the following year looking for another renewal for €85.' A learner who completes the test and fails can renew their permit for two years, while a no-show has to renew annually. 'These no-shows know it doesn't matter to the RSA if they fail to turn up for their scheduled test date as the RSA will continue to renew their permits every year.' She added that the Department of Transport is working on secondary legislation, which does not have to go through the Dáil and Seanad, to limit the number of learner permits issued to candidates who fail to show for driving tests. [ TD calls for free-of-charge driving tests if applicants obliged to wait more than 10 weeks Opens in new window ] But this cannot be done until the Minister for Transport receives the RSA's implementation plans to close the loophole, said Ms Gray. The new testers being recruited will have permanent contracts. In a previous recruitment campaign, a number of testers were on temporary contracts, which adversely affected waiting times when their contracts ended. Ms Gray said the lack of testers is 'very alarming'. For example, Buncrana, the only test centre to cover the Inishowen peninsula in Co Donegal, has no driver tester, she said. 'We don't have much confidence in the RSA system that these test centres will be adequately resourced because effectively they will have to take testers from another centre.' Ms Currie said she is looking forward to seeing the RSA appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Transport in the coming weeks to explain why 12 out of 57 driving test centres do not have any testers. The 12 test centres with no driving testers are: Charlestown, Maple House in Mulhuddart, and Killester, Dublin; Buncrana, Co Donegal; Clifden, Co Gaway; Talbot Hotel, Co Carlow; Mallow and Skibbereen, Co Cork; O'Loughlin Gaels centre, Co Kilkenny; Kilrush and Shannon, Co Clare; Longford; and Portlaoise. RSA chief operating officer Brendan Walsh said the authority 'will have employed 91 people on permanent contracts to bring the number of permanent driver testers up to the sanctioned 200″.
The Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Katie Price drops huge hint daughter Princess Andre is in talks for Love Island after boyfriend split
KATIE Price has dropped the biggest hint yet daughter Princess Andre is in talks to appear on Love Island after splitting from her boyfriend. The Sun revealed today Princess, 17, and her boyfriend of around two years had called time on their relationship after 'growing apart'. 3 3 3 And her famous mum Katie, 46, has confessed she's encouraging her eldest daughter to sign up for Love Island. Speaking on the latest episode of her podcast The Katie Price Show, she said: 'I keep saying to Princess, 'why don't you do Love Island?'' Revealing her response, Katie continued: ''No… because otherwise I'll be known as a Love Islander'. I said, 'No you won't, everyone knows you anyway'.' Today an insider told The Sun how Princess and her ex - who never revealed his identity during the romance - split on good terms. A source said: "She always kept the romance out of the public eye and it will be the same with her split. "They just grew apart - they were each other's first love so it has been tough but there are no hard feelings. "He's still on good terms with both Katie and Peter. "Princess is really concentrating on her career right now and there's no place for a man.' Princess' ex has unfollowed her on social media but does still follow all of her family members. It's been a week of highs and lows for Princess, who revealed she'd passed her driving test and showed off her £10,000 car. She proudly declared in the caption: 'I bought my first car' but was hit with criticism by fans, who believe it was actually mum and dad Katie and Peter Andre who actually forked out the cash for it. But Princess has now put that speculation to bed, hitting back at the comments and declaring: 'These comments are so funny. To everyone out there, yes I work and yes I earn my own money which I'm super proud of and so thankful that I'm lucky enough to buy my own car xx.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
Try the Open University's vintage driving test
Would you pass an historic driving test? Have a go at The Open University's "Driving Through the Decades" online quiz below and see how you get on!Click here for the quiz!, external
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Princess Andre, 17, hits back at fans who accused her of not buying new £10k car herself
Princess Andre has hit back at fans who have accused her of not buying new £10k car herself. The teen, 17, proudly shared snaps of her swanky new white Audi A1 on Instagram, along with personalised plates emblazoned with her name. Posing with her car keys in hand, Princess showed off her car, which boasted fake plates that were likely placed on the vehicle for when she received it. She captioned the post: 'I bought my first car.' Since then, Princess has hit back and confirmed she bought the car with her own money, which she is 'super proud of'. She penned: 'These comments are so funny. To everyone out there, yes I work and yes I earn my own money which I'm super proud of and so thankful that I'm lucky enough to buy my own car xx' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Two weeks ago, Princess, who is the daughter of singer Peter Andre and former glamour model Katie Price, revealed she'd passed her driving test. Posting a snap of her driving test certificate, she captioned the snap: 'I passed... (smiley emoji).' Fans and friends quickly flooded the comment section with messages of congratulations for the teenager. The exciting news comes just a day after Princess enjoyed a day of shopping at Selfridges in London , wearing a £72 SKIMS bodysuit paired with low-rise, wide-leg jeans. The teenager shared a slew of Instagram snaps as she splashed out on a Louis Vuitton purchase. Princess kept comfortable for her shopping trip in a pair of black trainers and toted her belongings in a coordinated handbag. Styling her long blonde tresses loose in curls, the influencer completed her look by layering two necklaces. She seemed in high spirits as she posed for a mirror selfie in the department store and also shared a snap posing on an escalator. She penned: 'These comments are so funny. To everyone out there, yes I work and yes I earn my own money which I'm super proud of and so thankful that I'm lucky enough to buy my own car xx' Princess wrote: 'Being impulsive and going shopping…' It comes after it was also revealed that Princess has opted against featuring her mum Katie in her upcoming ITV reality show. MailOnline revealed that Katie, 46, will not appear on the fly-on-the-wall programme which will see influencer Princess, who turns 18 next month, become a celebrity in her own right but her dad Peter, step-mum Emily and older brother Junior are all to have parts in the series. The programme will follow her work and home life as she prepares to reach the milestone age and last week, the popular teenager - whose father is Peter Andre - was spotted with a camera crew outside the London offices of hair styling brand GHD. A television insider told MailOnline: 'Katie will not be in Princess's show, the decision has been made and it's final. 'Princess loves her mum, and they have a great relationship, but the show is all about her work and home life. 'Television bosses were adamant that nothing was to be 'staged' to include Katie as it would not be a real and truthful insight into her life.' Princess has already signed big money deals with clothing and beauty brands including being an ambassador for high street chain Superdrug, Studio London, Morphe and Revolution. Cameras will be following her around as she continues to make waves in the highly lucrative influencer world up until she turns 18 at the end of June. But television executives have been so impressed with the teenager that it looks set to be the start of her television career and clearly don't want her controversial mother to muddy her chances at becoming a household name. Back in 2020 dad Peter launched the family's YouTube channel, The Andres, which gave viewers a glimpse into their lives. The source added: 'Princess is a complete natural, which isn't surprising considering she grew up on her parents' reality TV shows. 'Everyone working on the show has been really impressed with her attitude and professionalism. She's got a lot going on so there's plenty of great stuff for them to film. 'It's a really exciting time for Princess.' She hopes the series will help launch her catwalk career.
