Driving Lessons in Your Own Car

mcvitie

Does anyone know if driving schools/instructors have a set policy on giving lessons in your own car? My 20 year old brother has been getting lessons for the past few months and he is at a stage where is quite competent behind the wheel yet his instructor, who says he has taught him all he needs to know at this stage, is reluctant to give him a lesson in his own car. My brother is based in Arklow. Thanks....

Alanstrainor

Generally they will take you out in your own car when you prove yourself to be competent in a dual control car. Ring up the driving school in question for a definite answer.

kerry4sam

I took all of my driving lessons in my own car and felt all the more confident and comfortable then doing my test today...The driving instructor didn't mind in the slightest

Nools

my mam taught me the basics in her work car park during the holidays when there was no1 there, then for all of my lessons bar the 1st lesson i was in my car. the 1st lesson was to see how competent i was behind the wheel,it was weird tho i drive a clio and the instructors car was a big long saloon of a car! felt weird!

xeroshero

I have my pwn car have been driving for 2 or 3 months now with just family/neighbour teaching me, I booked lessons today (with ISM) and asked about using my own car, they said no prob but they won't call to my house, I have to meet them in the town for each lessons (its fine its only around the corner from my house, I will have to drive there on my own though, which means I will be driving on monday for the first time on my own, b ut its literally around the corner!)

I am doing the test in my own car in ten days time so want the lessons in the same car, makes sense really! Good luck to the bro!

Alanstrainor

xeroshero wrote: »

I have my pwn car have been driving for 2 or 3 months now with just family/neighbour teaching me, I booked lessons today (with ISM) and asked about using my own car, they said no prob but they won't call to my house, I have to meet them in the town for each lessons (its fine its only around the corner from my house, I will have to drive there on my own though, which means I will be driving on monday for the first time on my own, b ut its literally around the corner!)

I am doing the test in my own car in ten days time so want the lessons in the same car, makes sense really! Good luck to the bro!

I never got lessons with ISM, but is that the norm? Not going to the learner permit holders house before a lesson when not using a ISM car? That's very odd indeed. I would go with another instructor tbh, that would facilitate you. Driving unaccomp could land you in a whole lot of trouble. €1000 fine, possible disqualification...especially when you consider the large increase in garda interest in L drivers coming up to the 30th of June deadline.

Nools

i did my pretests with ism and they dont go to ur house, they have an agreement with a local place with a car park so they can abandon their car their when their out with you

xeroshero

Yea, they said the don't go to any house if the person if using there own car, possibly fo rparking reason as suggested or safety reasons or something... Regards meeting them there, it is less than 5 mins from my house, as I don't (usualyy) drive unaccompanied, I was thinking even these few mins on my own in the car might be good for me? (Just as a side note kinda thing.... Don't want to <and won't> get into the whole driving unaccompanied thing but I just think that maybe if I ALWAYS have someone in the car with me <as I do> when it comes to "just me" in test, I may be a little more freaked out than others as I'll be deaing with that "alone thing" too...)

L1011

There'll be someone else there in the test - the tester!

mcvitie

Cheers for all the replies... He's going to get on to the ISM in the morning. To be honest I think his instructor is a bit of a wash out.. he charges for the full hour but the past number of lessons have been about forty/forty five minutes long and for him not to even offer one lesson in my bro's own car seems a bit mean. Bit concerned if he has to drive to the ISM instructor tho as that would entail him breaking the law and all that :-)

missmatty

mcvitie wrote: »

Bit concerned if he has to drive to the ISM instructor tho as that would entail him breaking the law and all that :-)

I'm a bit worried about that too. I'm used to driving my own car now and comfy in it, but will probably have to take any further lessons/pretests and test in driving school car as not supposed to drive there and back on my own.

Bummer :mad:

Alanstrainor

missmatty wrote: »

I'm a bit worried about that too. I'm used to driving my own car now and comfy in it, but will probably have to take any further lessons/pretests and test in driving school car as not supposed to drive there and back on my own.

Bummer :mad:

Perhaps get a new instructor? I would advise driving your own car on the run up to a test, it doesn't make much sense to me to do otherwise. Well Good Luck anyway.

Overature

they should do it in you own car, i have my test in about six weeks and have been useing my instrucrs car, but hes going to bring my out in mine shortly.

Caychadh

mcvitie wrote: »

he charges for the full hour but the past number of lessons have been about forty/forty five minutes long

<SNIP> are terrible for this. I took a course of 5 lessons with them years ago, then another course a while back. I also have family who used them and know people who have has lessons with <SNIP> but I can't figure out why they're so popular?! They usually (I'm sure there's exceptions!) show up barely on time, with another student in the car who you have to drop home as part of your lesson (made me VERY jittery) then after almost an hour you park in front of someone else's house and get driven home by them so you're not back from your lesson on time at all. They seem to want to cram in as many people as possible, thus diluting your lesson. One instructor I had was extremely disgruntled because in the 1pm lesson a pupil told him she had to be dropped back home by 2 to collect her kids from school and kept moaning about it being the reason he was late for my lesson, grr. Sorry for the rant, I just find it hard to believe that an instructor would encourage a learner to drive unaccompanied, especially with the clampdown on learners. Xeroshero, I'd suggest finding another driving school- it's not worth risking a €1,000 fine!

RoseBlossom

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I never got lessons with ISM, but is that the norm? Not going to the learner permit holders house before a lesson when not using a ISM car? That's very odd indeed. I would go with another instructor tbh, that would facilitate you. Driving unaccomp could land you in a whole lot of trouble. €1000 fine, possible disqualification...especially when you consider the large increase in garda interest in L drivers coming up to the 30th of June deadline.

I don't think it's surprising at all - one (non-ISM) chap who quoted me for lessons said he could start and finish the lesson at my house but that the time lost by travelling would be taken from the lesson (i.e. the time taken to get from his usual pick-up spot, could be 10-15 minutes). It makes sense from the instructor's perspective as they would lose teaching time - especially in Dublin where it can take 15 minutes to travel a mile if you're unlucky - and they usually arrange their days in slots of one hour lessons.

When I did get lessons in my own car I was accompanied to the pick-up spot and whoever was accompanying me went shopping or off for a coffee for the hour.

Someone is going to lose out - either by losing money (instructor) or by being bored for an hour (person accompanying you) or by risking getting caught (unaccompanied driver). It's up to you what arrangement you want to come to but the instructor is unlikely to disadvantage him/herself financially when there is a lot of business around. Remember that it's a temporary measure until you pass your test, i.e. you might only get 5 or 10 lessons, so the person who usually accompanies you will only have to do so once a week for a few weeks and then be able to walk home since you live so close. It might be worth the hassle if the instructor is good...

Caychadh

RoseBlossom wrote: »

I don't think it's surprising at all - one (non-ISM) chap who quoted me for lessons said he could start and finish the lesson at my house but that the time lost by travelling would be taken from the lesson

I thought it's the norm for the instructor to call to your house, therefore a lesson in your own car wouldn't take any longer. Seems bad to take time from the lesson considering the price of driving lessons.
Mods: are we not allowed name driving schools or just not say bad things about them in case they get a tad peeved? Can we say good things or indifferent things about them?

Alanstrainor

Caychadh wrote: »

Mods: are we not allowed name driving schools or just not say bad things about them in case they get a tad peeved? Can we say good things or indifferent things about them?

* No disparaging comments about named driving instructors or named Driving Schools.

Quoted from charter.

Really it's preferred to keep both good and bad comments out, because we have a lot of issues with driving instructors coming on pretending to be learners and raving about how good so and so is. If anyone recommends an instructor you're more than welcome to use the PM function to send info.