advice!!!

booksale

will have my driving test in mid-april.

had 2 lessons know how to start a car and change gears (um, forget them all as it's been months!)

have no car. looking for a car now.

but dont think i can make it.

n the law that can't drive without companion is a problem for me.

i hv no family here, no friends can come practising with me...

do i break the law? of course, i can pay for an instructor sitting next to me watching me driving... but it would cost me loads and i am just a student who is still worrying about the college fee next academic year.................

can i take the bus? half half...

because of my part-time work, it's better to have a car...

Alanstrainor

You mention you are prepared to buy, tax and insure a car which is going to cost thousands, no matter what you buy, and that's without taking into account petrol costs. But you are unprepared to pay 30 an hour for lessons. Now i do understand that there is a huge benefit to getting practice outside of lessons. But i would think that at least getting another few lessons before even thinking of buying a car would be the best thing to do.

booksale

hiya, i think u got me wrong.

i planned to pay for lessons, but just can't pay for the instructor sitting next to me watching me practice. i dont think i am that kind of genius can drive a car and pass exam with just lessons with instructor. i need loads of practice myself and no friends can do it with me (i understand). n cant afford to pay the instructor just sitting and see me practise. hope it's clear now.

booksale

even i get a car this weekend, get it insurance over phone, start lessons next week every day... can i pass the driving test on 12th April...?

don't know, maybe it's better to cancel it (but this is the third time i cancel it and have to pay another 70something for another driving test...)

Alanstrainor

Apologies,

Well i really can't tell you whether or not you are prepared without seeing you driving, but if you have only had 2 lessons i would hazard a guess that you need more time to practice.
But if you have a car to do the test, and you can't cancel it then just go for it, you're going to lose the money either way?

mrbruno

I think if you drive in a car park you dont need a licence or insurance. But someone else said that you need a licence and insurance to drive anywhere to which 'the public has access'. I doubt anybody would mind if you found a quiet one at the weekend or something. Or if you know someone with a huge field.

daveharnett

OP, the charter forbids us from recommending you do anything illegal.

However, if you were to pootle along to the nearest industrial estate during a quiet time of the day to get some practice with the basic controls, I would be astonished if you had any problems with the gardai.

At your level of experience I would recommend having an instructor with you (and ideally dual controls) before you tackle any kind of real traffic.

Richie15

mrbruno wrote: »

I think if you drive in a car park you dont need a licence or insurance. But someone else said that you need a licence and insurance to drive anywhere to which 'the public has access'. I doubt anybody would mind if you found a quiet one at the weekend or something. Or if you know someone with a huge field.

Yes, you need a licence or learner permit, tax, insurance and, in most cases, some form of proof of road-worthiness (DOE or NCT cert). This applies to any area to which the public have access, by right or by permission.
"By right" means a public place; "by permission" means private property where the public are allowed go - like a carpark, an open farm, or any other place where you don't need express permission from the occupier to enter.
If you know someone with a carpark that can be closed to the public, or even if it has a sign saying "no entry outside business hours" or something similar, you can use this. But not if the public are allowed access.

If you've only had two lessons and no other driving experience, it's not likely you'll pass the test. But certainly show up anyway - it's no harm getting the whole "testing experience." That way when you are ready to give it a real shot, it's one less thing to worry about.

greenie

booksale wrote: »

will have my driving test in mid-april.

had 2 lessons know how to start a car and change gears (um, forget them all as it's been months!)

have no car. looking for a car now.

but dont think i can make it.

Hi Booksale, If you only had 2 lessons a few months ago and have forgotten the basics you learned then I'm not too sure if you will be ready to take the test on the 12th April...It is possible but you'd have to have lessons everyday for the next week and a half ..(in my opinion)..I also don't think you will have time to buy a car, tax, insure & nct it and use it to practise before the test.
It would be a shame to have to cancel the test again & waste the money so maybe instead of looking for a car, spend the money on lessons and go for the test. The car can come later.:)

booksale

hiya, tks u all for the advice.

yeah, am off completely next week, so will be able to practise a lot (if i have a car).

but i dont hv a car and too stressed now if i hv to get a car, this and that in a week.

so, i may probably just do two hours lesson every day. just talked with a tutor and he is ok with the time, hopefully there would be a nice discount for that but he said he has to see how i drive the first lesson. would probably go for the test monday week, just for a laugh myself, hope i won't crash and break the car.

one question about renting a car and getting it insuranced a day, how much does it charge and where should i go and do this?

millions tks!

Alanstrainor

If you need a car for the test, most instructors will rent out their cars for the hour, I'm not very up to date with pricing but i recall it being somewhere in the region of 120.

ha-ya-said-what

I'm pretty sure you can't rent a car on a learner permit unless it's an instructors car your renting for a test & he/she accompanies you

Have a think see if you know anyone with a motor trader policy that would be willing to go with you on some practise runs, some of them policies allow cover of "test drive & tuition"

Alanstrainor

ha-ya-said-what wrote: »

I'm pretty sure you can't rent a car on a learner permit.

I would be certain about that. Most require you to have a full license for 2 years before they will rent out a car to you. Also, most if not all major car rental firms in Ireland will only rent out cars to people over 25

spurious

I recently lent my car to a friend to do her test and it cost me 30 euro to put her on my insurance for a day.

To be completely honest OP, two lessons down with, from the sounds of it, just the VERY basics, I wouldn't take the test in two weeks, I would defer until I got some more lessons and a lot more driving done.

booksale

not sure abt motor trader policy... wht's that??

do u mean go to the driving sch for a few lessons and then i can use their car on test day with a day insurance?!?

indeed, i am checking on the internet now.

i have heard the some schools would let you use their car and get the car insuranced for you on your driving day, but not quite sure and can't find the info (yet).

do u guys know anything abt that?

booksale

spurious wrote: »

I recently lent my car to a friend to do her test and it cost me 30 euro to put her on my insurance for a day.

To be completely honest OP, two lessons down with, from the sounds of it, just the VERY basics, I wouldn't take the test in two weeks, I would defer until I got some more lessons and a lot more driving done.

tks. but i am going to take 2 hours lesson every day next week five (or six) days, would it be a slim of chance?!?!?

yeh, i know wht u mean... i am just afriad i m wasting money.

if i can get a full licence, it certainly help me find jobs...

booksale

spurious wrote: »

I recently lent my car to a friend to do her test and it cost me 30 euro to put her on my insurance for a day.

hi, spurious, did u do the insurance for ur frd over the phone? and were they any paper proof for the examiner on the test day?

spurious

booksale wrote: »

hi, spurious, did u do the insurance for ur frd over the phone? and were they any paper proof for the examiner on the test day?

Yes I did it over the phone. The company sent me a receipt but not a certificate - they told me their policy for one day coverage was not to send a cert..

I wrote a letter for my friend confirming I had given permission for my car to be used and that she was insured in it, but she was never asked for it, the examiner just checked that the insurance disc was valid.

She passed, which I'm hoping will be an omen for when I sit mine.

spurious

booksale wrote: »

tks. but i am going to take 2 hours lesson every day next week five (or six) days, would it be a slim of chance?!?!?

yeh, i know wht u mean... i am just afriad i m wasting money.

if i can get a full licence, it certainly help me find jobs...

booksale, I think this is the sort of course you mean (not sure if you're in Dublin).

http://dragondriver.ie/services/intensive-driving/

af_thefragile

I took about 10 lessons before I went and bought my own car.
It mostly cuz I didn't have the money to buy a car and even then I wouldn't be driving it too often as I don't have a full license.
And another reason cuz I wasn't confident enough to drive around in my own car.

2 lessons really isn't much at all. It was atleast 4-5 lessons before I had the confidence to drive around in traffic at decent speeds and even then its only been recently (at this point I might have had taken about 15 lessons) that I can drive around town and everywhere without much problem.

So really I'ld advice you to wait a little before you get your car. Atleast 5 lessons I'ld say.
Though once you get a car you'll improve really fast. But you wanna be fairly confident to be driving around in traffic in your own car without the "safety net" of your instructor and his car.

As Bear Grylls said, You can get it right a million times but you can get it wrong only once!

af_thefragile

booksale wrote: »

tks. but i am going to take 2 hours lesson every day next week five (or six) days, would it be a slim of chance?!?!?

yeh, i know wht u mean... i am just afriad i m wasting money.

if i can get a full licence, it certainly help me find jobs...

Passing the test is more to do with confidence than "how to drive". If you're confident you'll find passing much more easier than if you know how to drive but you don't have much experience behind the wheel.

I could drive pretty much perfect when I did my test but the only driving experience I had was with my instructor for an hour once a week. Which wasn't enough and so I failed.
But now that I have my own car, I'm much much much more confident than I ever was and even my instructor now says I should be able to pass the test next time without any problem (he told me I wouldn't pass before my previous test as I wasn't confident enough and didn't have enough experience).

So I'll still advice you to get a couple of lessons before you decide to get your own car. But as your test is only a few weeks away, you might wanna start looking for a car as some driving experience will really help you pass your test.

bad2dabone

hiya, there's pretty much no chance of you passing your test with this little preparation, is there any way you can postpone the test until you have more experience?

DrivingTestTips: Brian

Hi OP

I would recommend you get more lessons as the instructor will give you a deal based on the amount you need.

Take a look a the videos on DrivingTestTips.ie as they will give you an idea of whether or not you're ready for the test.