It’s no surprise that it costs more to learn to drive than ever before. Learner driver insurance, tuition, and test fees increase yearly and it affects the cohort who are least able to absorb the cost without financial support. An 18-year-old working a part-time (15h/week) job on minimum wage will earn approximately £737.88 per month. Learning to drive takes up around, 70% of your take-home income.
The Quote Zone noted that it costs on average £3142 to learn to drive. This figure includes getting a provisional license, driving lessons, paying for your theory and practical tests and buying Short Term Car Insurance. Moreover, new drivers are safer drivers than older generations, with fewer accidents occurring within the first five years of passing (ALA, 2024).
The estimated cost of driving is extraordinarily high in 2024 but it could be even higher than you think. Explore the true cost of the learner driver journey and what the near future could hold for newly graduated drivers.
Despite estimations, the cost of learning to drive could be even higher than initially expected. Here we explore the learner driver costs (July 2024) and why you might end up paying more. You may not be prepared for the actual costs of getting on the road.
It costs £34 to buy your first provisional driving license and an additional £20 to replace it if you lose it or need to renew. When you complete your test, you’ll need a driver’s license which costs the same as renewal (£20) – the average amount spent on licenses is £54.
The average cost of lessons in 2024 is £25-45 per hour and the average hours of lessons required to pass is 45, so this would cost between £1,125 and £2,025. Around 50% of drivers complete their practical driving test the first time (ALA, 2024), which means you’ll need top-up lessons while you wait for another test date. The waiting list for a second test is currently four months (July, 2024). If you use one additional hour of lessons fortnightly, this adds £215-387 if you need to take a second test. 20% don’t even pass their test the second time round so you can include a conservative £562 extra per subsequent practical test. Explore the rough guide to driving costs below:
| Pass first-time (50%) | Pass second-time (30%) | Pass third-time (5%) | Pass fourth-time (7.5%) | Pass fifth time (7.5%) |
| £1,125-£2,025 | £1,340-£2,412 | £1,555-£2,799 | £1,770-£3,186 | £1,985-£3,573 |
A driving theory test costs £23 and the average number of tests taken is around 1.5 so this ends up costing £35 on average.
Next up are the practical test costs. It costs £60 on weekdays and £75 on weekends. Moreover, if you use your instructor’s car in your test (most people do), you’ll need to pay for the test time (the rate is usually double your hourly fee). Let’s see how much each round of tests costs.
| Pass- first time | Pass- second-time | Pass- third-time | Pass- fourth-time | Pass- fifth-time | |
| Theory | £23 | £46 | £69 | £92 | £115 |
| Practical | £111-£165 | £222-£330 | £333-£495 | £444-£660 | £555-£825 |
If you want to practice without your instructor’s supervision, you’ll need to get insured on a family member’s, or your own car. According to Quote Zone, it costs around £1,100 – £1,200 yearly for young driver insurance (for your own car). Alternatively, Short Term cover costs around £60-90 per month. Half of learners only need it for around 6 months but those who fail their test will need it for longer. Explore the learner driver costs below.
| Pass in 6 months | Pass in 10 months | Pass in 14 months | Pass in 18 months | Pass in 22 months |
| £360-£540 | £600-£900 | £840-£1,260 | £1080-£1620 | £1320-£1980 |
Although there are many different factors that determine how much you will spend learning to drive, the amount can hike up quickly if you need to take subsequent tests. Take a look at the total cost estimations. You could pay as much as £6,467 to complete your test if you fail five or more times. This is more than the average price of a first-time car. The obscene cost of passing your test leaves little in the way of finances for your first car – not to mention the running costs and fuel prices.
| Pass first-time (50%) | Pass second-time (30%) | Pass third-time (5%) | Pass fourth-time (7.5%) | Pass fifth-time (7.5%) |
| £1,685- £2,819 | £2,251-£3,731 | £2,817-£4,643 | £3,383-£5,555 | £3,949-£6,467 |
There are plans to increase driving test costs for learners who have failed their first test. The intention is to reduce the number of people who book a test date before they’re ready. This initiative hopes to reduce the backlog of tests and free up slots for the swathes of new drivers looking for appointments. The current six-month waiting list is part of the reason the learner driver costs are unnecessarily high.
However, more often than not, learners are ready to take their tests; owing to the long waiting list. Unfortunately, nerves can cause drivers to make mistakes on the day of their test. The new rule could act as a financial punishment for drivers who are already paying more than any other cohort to get driving. What do you think of the plan to increase driving test costs?
We asked drivers how many theory tests they took before passing. 91% of drivers passed their theory test the first time before 2001 (ALA, 2024). After 2001, the first-time pass rate for driving theory tests drops to 64%. The hazard perception test was introduced in 2002, which could partially explain the drop in pass rates.
However, a similar pattern is observed in practical tests too. The pass rate dropped over 10% with more drivers taking five or more attempts to complete their practical test (ALA, 2024). Are recent new drivers less competent? It’s unlikely.
New drivers today are 10% less likely to get into an accident in the first five years of holding a full driving license. What’s more, there are plans to implement further limitations for new drivers in a bid to make roads safer.
It seems like passing your test is not only considerably more expensive than before 2001 but it’s harder to achieve. One benefit of the new program is that drivers are safer on the road. However, this comes at a high cost to the younger generation.
Not only is it harder and more expensive to pass your driving test but the cost of driving once you pass makes driving on your own almost inaccessible.
The average new driver spends less than £5,000 on their first car (ALA, 2024). However, since 2020 (the Covid-19 pandemic) the average cost of a used car rose by nearly £4,000. This means drivers today are probably spending around double what people used to on their first motor.
The price of road tax increased by 6% in 2024. New drivers can expect to pay around £190 per year; this depends on your specific vehicle. Moreover, new ULEZ zones have been created in 7 major UK cities, including Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Sheffield. ULEZ zones charge a fee for vehicles which emit above 75g/km of Co2.
The average insurance premium for young drivers is £1100-1200 per year (Quote Zone). Without a no-claims bonus or prior experience, your premium will start high and diminish over time.
The cost of getting on the road is very much underplayed. There are ways to save money like reducing your car insurance premium, using cheap temporary insurance, buying a car from a private seller, using a Pass Plus scheme or opting for fewer lessons or cheaper tuition. However, for almost half of learners, who unfortunately don’t pass their first driving test, the cost is considerably more than expected.
Car Excess Insurance
Short Term Motor Insurance
Scratch and Dent Insurance
Tyre & Alloy Wheel Insurance
Cycle Insurance
