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Intensive driving courses

Intensive driving course, crash course, fast pass course, and one week course basically all mean the same thing.

In simple terms; The intensive course compresses six months of driving lessons into one or more weeks

The definition of Intensive in the Cambridge dictionary means – involving a lot of effort or activity in a short period of time.

​How does an intensive course work?

Basically, you choose the amount of hours you think you will need, the driving school will book the driving test date on your behalf and then you will start your driving lessons the week before the driving test, simples…

Or is it?

Not everything is as black and white as the example above. 

There’s a lot to consider before booking an intensive driving course:

1. How do you know how many driving lesson hours you will need?

If you’ve never taken a driving test before, how can you be expected to know the driving standard the examiners are looking for!

There’s a plethora of calculators online that will advise you on which course is suited to you.

The only information the calculator requires is your age, previous driving experience, and transmission type of vehicle you have driven.

This doesn’t take into account when you last had lessons, and did you take lessons with family and friends, or a qualified driving instructor, or a combination of both.

And more importantly, how quickly do you learn? Some students pick up the skill of driving quickly, others not so fast.

Everyone learns at their own pace.

If you book a course of lessons without taking some sort of a driving assessment with the driving instructor, you might find you haven’t allowed for enough course hours and therefore you could fall short of the driving standard required by the DVSA.

In this case the driving instructor will recommend you buy additional training hours.

But, if they can’t offer additional time because they have a full diary, they will advise you to postpone your driving test for a later date.

2. Driving test date:

The Driving and Vehicles Standards Agency (DVSA), is an executive agency of the department of transport in the UK.

The DVSA carry out driving tests, and approve people to be driving instructors in the UK.

So you are playing by their rules, and not those of the driving school!

Booking a driving test is based on a first come first served basis.

No one has a priority over anyone else, regardless of if they are a driving school or any other organisation.

And contrary to belief, driving test dates cannot be booked without the candidate’s driving licence number. 

In other words you can’t reserve driving test dates ready to enter a candidate details at a later date.

So, basically when you book your intensive driving course, the course date you get depends on two things:

• The  availability of a driving instructor for your course hours.
• The date of the next available driving test in your area.

Driving instructors in the UK are self employed, meaning if they don’t work they don’t get paid.

Even driving instructors who work for the large driving schools, do so under franchise, meaning they don’t get paid by the driving school, they get  paid by the students they take for driving lessons.

If a driving instructor’s diary is slim with bookings, they will be grateful for an intensive course, whereas if they have a fat healthy diary, they are not going to risk cancelling existing students lessons to squeeze someone in for an intensive course.

Some driving instructors specialise in just doing intensive courses and therefore should have at least four weeks booked in advance, so they know they can pay their bills.

When you book an intensive driving course, you have made a commitment to buy a driving instructor’s time at some point in the future.

What happens if you decide to change your mind and cancel your intensive driving course?

Most driving schools will have a cancelation policy to protect their driving instructors from being stranded without work.

These cancelations policies might not include a refund of your course fee if you cancel without giving proper notice.

Other policies might only include a part refund with part of the course fee being kept for admin fees.

What happens if your driving test gets cancelled?

The DVSA can cancel your driving test at any time and for any reason, even up to a few minutes before your driving test is due to start.

This isn’t an uncommon event either. If an examiner is late back from an earlier test, or taken ill at short notice, there won’t be another examiner to cover for them, therefore your test will be cancelled. 

The DVSA will issue you a new driving test date, or refund your driving test fee, however your contract with the driving school for the intensive course (the driving instructor’s time) is still subject to their cancellation policy.

An intensive course is an agreement between two parties.

The driving instructor, and the DVSA.

The driving school will book the driving test date so that it works with a driving instructor’s availability to fit the required lessons into their diary.

But they can’t guarantee the DVSA won’t cancel the driving test.

Our verdict:

Pro’s:

• Intensive courses are a good way to go if you like to learn things quickly, and can deal with the pressure of cramming lessons into a short time frame.
• They are Ideal for people who struggle with time for weekly lessons, or work away from home.
• Students who prefer the faster approach to learning rather than the traditional one hour a week, will also benefit from an intensive course. 

Con’s:

• Some people aren’t suited to this style of training and can crack under the pressure, which can result in a loss of confidence for driving.
• If your driving test gets cancelled, you might still be committed to continuing with the course lessons.
• You might not be test ready by the end of the course and therefore will have to postpone the driving test for a later date.

How many driving lessons will I need?

There is no legal minimum number of driving lessons. The time required depends on your previous experience, lesson frequency, private practice, confidence and how quickly you can drive safely without help. Rather than counting lessons alone, progress should be measured by what you can do independently and consistently.

Read our guide: How many driving lessons do I need?

If you want to know more about booking an intensive driving course please visit the learning centre alternatively call the office on 03303 044800 during office hours