Eye-watering cost of learning to drive revealed as price of lessons soar during cost of living crisis
LEARNER drivers are the latest to feel the pain of the cost of living crisis with lesson prices rising.
More than seven in ten instructors were charging between £31 and £40 a lesson in October, figures have revealed.
The proportion has more than doubled from a third a year ago.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency stats show only a quarter were charging between £21 and £30 — compared with two thirds in 2021.
The figure for those charging more than £41 has risen to 4.5 per cent from 1.9 per cent.
It comes as learners face a struggle to get a test with driving examiners going on strike this month in a row over pay.
DVSA staff are among workers in the Public and Commercial Services union holding rolling strikes between December 13 and January 16.
When driving instructors were asked what reasons pupils give for taking an extended break from lessons, 89.6% of respondents said it was due to the long waiting times for a test – 64.6% cited financial constraints.
Instructors said 50.4% of their pupils have taken an extended break of three weeks or more from lessons, and 45.8% wanted less frequent lessons.
Increased lesson prices were cited by 43.5% of people for taking a break, while 28.3% said it was due to work commitments.
Some 13.3% said it was down to holiday, and 7.4% said they were scaling back due to health reasons.
They have also been gradually recovering business lost during the Covid pandemic, the data suggests, as 77.7% instructors said they were fully operational in June last year, compared to 83.7% in October this year.
The latest figures found that 86.9% of instructors worked in England, with 69.2% of them describing themselves as independent, and 17.4% operating a local franchise.
It also found that among advanced driving instructors, 71.8% expect to continue in the job for at least three years, while 8.1% plan to quit in a year.
Of the types of cars used for learning, 58.3% were manual petrol-powered vehicles, 29.2% were diesel and 10.7% were hybrid – just 3.2% were fully electric.