Intensive driving courses

[tintin]

Just looked on the net and as usual too much choice and not enough feedback so though I would consult the collective hive....

My 18 year old son will finish his A levels next week (thankfully, moody so and so) and other than a 2 week holiday with us has some time free until university in September. Grand parents have offered to fund his driving lessons - he is not daft and well co-ordinated and wants to get it out of the way - so i though one of these intensive driving courses would be good (30-40 hours in a week or two sort of thing)....

We live in Preston so it would need to be a local company or a national company with local offices - any experiences / recommendations or ones to avoid? Plus views on how many hours needed that sort of thing?

Many thx

Tim

[dixie]

Not a recommendation of a local outfit, but I did an intensive course around 10 years ago (in the South West) and it was well worth it.
At the time I was working offshore for long periods and didn't know when I'd be back to be able to have a standard routine of lessons, so it suited me well.
On the Monday morning I was picked up, told the guy I'd driven round a car park before, so he sat me in the driving seat and off we went to a quiet housing estate to build on the basics for 6 hours. Similar on Tuesday but with dual carriageways and some manoeuvres. By Thursday morning it just felt like I was driving some old guy around in his car (a little fiesta diesel which was fairly easy to prevent from stalling) as he shout out directions and chatted about his previous career. Had the test on Friday and that was that. So all in all I think it was 6 hours x 4 days and 2 hours on the Friday before the test.

[hogthrob]

I learnt intensively, albeit quite a few years ago. The main advice I have is don't have a large gap between training and test. Or at least, have plenty of driving between training and test, and a couple of formal refresher lessons in the days before the test.

Good luck to him!

[nick67]

My eldest did it in January and my youngest is booked in for August.

Theirs are spread over 2 weeks, they used this firm which is local

https://skillz2drive.co.uk/

It had good reviews and we found them via Google.

My eldest said was having 2 hr lessons meant he was driving the same route twice and correct and learning from the errors he made first time round.

[Kingstepper]

I learnt intensively, albeit quite a few years ago. The main advice I have is don't have a large gap between training and test. Or at least, have plenty of driving between training and test, and a couple of formal refresher lessons in the days before the test.

Good luck to him!

Get the theory done ASAP so can book test at end of course.

[bloater]

If your in Preston there is a company that kept cropping up in Blackpool so not a million miles away.
Not sure if they still do it as it was a few years ago now.

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[kevkojak]

I have a couple of driving instructors in the family who advise avoiding these like the plague.
If he's set on doing it then fair enough, but these intensive courses don't give anything like the skills required for today's busy roads. It's a much longer slog but there is no substitute for taking a few months with an instructor learning a car and driving in a variety of different conditions.

Be aware that the test won't be on familiar roads either, because there is such a long wait when booking a test (last I checked it was close to a month) these centres take cancellations and late slots from a 5-25 mile radius. So you might be learning in your hometown (Preston) then have to take a test in Blackpool!

I definitely see the upside of them for an inpatient teenager, but my experience has taught me that it's worth taking time over something as important as driving.

[tintin]

If your in Preston there is a company that kept cropping up in Blackpool so not a million miles away.
Not sure if they still do it as it was a few years ago now.

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Bloater, what is the name of the company?



Many thanks for all the responses, the intensive bit is more just time constraints than anything else I get the sentiment regarding taking his time. In reality assuming he passes he probably wont drive whilst he is at university anyway as he wont have access to a car (its cheaper for us to get a cab when we go out than insure him on our car on the off chance he ever comes home..... he is doing a surfing degree in Newquay.....). Nearer the time of him actually driving full time i would ensure he had suitable experience, perhaps with a few more lessons.

T

[bloater]

This is the one I think https://www.learndrive.co.uk/


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