Hi All; Well things are moving along not too bad for me now, so I have arranged a driving assessment for later this week with a local company, I will probably also book a further assessment with another training school, I was charged £55.00 for a 1 hour assessment which I don’t mind as most schools charge about that an hour. I am not too sure what to expect; I have over 18 years experience of driving buses and coaches, I have used most types of gear boxes from auto to splitters, In my last job I was also trained in the Smith System,
In Fact over the last week I have been putting into practice everything I have learned over the years while driving my car, mirror checks every 3-4 seconds after and before gear changes/braking/acceleration/roundabouts/passing parked cars etc, also I was trained on the 4 second rule not as it used to be on a 2 second gap,
Do most driving schools insist on 20 hours training or a set course, or in your opinion would I be given a fair assessment and advised accordingly, also if I go for a second assessment with a different school would that look bad on me, I know driving schools are there to help people like me but at the same time they are also there to make money as after all it is a business, many thanks in advance.
Some trainers charge for assessments and some don’t. Over the many years/decades I have worked for many schools no 2 have the same assessment policy. For example back in the 80s I trained for one company that told me how many days the candidate needed before I left the office. Fit the course to the blank days in the book the owner would say.
My main concern with the trial drives we do every week is to judge the rate of improvement over the hour and decide how much training it would take to reach test standard. I will give a few basic instructions after a short demo drive and see if the candidate remembers them throughout the hour.
Local knowledge can sometimes help reduce the training time as can 7.5t or PCV experience. There are many factors involved and sometimes it is hard to get it spot on.
Try and enjoy and importantly have more than 1 assessment. Not all trainers are the same.
stevie1958:
Hi All; Well things are moving along not too bad for me now, so I have arranged a driving assessment for later this week with a local company, I will probably also book a further assessment with another training school, I was charged £55.00 for a 1 hour assessment which I don’t mind as most schools charge about that an hour. I am not too sure what to expect; I have over 18 years experience of driving buses and coaches, I have used most types of gear boxes from auto to splitters, In my last job I was also trained in the Smith System,
http://www.smith-system.com/
In Fact over the last week I have been putting into practice everything I have learned over the years while driving my car, mirror checks every 3-4 seconds after and before gear changes/braking/acceleration/roundabouts/passing parked cars etc, also I was trained on the 4 second rule not as it used to be on a 2 second gap,
Do most driving schools insist on 20 hours training or a set course, or in your opinion would I be given a fair assessment and advised accordingly, also if I go for a second assessment with a different school would that look bad on me, I know driving schools are there to help people like me but at the same time they are also there to make money as after all it is a business, many thanks in advance.
I would have another assessment, I have got drivers through in just 2 days training and test.
I notice your are about 7 miles away from me so feel free to contact me, I’m here to help.
Paul 
Thank you so much for the positive feedback, I have read so many horror stories on here about so called brokers and this is why I would like to have 2 driving assessments, Paul I have heard good reviews from your business and actually you were one of my choices for an assessment as I read in one of your posts you have a vehicle with a straight 6 splitter and that would probably suit me fine, as I used to drive a Daf 53 seater coach with a 6 speed splitter.