Test day
Driving test car hire
A dual-control car for your test, and an hour in it before you go in.
Why hire
Borrowing a car is the wrong kind of saving
The car has to satisfy the DVSA before the examiner will get into it, and you have to be able to drive it without thinking.
A test car needs more than an MOT. It needs legal tyres with the right tread, no warning lights, a working speedometer and seatbelts, clean and legal plates, and a second interior mirror for the examiner. If any of that is wrong the test is cancelled at the door and the fee is gone.
Then there is the driving. A friend’s clutch is not your clutch. People who have learned in one car and taken the test in another routinely lose marks in the first two minutes on things they have not got wrong in months.
Hiring from a school removes both problems: the car is already compliant, and you drive it for an hour beforehand on the roads around that centre.
What you get
What the hire includes
- The car
- A modern dual-control car, taxed, insured for the test and presented the way the DVSA requires — legal tyres, clean plates, working lights, and a second mirror fitted for the examiner.
- The option of a warm-up drive
- An hour with an instructor before the test, on the routes around that centre, added on if you want it. It is the whole point of hiring from a school rather than borrowing a car: you arrive having already driven it. Charged at our standard agreed hourly rate.
- The instructor's presence
- They wait at the centre while you sit the test, and go through the examiner's report with you afterwards whichever way it goes.
- Insurance for the test
- Cover for the test itself is in place. You do not need to arrange anything with your own insurer.
How to book
Three things we need
Your test centre, your date and time, and whether you need manual or automatic. Send those on WhatsApp or through the plan and we will tell you straight away whether a car is available.
Cars go to pupils on a course first, so the earlier you ask the better. If we cannot cover your date we will say so rather than keep you waiting on a maybe.
On an intensive package none of this applies — the car on test day is included, and it is the one you learned in.
We require a minimum of a two hour assesment to be booked prior to providing vehicle hire
We reserve the right to refuse our vehicle at any time should the learner driver present a significant risk to public safety or breach any legal requirements.
Answers
Common questions
Who is test car hire for?
Anyone with a test booked and no suitable car. Usually people who learned in a friend's or parent's car, drivers whose own car is not test-legal, and pupils whose previous school has let them down close to the date.
Is a warm-up drive included?
No, but we do offer the option to add it on prior to your test. Turning up and driving an unfamiliar biting point cold is the single most avoidable way to lose a test. Any hours taken prior to the test are charged at our standard agreed hourly rate.
Manual or automatic?
Both, subject to availability at your test centre on your date. Tell us which when you enquire — the fleet is mixed and the automatic cars book out faster.
How far in advance should I book?
As early as you can. The car has to be available on your date at your centre, and cars are committed to course pupils first. A fortnight is comfortable; a couple of days is a gamble.
Do I need my own insurance?
No. Cover for the test is arranged as part of the hire. Bring your licence and your theory pass certificate.
Got a test date and no car?
Tell us the centre, the date and the transmission, and we will tell you within the day whether we can cover it.