How driving test booking is changing for learner drivers

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From 12 May, there will be changes to how you book your driving test.

The changes are aimed at reducing long waiting lists of up to six months, and preventing slots from being bulk-bought by bots and firms who resell them to learner drivers at inflated prices.

From 12 May, only you will be able to book, change or swap your own driving test, not anyone else – including your driving instructor.

Under the old rules, instructors could book tests on behalf of their students, but this is now banned.

Tests already booked by instructors are unaffected.

A BBC investigation in December found that some driving instructors were offered kickbacks of up to £250 a month to sell their official test-booking login details to touts, who used those details to book driving tests in bulk and sell them to learners on WhatsApp and Facebook, charging as much as £500 for tests.

Tests have a standard fee of £62 on weekdays and £75 on evenings, weekends and bank holidays.

Speak to your instructor to make sure you’re ready to take the test, then get their reference number. You enter this when you book to make sure your instructor is available.

You can help someone you know book and manage their driving test, but they must be with you while you help them, and all confirmations must be set up to be sent to their email or phone number. If they don’t have email, you can help them set up an account.

Since 31 March, you can only make two changes to your booked slot.

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If you had used up all your changes under the old rules (you were allowed to make six changes), you can make two more changes from 31 March.

Changing the date or time counts as a change, changing the test centre counts as a change, and swapping your slot with another learner driver counts as a change.

If you change more than one thing at the same time, such as the date and test centre, this counts as one change.

If the DVSA changes your test, that does not count as a change.

If you need to make more than two changes to your booking, you will have to cancel your test and book a new one.

You will be refunded if you cancel at least 10 working days before your test date.

From 9 June, if you want to move your test, you can only move it to the three test centres closest to where your test is booked.

Only book at a test centre you intend to use, and choose a realistic date for when you’ll be ready to take the test.

You can find more guidance on where you can book, and more about the new driving test booking changes, here.

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