Your driving lessons can be an exciting time in your life! You’re taking the next step towards getting your proficiency licence, which will open up a whole world of freedom and responsibility.
When it comes to your driving lessons – especially your first every driving lesson – you may have a number of questions about what will happen, what to expect, how you should conduct yourself, and how you should prepare.
Sometimes, even the most experienced drivers may need what’s called a refresher driving course in order to help them with safely navigating the road.
There’s nothing wrong with taking a refresher driving course – in fact, it can be really helpful when it comes to mitigating the risk of crash, and can help unsteady drivers with their skill and confidence level!
Once you’ve gone through your first driving lesson, you’re probably more comfortable with what to expect from your lessons overall. Now that you’ve met your instructor or instructors and have likely had more private practice, you may also feel more comfortable talking to them and asking any questions you may have.
Your driving instructors will have taken ample notes during your first driving lesson, and will know where you may be having difficulty or may need work on certain driving practices.
While you must log at least 120 hours of supervised driving by law, including at least 20 hours of driving at night, there is no specific rule about how many lessons you’ll need to pass.
However, it does greatly depend on your comfort on the road. It’s estimated that those drivers who increase supervised on-road experience with a driving instructor end up doing better in the practical driving test, and tend to reduce their crash risk by 30% in the first two years of driving!
The Safer Driving Course is great for NSW drivers that want to learn about how to best become a safe driver.
The course helps you to learn about reducing risks that may be on the road, anticipating any hazardous situations, and can even teach you how to make the best decisions possible while on the road!
With the help of a certified driving instructor, completing the course is simple. In-class and car coaching sessions provide a safe environment for learner drivers after the driving test.
This question really should be do they have a curriculum? Make sure the driving school you choose has a comprehensive learn to drive program. Is there a textbook? Does the instructor have lesson plans? Is there a method for you to track your progress?
Check out the Trent learn to drive program here.
When you’re taught how to drive, you’re taught the most important rules such as following road signs — but there’s a good chance that there are other more subtle rules are left out from your knowledge.
These rules aren’t just a caution to help you avoid the law, but are also in place to help you become a safer driver.
While the cost of a driving lesson isn’t a perfect indicator of quality, driving schools who put more resources into the quality of their lessons may increase the cost of their lessons.
You might first look at driving and think it’s relatively easy to learn — but even the easiest skills are better learnt with a deliberate structure. A simple analogy would be trying to get better at marathon running. If you just ran every day without tracking your improvements, you might get better.
But what if there was someone to teach you the proper form, pacing and tracked your strengths and pain points?
This would be the biggest difference between a cheaper driving lesson and a more expensive one. The difference between someone who has a system crafted to improve your driving skills and someone who just sits in the car with you and only helps you with their intuition.
We’ll start with the cheaper driving lessons first. They may range from $40–$50/hr and are usually an independent driving instructor. However, these lessons might typically involve a driving instructor who puts the minimal effort to teach you how to drive.
This would entail an instructor who takes you into a car that hasn’t been optimised for teaching and simply teaching you without ever trying to figure out what you currently know and need to learn.
With anything, whether it’s an iPhone or a cheap phone, you pay for the quality of the product or service. This is the same with driving lessons. These instructors may typically teach you the skills just to pass the driving test, but not to be a better driver in general.
It might seem counterintuitive for us to market ourselves as a more expensive driving school brand, but we feel that we’re justified in doing so. We’ve spent hours and hours on research to understand the best way to teach new students, make sure all our instructors know the process and acquire the best cars for students to drive in.
In the price you pay, you pay for an instructor following a process that we’ve improved over 50 years. You’re paying for a curriculum that is created not just to help you pass the driving test, but to make sure that you’re safe on the road.
This includes a 128-page handbook including 54 instruction topics with everything you need to know, a student record card so you can visually see what you’ve learnt and individually planned lessons.
What you’re really paying for when you pay for a lesson with LTrent is your time. You’re paying to get a lesson that will save your time. You’ll learn more in one hour with LTrent than one hour with a driving school that hasn’t put as much effort into perfecting the teaching process.
It’s the difference between trying to read a textbook and learning by yourself versus having a teacher who not only knows the material, but knows how to teach you as well.
Our philosophy is producing the best driving lesson possible and our value proposition to you is that you’re going to have a better experience with us than anywhere else. If you don’t believe that you received the best level of service and training, not only will we refund your money for your first lesson but we’ll give you 50% off your next session.
Find your driving lesson times or contact us
Check out other blogs
Why Do I Need 120 Hours To Take A Driving Test?
What Do I Do If I Lose My Logbook?
Should I Record My Logbook Hours With My Parents Or An Instructor?
Renewing your licence might not seem like an important task, but it’s useful to understand how to do – especially because you’re probably going to be driving all the way into old age and you’re going to need to renew your licence at some point. As well as this, if you ever drive unlicensed, you can be heavily punished.
Driving unlicensed
If you haven’t been manually staring at the expiry date of your driver’s licence being paranoid that it’s going to expire soon like most people, you’re going to receive a renewal notice six weeks before it expires. That is, you haven’t renewed your licence yet. Though if you didn’t receive any notice, it’s still your responsibility to make sure that you’re not driving with an expired licence.
If you do need to renew your licence, there are special conditions if you’re not on an unrestricted licence yet.
Learner licences
While other P1, P2 and unrestricted licence holders are permitted to renew their licence online, learner licence holders must attend a service centre or registry in person. Furthermore, learner licence holders must pass the knowledge test (the same test they passed to get their licence in the first place) to renew their licence.
Furthermore, drivers must pay the learner licence fee again. Despite this, it’s rare for someone to renew their learner licence as learner licences are valid for five years. This means that most people either progress to become P1 drivers or if they have chosen not to drive, simply use a photo card as a form of identification.
P1 and P2 licences
The amazing thing about a P1 and P2 licence is that there’s no time limit for moving through to the next stage of your licence and you’re able to renew your P1 and P2 licences as many times as you want.
P1 licences last 18 months before expiry and P2 licences last double that – 36 months. Furthermore, every renewal requires a fee.
P1 and P2 licence holders are able to renew their licences online.
Renewing online or in person
If you want to renew your licence online click here.
If you want to renew your licence in person, you can visit any service centre or registry and follow the steps given to you there. Typically this will involve filling out a form, providing your current licence and paying the required licence fee.
When you can renew
Remember that you’re able renew your licence up to 6 months before it expires. This means that there’s a half a year gap between being able to renew your licence and having your licence expire – plenty of time to make sure that you don’t drive around with an expired licence.
If you renew your licence within 6 months after the expiry date, your new licence’s expiry date will be calculated based on your previous licence. However, if you renew it more than 6 months after the expiry date, your licence will be reissued.
Cancelled licences
If your licence has been cancelled, suspended or disqualified – depending on the severity of the cause there are special steps you must take in order to renew your licence. To find out further information, call or visit a service centre and explain your situation.
Check out our other blogs
Speed Limits In Australia
What You Must Check For Before Your Driving Test
What Do I Do After A Crash?