Welcome to ELITE Driving School
Join the thousands of people that have learnt to drive with our automatic and manual instructors

We're often asked how many driving lessons will be needed before passing the driving test. The DVSA state the average learner takes around 50 hours of professional lessons, plus 20 hours of private practice. In reality most pupils that learn with ELITE take far fewer hours than this. However, it is impossible to answer accurately how many hours are needed, as it varies hugely due to many influencing factors. Firstly, everyone learns at a different rate. Some individuals are naturally gifted with coordination and car controls, and others need more practice to perfect the required skills.

Then there is the consideration of whether you are learning to drive a manual or automatic car. More lessons may be needed in a manual, it all depends how quickly you develop clutch control. Although once you have mastered the basic controls to operate either vehicle type, the majority of learning hours are spent developing the skills needed to read the road, plan, anticipate the actions of other road users, and manage risks on the road. So whether to learn in a manual or automatic car is a personal choice, and at the moment it's around a 50/50 split which one people are choosing.

The area in which you are learning to drive and taking your driving test could also affect the number of lessons you need. Learning to drive in more densely populated towns like Croydon and Morden will have different challenges compared to somewhere more rural like Redhill. It's different again in somewhere like Crawley, due to the volume of large roundabouts and high speed dual carriageways. The simple fact is that you should take as many lessons as you need to become a safe and competent driver. All ELITE instructors will discuss your learning style, objectives, and time frames, and between you work out the best structure for your lessons leading up to a test. You will then be test ready, and confident to drive anywhere after you've passed the driving test. We provide a free Theory Test Pro App to help you prepare for your theory test. Plus we provide a free Total Drive App to make it simple to track your driving lesson bookings, get reminder notifications, track learning progress, and payments. There is even a free parent App too.