Learn to drive in Purley and Sanderstead
Join the thousands of people who have learnt to drive with our automatic and manual instructors in Purley and Sanderstead.
Learning to drive in an automatic is becoming increasingly popular, especially in inner city locations. Manual cars require constant pumping of the clutch when stopping and starting in urban traffic, which can become tedious. Whereas automatic cars are simply controlled by one foot, stop, or go. Automatics don’t just require less physical effort, but also less mental effort is needed to think about being in the correct gear, having enough acceleration before bringing the clutch up, or finding the biting point. Plus, the potential added stress of the dreaded stalling the car is eliminated. As these distractions are removed it allows novice drivers more time to focus their attention on the road, other road users, and managing their safety. Ultimately being a good driver is about managing risks, being safe, and reacting to hazards. Operating the vehicle is actually quite a small part of learning to drive, and made easier with automatic driving lessons.
Although Sanderstead is technically in the county of Surrey, it is a suburb of greater London and comes under the borough of Croydon, and is just a stones through from central London. As such, it has become increasingly more densely populated, roads have become more congested, and there is an ever-growing popularity of elect and hybrid cars, mainly thanks to the London Mayor and TFL ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) and congestion charge.
Due to the increasing popularity of learning to drive in an automatic ELITE Driving School have several automatic driving instructors covering all Croydon areas, including Sanderstead and Purley. We do not charge more for automatic driving lessons like many driving schools in Croydon do, nor do we charge more for evenings and weekend lessons. We have a very simple pay-as-you-go rate, or discount on blocks of 10 hours.
You can view profiles of all of our instructors that cover Purley and Sanderstead, including instructor bios, reviews, and photos. We have female automatic driving instructors available in all Croydon areas, and hybrid cars which are easy to drive, comfortable, and the perfect size for learning to drive in.
Our automatic instructors based in Croydon have excellent local knowledge, and will help you fully prepare for your driving test, whether you have it booked at Mitcham, Croydon, West Wickham, Redhill or Morden Test centres. Your driving lesson bookings and progress will be logged and tracked through our free Total Drive App.

Purley and Sanderstead Driving Instructors
Purely & Sanderstead Driving Lessons Testimonials

Driving Lessons in Croydon
“I took my manual driving lessons with Sue from Elite Driving and I would really recommend Sue to anyone! I really enjoyed our lessons each week, Sue made me feel confident and comfortable driving and her knowledge really helped me pass first time! Thank you so much Sue!”
09 January 2025

Want to become a driving instructor?
If you’re looking to train as an Approved Driving Instructor then make sure you do plenty of research first. You’ll find everything you need to know here.
Before you start training, read reviews from instructors that have trained and qualified with ELITE, we have a qualification rate far exceeding the national average.
What to expect from your driving lessons
Number of driving lessons
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.
Learning in a manual or automatic
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.
Learning in different areas
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.
What’s involved
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.