Learning to drive can be an expensive and stressful process. And that goes double if you’re driving someone else’s car while you learn. While there are definite advantages to having your instructor or driving school provide the vehicle, there are also upsides to driving your own car. Let’s consider a few of them.
It can be cheaper
Firstly and most obviously, you’ll save money if you’re driving your own car. You’ll have to drive your own car eventually, and it makes sense to bring the purchase forward to before you’ve passed the test.
Once you’ve got the car, you can have a friend or family member show you the ropes. This will save you upwards of twenty pounds per hour. Multiply this over the forty or so hours it takes to learn to drive a car, and the savings could be substantial.
On the other hand, you’ll have to contend with additional costs, like fuel, maintenance, and insurance. When you’re putting your budget together, you’ll want to factor all of these things in.
Convenience
If you’re learning to drive in your own car, then you won’t be tied to a particular instructor. You can go on a lesson whenever the fancy takes you, even if the hours are unsociable. That means you’ll get experience driving in the early morning, and very late at night.
You can pick up learner insurance and start driving whenever you have an instructor available. Note that your instructor, whether it’s a friend or family member, must be qualified to drive themselves – and in the kind of vehicle you’ll be driving. They’ll also need to be at least 21. Note that it’s illegal for your friend or family member to charge you for a driving lesson if they aren’t DVSA-approved.
Getting yourself insured is often quite straightforward. There are specialised learner insurance products that will get you covered, whatever vehicle you’re learning in. The insurance should cover both the learner driver and the person supervising (since the latter may need to take over driving duties).
No need to get used to the car again
One major advantage of learning in a particular car is that you won’t have an additional learning curve to cope with after you’ve passed the test. You’ll be driving in the same car, which means that you won’t have to get to grips with the idiosyncrasies of a new vehicle. The biting point of the clutch will be in the same place, the handling will be the same, and the brakes will bring you to a halt at exactly the same rate. This will make your career as a new driver a little bit more comfortable, to begin with.