The short answer
The only lessons prescribed by law are the twelve special drives. How many practice lessons come before them is set by your progress, not by a regulation. Any driving school that quotes you a firm total before your first lesson is guessing — it has not met you yet.
This is the most common question in a first consultation, and the honest answer is unsatisfying: we do not know yet. What we can tell you is what it depends on — and some of that you control.
What is fixed
The twelve special drives: five country, four motorway, three at night. That number is the same for everyone. For the practice lessons before them the regulations set no quantity but a goal — you should end up able to drive independently and safely. When that is reached is decided by your instructor together with you.
What decides it
- How regularly you drive — two lessons a week get you further than four every fortnight
- Whether you have prior experience: a scooter, a tractor, driving abroad, a parent on private land
- Manual or automatic — clutch and gears are one more thing at once
- How well the theory sits when you get behind the wheel
- How much traffic you take on: central Düsseldorf asks more than a quiet suburb
By far the biggest lever is the first one. Between two lessons the body measurably forgets a little — at a fortnight's gap every lesson starts with ten minutes of catching up. At two lessons a week that almost vanishes, and that is where most of the saved units actually come from.
Why we do not quote a flat number
Because a stated number pulls both sides the wrong way. Somebody who has heard “20 lessons” sits down for lesson 22 under pressure and drives worse for it. And a school that puts a low number out there in advance has an interest in it being right — including when you are not actually ready.
After every lesson
You get honest feedback after each one: what went well, what did not, and how far you are from being test-ready. After five lessons that tells you more about your own needs than any statistic could beforehand.
If it needs to go faster
The intensive course does not shorten the number of lessons, it shortens the gaps between them. Driving daily rather than weekly means less repetition and more progress per unit. The licence at the end is the same, the test is the same — only the calendar is tighter.
And if you have already been at another school: your lessons still count. What is recognised when you change is written up separately. What the individual items cost is on the prices page.