The short answer
The total is made up of the school's basic fee, the driving lessons, the learning material, the entry fees, the testing organisation's fees, and the official costs for the application, eye test and first-aid course. Only one item is unknown in advance: the number of practice lessons. Every amount is on our prices page.
Every figure floating around online as “a licence costs roughly …” is an average over people who practised different amounts. It is more useful to know which parts the bill is made of — because only one of them actually moves.
What goes to the driving school
- The basic fee: registration, administration, all the theory classes and basic training
- The practice lessons — as many as needed, billed individually
- The twelve special drives, whose number is fixed
- The learning material for the theory
- The entry fees for the theory and practical tests
The basic fee is a flat amount, charged once, however often you come to theory. Hearing a topic three times does not cost three times.
What goes to the testing organisation
The fees for the theory and practical tests are charged by TÜV or DEKRA, not by the driving school. They are identical at every school, because none of us sets them. If you have to retake a test, they fall due again.
What goes to the authority
The licensing authority's fee for your application, plus the eye test and the first-aid course. You do not do either of those with us but with a testing point and a course provider — and you need both before the application can even be made. What you have to gather is set out separately.
The one unknown item
The number of practice lessons. Everything else can be quoted exactly before you register. Which is why “how many lessons do I need” is in truth the cost question — not the price per lesson.
What moves the total
Regularity above all. Two lessons a week need fewer units in total than four every fortnight, because widely spaced lessons each cost some repetition. After that comes the gearbox question: an automatic usually goes faster, but B78 restricts you afterwards — unless you choose B197.
Every single item is itemised on our prices page — instalments are possible, and there are no hidden fees.