Getting a full license without spending a fortune.

Selkies

Gonna cost me quite a bit to get insurance, even if I get it on my parent's car. Cost me about the same to get a enough lessons from a motoring school to pass the test.

Anyone know if there is somewhere off the public roads I could learn. Like some sort of carpark or something?

snappieT

Where are you based?

I went through this same thing 18 months ago.

Got a cheap car that I was nice and embarassed about, with a low price. Made sure it had power steering. You won't be worried about getting a bump or two if it's your own car, and it didn't cost much to begin with.

Next, I actually went into the insurers in person. Because the parents have their own car insurance with Axa, I managed a deal to get fully comprehensive for less than €1500. This is on a first provisional licence, me as the main driver, and never having had any other experience driving.

The parents taught me the basics. I got lots of practice myself driving around private housing and industrial estates at the weekends, and I got 2 2-hour driving lessons to fix up all my problems. Applied for test, passed first time, 6 months after first sitting into the driving seat. It's all about practice. I don't know how anyone could do it without having their own car to practice all the time in.

Because I hadn't been insured for the full 12 months I had paid for, I applied for a refund, and got back ~€200 (though to be fair, I didn't apply for the refund for a few months after again).

You can do all of this for about €2500. Bear in mind that I would have been a high-risk candidate for insurance. 19, male, living on dublin northside - doesn't really help with the anti-boy-racer image.

Good luck!

Permabear

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