DAS test without driving school's help

[bourne]

Hey guys,

I've just failed my DAS practical test for a stupid mistake (not going into details as the pain is still fresh) :twisted:. Obviously I want to rebook.

The first test was organized through a training company and was included in the 5 day course fee. The quote they gave me for just the test was 200 pounds (this does include a 1 hour pre-exam driving session).

Now that's a lot of ******* moniez and I'm wondering if there's a way around it.

If I book it directly with DVLA then I need:

1. a bike - obtainable

2. someone to transport the bike to the testing facility - doable

3. insurance - this one that I cannot get my head around. Do any companies insure people without a license? :) Do they insure those people for short periods like a day? I don't want to be breaking the law on the day I'm trying to get my license ;/

Obviously I cannot be the first person to be looking into this, but I wasn't able to google anything useful. Do you guys have any ideas how I could not spend that ridiculous amount of money but still do the test?


Thanks good people.

[Biker Biggles]

That does sound expensive.Are there any other training firms you could try?

[Old Git]

Bourne, unlucky in the fail, was on a course last week, one bloke failed for the 4th time!!!!, think if that happened to me would get a bus pass.
Know money is tight for us all, but depending where in the world you are, try West Pennine M/C training in Blackburn, they do a 3 day course CBT to test for £399.
Can look them up on the web & even book online, might be worth a look depending on where you are.

[bourne]

I understand that I can take a course again through a school and do it this way, but was wondering about doing it directly through DVLA. Has no-one done it? :)

Anyway, I've been looking for available bookings in 10 testing centers around my post code and April is the closest date they have available. I guess the schools occupied whole March and left me no choice but to go through a school if I want to get it over with sooner.

The system is a well oiled money sucking machine :-D just like a bike haha :)

[Biker Biggles]

Yup,But doing it through a training school is a lot easier and they provide the bike and refresher tuition.£200 is madness though.

[shonadoll]

My husband did it and booked his test directly-to save cash he used my old 125 and did the restricted test though. I think he booked on DVLA website, or phone round and ask for quotes for just the test fee from local training schools.

That's a lot of cash for a retest.

[shonadoll]

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/Motoringtransactions/DG_066356

[shonadoll]

You could book online and hire a bike from the training school.

[dizzyblonde]

hiring a bike from a school in itself is costly Shonadol. Every time I failed(going back a few yrs) it cost me £120. That was for the test and the hire of the bike for the afternoon. The school were confident I didn't need more training, as it was a confidence issue, so no need for any 'extra fee lessons', which IIRC was something round 65 quid.

[shonadoll]

Just seems a lot-our local school was charging about £120 3 years back, as a girl said that to me when she failed on her 6th attempt. Just seems a bit pricey.

[dizzyblonde]

Its the lesson. S'pose its depends on the school. Mine weren't bothered about charging for a lesson just for the money sake.

[etuna]

I paid £120 for morning of lessons/ bike hire and retest about a year ago.

[Stu]

Bourne - might help if you say where you are. As the test is changing end of March (if indeed that goes ahead - are they anymore prepared than 6 mths ago?) I'm not surprised all the dates booked up.
But shop around other training schools

[muffles]

I have the misfortune of having failed my test twice, lol.

I did my DAS on a "free retest" deal - but that only means the use of an instructor (I think). Basically there are 3 components that make up what it costs to do a retest:

- the hire of the bike (inc insurance)
- the hire of the instructor (you need to have one to get to the test centre on the bike, and usually you'll do some training as well because you've got them for the day)
- the test fee itself

The first time I did my retest I think it was somewhere between £110 - £130. The second time it was about £170 or thereabouts, reflecting the bit I didn't pay last time. Like I said I can't remember for definite the bit I got free on the first retest, but those are the sort of prices I paid. £200 does sound at the upper end of expensive, I think the prices I paid were quite high as well.

[Girth]

hiring a bike from a school in itself is costly Shonadol. Every time I failed(going back a few yrs) it cost me £120. That was for the test and the hire of the bike for the afternoon. The school were confident I didn't need more training, as it was a confidence issue, so no need for any 'extra fee lessons', which IIRC was something round 65 quid.


+1 i was the same.

[bris]

I tried to do it, but you cant get insurance for it. The only way to do it is on a 125 as you dont need an instructor for that. I looked into it with about a dozen insurance companies telling them I would transport the bike there and only ride it under the examiners supervision but it could'nt be done.
As I already had a test booked I asked two wheels in Edinburgh the best way to do it and they agreed to let me incorporate it in with a half days lessons, so it cost me 4 hours at £29 per hour. So with the test fee at £60 it still cost £176 but at least I passed so money well spent. £200 does seem an awful lot if your only getting the bike to re-sit the test though.

[keith_d]

I've failed a couple of tests recently. Each time the test fee was £80, plus half a days bike hire/tuition at £70. That soon adds up.

One thing which is particularly annoying is that the government raised the test fee from £60 to cover the cost of the new test. So for the last six months we've been paying over the odds for their incompetence.

If a company behaved that way we'd call them 'merchant bankers'.

Keith.

[Magnum]

Let me guess, foot down on a U turn?

[JohnMcL7]

Let me guess, foot down on a U turn?

Yep :)

I'm speaking for myself of course but I also failed a couple of tests recently and foot down during the u-turn was the killer. The problem I had was that I started off ok but the more it happened the worse it became as I was thinking more about it and that seems a sure sign for losing your balance.

On my third test attempt I was going to a road I didn't want to do the U-turn on as it was quite a slope from one side to the other - nice and easy if you're going down the slope as you get a bit more speed but a failure every time pretty much the other way. As I came up to do my emergency stop I was desperately hoping for a car to get in the way so I'd have to do another loop and come up on the other side. It didn't happen so as I sat ready to do the U-turn I just thought just go for it, gave it a load of revs and got the bike round no problem.

As for the topic at hand I had my lessons with a local independent instructor, I think he charged around 70 pounds for a two hour lesson block the day before, one hour before the test and of course the bike for the test itself plus the 80 pound test fee. It's probably more lessons than I needed but given the exceptionally varying conditions over winter I don't think it was bad to have them.

John