Finding a driving test date is challenging. Taking weekly lessons can feel pointless if your test is months away and you feel like you are ready to take a driving test. Even with the challenges with COVID-19 driving test’s are still going to be difficult to obtain in the near future. In this post, you will understand the best strategies to obtain and secure a driving test date so that you can be on your way to passing your driving test a lot sooner!
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Using A Cancellation Checker / Finder To Help Source An Earlier Test Date
In recent times, a lot of new companies have merged to help with the backlog of driving tests in the UK. These are cancellation checker providers and there is plenty of choices. They automatically await for the cancellation to come upon the DVSA’s website and then book it for you without having to lift a finger. They make an attractive offering and it’s becoming more and popular with learner drivers.
Most of these services do charge a fee and they will search for cancellation for you in your local test centre. Some differ in their offerings so make sure you choose the one that suits you best. Some services only notify you of the appointment and you’ll have to log into the website manually (Or some of them automatically log you on, but you have to actually press a few buttons to confirm it). There are some cancellations that actually reserve the appointment for you and then give you a set time frame to decide if the date is suitable.
The other benefit of using certain cancellation checkers is that you can set up a certain criterion that accommodates your schedule. So let’s say you need a test in the month of August between the 15th – 30th, you can set the cancellation checker to only look for test dates in these dates and nothing outside of it. You can even set certain time frames too. However, the more specific and narrow you set the criteria, the fewer chances you’re going to get when it comes to potential cancellations.
Manually Checking The DVSA’s Website
You can view and change your driving test here: https://www.gov.uk/change-driving-test.
This method is still useful as you can still look online from your own computer or phone. If you have got a few spare hours in the day, you may spend it looking for an earlier test date in your driving test centre. There could be some test dates date crop up online for you to grab and these could easily be missed from the cancellation checkers too.
The only disadvantage is that you are only looking at potential cancellations in a small pocket of the day. If you’re not in dire need of securing an earlier practical test date, then taking this approach may be okay when you haven’t got pressure to get a test date soon.
If you spend a lot of time refreshing the DVSA’s website often, you may also run the risk of being blocked out of the website. The DVSA’s website has mechanisms that can remove people from their website if they deem you are spamming their site. So be careful not to click too much or too often to avoid being kicked off the website. Looking manually is good alongside a cancellation checker too.
Outreach To Other Learner Drivers & Directly Swap Your Driving Test
This method can only work if you know someone else who has a driving test and it both benefits you and the other person equally. You can find communities of these test swapping communities online for people who may have an earlier test date in a different test centre. We have a group called the “I need to swap my driving test date” group on Facebook. You can request to join here.
If you are currently booked in with a driving school, you can email the company you are with (or your instructor) and ask if they have any learners not going to their driving tests. As driving schools have access to lots of learners driving tests, they will know who’s are going ahead and whose isn’t!
General Tips When Searching For An Earlier Test Date
Finding cancellations is great as it gives you the opportunity to get an earlier test date. But don’t forget these important tips as they may come in handy when a cancellation comes through. You don’t want to fall victim to cancellation and not being able or potentially ready to take a test for not being ready to take a driving test.
Make Sure You Are Ready To Take A Practical Driving Test
It’s obvious to be test ready before you go to your test, but don’t fall victim to not being quite ready for your driving test and having to start the whole cancellation process over again. Make sure you get to test standard first and then maintain that level either by having weekly lessons with your driving instructor or friends & family. There is nothing worse than finding a cancellation for next week and not being ready for it. Especially if your driving instructor advises you are not ready to take a test.
Ensure You Can Take A Car To The Practical Driving Test Exam
Lots and lots of learner drivers who don’t have access to their own vehicle or a family members vehicle to take them to test can be another reason why you may have to put back your test date. Lots of learner drivers use their driving instructor’s car to go to the test centre and in most scenarios, it isn’t an issue to worry about. But if a cancellation came through and you got a test date 20 days away, and you need a car, the only issue is, is your local driving school(s) & instructor’s car available to take you to the test?
Make sure that you already booked in with the driving school’s diary and clarify with them that they can take you to test at short notice if a cancellation comes through. Sometimes it may make sense to ask your driving instructor or driving school to look for cancellations for you so that they don’t double book with another learner.
Make Sure You Are Being Flexible On Your Availability & Choice Of Test Centre
If you haven’t got much time on your hands, you will find that you are limited in the number of cancellations that can come through. Also, if you only looking for cancellation in 1 driving test centre, again, you’re spreading yourself too thin and it may make finding a cancellation more stressful than it needs to be. The best advice is to expand your choice of driving test centres to as many as possible. We encourage learners to have up to 3 driving test centres where possible. We understand that if you live in a remote place, it can be difficult to add more test centres to your search so try and consider all your options as much as possible.
And make sure you can attend a driving test during normal working hours. If you have lots of commitments during main working hours, then you made need to make more space as possible. Ask someone to cover your shifts more, ask a loved one to the school run, think of all of the resources at your disposal to your best advantage!
