cossiedrift

iTrader: (3)

How hard was it?
how many lessons did you have?
what did it cost you?
Thanks Danny

Escow-Van

Bump!
I almost started a thread asking this.

kosman

depends how often you want to use it,personally i wouldnt bother id just tow away,my mate tows a scrap car a week and hasnt been caught yet.

Alan_D

I'm doing the test tomorrow! I've done a 3 day course - mon, tues, wednesday. 4-5 hours worth of instruction yesterday and today, and a few hours before my test tomorrow at quarter to 9.

If you have common sense you'll be able to tow and reverse etc no problem. The hardest bit for me was learning how to pass a driving test again...trying to stop all my bad habbits etc - and I'm only 22!

Also, the section of the test on the road is an hour long as opposed to half an hour on the regular test, so more chance of making a stupid mistake and failing. Before that you do the manouvres on private land, so you don't have to worry about getting stressed with traffic etc. There are no manouvres done on the road at all!

Oh and it's costing me about £475. Sounds expensive, but the test fee is over £100 of that, and if you were to do it in individial lessons it would probably end up costing you more.

Anything else you want to know?

M K

iTrader: (9)

The test is identicle to your lorry test exept you don't have a gear change manouver and your towing a trailer of course,

I just done my 7.5 ton and still have do do that again with a trailer to be allowed to tow so I have tipped it bollox as I can get a 3.5ton flat bed for the same money a test and decent trailer and tow car would cost

Garage19

My wife did it so she could tow a horse box. Two lessons and she passed first time.

Gazzonator

iTrader: (9)

I did mine last year and wasn't that bad tbh.

Like someone else said the hardest part is forgetting all your bad habits!

I found getting the hang of reversing the trailer a little bit tricky but just kept practising until I got it right!

I had 4 days training and the test on the 5th day.

Didn't cost me anything as I had to do it for my work so they paid for it.

cossiedrift

iTrader: (3)

Cool i think i'l have the hour assesment lesson and go from there.

I did tow the cossie to ford fair and back with no drama's and i get on with reversing so fingers crossed

Alan_D

99% of the time you will be fine without the license...probably never be stopped, but if you crash then you aren't insured!

Alan_D

Well this morning I passed the test thankfully!

kosman

^^nice one^^

cossiedrift

iTrader: (3)

well done mate how strict were they? What sort of size was the trailer and what tow car?

Alan_D

Cheers mate.

It was a box trailer roughly the size of a horse box which was very light and followed the line of the towing vehicle very well. The tow car was a Land Rover Freelander, but obviously vehicle and trailer combinations will vary between different driving schools.

It's more strict than a regular driving test as they are looking for the same sort of awareness you would have to show when driving a lorry! That's what my instructer told me. The good thing is it's much smaller than a lorry! The same width as a car and can go wherever a car goes...as I said the trailer I had followed the line of the Land Rover perfectly.

I actually messed up big time. Took a wrong turn on to a motorway that I couldn't get off of for 10 miles. Wasted about 25 minutes of test time(1 hour of driving on road) but I kept calm and gave it 100% effort till the end, even though I thought it would be a definite fail!

He must have liked that because he passed me and said he was impressed that I didn't crack after doing that. The drive other than that was faultless though.

So to sum up the test -

- First thing is a few questions on the test vehicle and a sight test(number plate). The questions are things like "how would you check the oil level on the vehicle" or "what checks would you perform on the external doors of both the towing vehicle and the trailer". Pretty easy stuff - in that case show him the dipstick and tell him you would make sure all the doors were closed by phsycally checking.

- Reverse into a bay marked out with cones at the testing station.

- Followed by an emergency stop, braking under control when you get to a set of cones at 20mph...piece of cake!

- Then out on to the road for an hour. There will be no manouvres at all on the road during the test: the only thing you'll have to do is a hill start or two.

- Finally, when you get back to the test station after your hour on the road you are asked to uncouple the trailer and park the towing vehicle next to it by reversing it back beside it. Then you are asked to position the vehicle back in front of the trailer and couple it securely again.

And that's it!



Things to remember which will help you get a head start in the lessons

This is the hard part unless you drive everywhere the way you are required to in order to pass a driving test. Obviously nobody does!

- Check your mirrors every few hundred yards(both sides). You will be travelling at the speed limit and at a safe distance from the car in front so you'll have time to look in you mirrors quite often. This just lets them know that you know you aren't crossing any lines or hitting school children with the trailer etc .

- When approaching a junction check your mirrors before you do anything(ie start to slow down). You want to be checking the opposite mirror to the way you are turning first: obviously so that you can look at both, but the one on the side you are turning towards is checked last so you know it's safe to move across in that direction(again no school children missing limbs etc)

- Slow down approaching the junction using your brakes. They don't like you using the gearbox too much - Say you are approaching a junction in 4th, just keep it in 4th bringing your speed down and then change down to 2nd for the last 10 metres so you have the control of the lower gear. As you enter a roundabout check the mirror on the left on entry followed by the right as you are going round the roundabout(this shows you know where the roundabout is) followed by the left on exit(checking for arseholes cutting across inside you and also looking again to make sure you haven't clipped the left curb on the exit.

- If you have to stop at a roundabout I would stick the handbrake on(before putting it back into first - remember you were bringing the speed down in second for the last 10m). Then stick it in first and get your hand on the handbrake ready to let it off and go.

Before you set off(and before you release the handbrake) remember to look in you left mirror, then your right mirror, then look right over your shoulder to check the blind spot of your right mirror. This is easy when you start doing it again as you're just looking from left to right then setting off.

- Also remember that any time you have to leave your line on the road you need to check your right mirror, making sure it's safe to move slightly to the right and then indicate before doing so. For instance passing parked cars. This lets the people behind you know what's ahead(so they don't crash into it themselves) and lets them know what you're doing incase some tosser tries to overtake or whatever. This applies even for slightly changing your line...like the car could be on the road a foot or two.


You might already know all this anyway and use it on the road, but I'm just letting you know the things I didn't have any idea about until a few days ago! Your instructor will go through all this anyway...

Hope that helps

Escow-Van

Wow
Cheers for the write up Alan, and well done on passing!

Alan_D

Thanks! I was glad as it was £475...was determined to pass.

I have edited the write up a little bit now as I missed a few small details out.