How much does a UK driving test cost?
Check official car-test fees and plan your test-day budget with your own quotes, a simple calculator and a clearly labelled worked example.
Official car-test fees
GOV.UK currently lists a standard car driving test at £62 on a weekday and £75 during evenings, weekends and bank holidays. Tests from 4:30pm onwards count as evening tests. An extended car test for a disqualified driver costs £124 at the weekday rate or £150 at the higher rate.
Those figures apply to tests booked with DVSA in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has a separate DVA booking service and fee schedule. Fees can change, so check the live GOV.UK cost page before paying rather than relying on an undated search result or screenshot.
Plan your test-day budget
This planner covers one practical car-test appointment in England, Scotland and Wales, including standard and extended tests. It does not calculate Northern Ireland fees, all the costs of learning to drive or the price of a future retest.
Include amounts already paid as well as amounts you expect to pay. The result is a planned total for this appointment, not your remaining balance. Use your own quotes; the planner does not estimate an instructor’s price or insurance cover.
Blank means unknown. Enter 0 only for a confirmed £0 cost. Enter pounds and pence, up to £100,000 per field. Do not include licence numbers, booking references, card details or other personal information.
Your cost breakdown
- Official test fee
- Instructor’s car and warm-up lesson (combined quote)
- Travel and parking
- Additional insurance for this appointment
- Other test-day costs
Known costs so far
Print just this breakdown, or choose “Save as PDF” if your browser offers it. Unknown costs stay marked as unknown. Correct invalid entries before printing.
The planner does not upload your entries, put them in the URL, send them to analytics or automatically save them. You can choose to print or save a copy through your browser; that copy stays wherever you choose to keep it. Your browser may separately remember form entries. This is not a booking, payment or insurance service.
A worked test-day budget
This is a hypothetical example to show the arithmetic, not a real learner’s case, a market average or a recommendation about what an instructor should charge. Only the official test fee comes from GOV.UK; the other amounts are invented for illustration.
Suppose a learner chooses a standard weekday test and has a combined £120 quote for the instructor’s car and warm-up lesson. They plan £12 for travel and parking and have confirmed that no additional insurance or other test-day costs apply.
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Official standard weekday test fee | £62.00 |
| Instructor’s car and warm-up lesson (combined quote) | £120.00 |
| Travel and parking | £12.00 |
| Additional insurance for this appointment | £0.00 |
| Other test-day costs | £0.00 |
| Planned total | £194.00 |
What if a cost is still unknown? If travel has not been confirmed, leave it blank. With the other example figures unchanged, the known subtotal is £182.00 and one cost remains unknown. That subtotal is not a complete budget. Entering 0 would instead say you have confirmed there is no extra travel cost.
Avoid counting the same cost twice. The example’s £120 already includes the warm-up lesson. Do not add another warm-up charge unless your own quote genuinely excludes it. If you have already paid the test fee, it still belongs in this appointment’s total; this planner does not subtract payments or work out what remains to be paid.
Book through GOV.UK
Use the official booking service so that the fee, appointment and booking terms are clear. Unofficial websites can charge more, and Drive Test Finder UK does not take payment, search live appointments or make bookings.
Evening and weekend appointments are not offered all the time. The official service shows any that are available; paying a higher fee does not create an appointment or give a booking priority.
What the test fee does not cover
The DVSA fee is for the test appointment. It does not include driving lessons, use of an instructor's car, travel to the centre or any insurance adjustment needed for a private car. Ask an instructor what their test-day car charge includes before committing to a date.
If you use your own car, it must meet the current test rules and be insured for a driving test. An unsuitable car can prevent the test from going ahead without a refund, so check the official own-car rules rather than treating the booking fee as the whole test-day budget.
Costs after an unsuccessful test
If you do not pass and want another test, GOV.UK says you must book again and pay the full fee. Use the examiner's feedback to plan any lessons before choosing a new date, rather than budgeting for the retest alone.
Changing or cancelling can affect the cost
The amount you keep or have to pay again depends on the official notice rules and the reason the test cannot go ahead. Check the current GOV.UK change and cancellation pages before acting, especially when the appointment is close; the separate rules are more precise than a general statement about refunds.
Keep the booking confirmation and make changes through the official service yourself. Do not give an unofficial service your driving-licence number, booking reference or payment details.
Official sources
Official fees and booking rules come from the pages below. The planner adds your own costs; the hypothetical worked example explains the arithmetic and is not a survey of instructor or insurance prices. Check GOV.UK before booking or paying.
- GOV.UK: Driving test costs (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- GOV.UK: Book your driving test (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- GOV.UK: Change your driving test (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- GOV.UK: Cancel your driving test (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- GOV.UK: Using your own car for your test (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)
- nidirect: Practical-test fees in Northern Ireland (opens on GOV.UK in a new tab)