How to Minimize the Cost of Driving Lessons

The cost of driving lessons can be very expensive, particularly for teen drivers. Finding a cheap alternative that provides good education and prepares a student to pass their driver’s test is important. There are ways a prospective driver can minimize the cost of driving lessons.

Opting for a cheap drivers education course, taking a class that only lasts 2 hours, taking a local class or a class limited to safety are ways to minimize the cost of driving lessons. When minimizing the cost of driving lessons, you should not sacrifice the quality of the instruction necessary to prepare you for a state driving exam.

Cheap Drivers Education

To find a cheap drivers education course, contact the drivers education schools in your area to compare costs. The school with the lowest instructional cost, on either an hourly or flat rate, should be the school that you select.

The cost of drivers education varies widely from state-to-state, with the average costs for both behind-the-wheel and classroom instruction being between $300 to $450. Finding a school that has a lower cost than this average will help to minimize the cost of driving lessons. 

You may also want to investigate taking a behind-the-wheel only or classroom instruction only class. Behind-the-wheel instruction averages between $50 to $150 a lesson for 2 hours of instruction and classroom instruction comes in around $30 to $180 a class. Determining that the student has a need for classroom instruction only will save on the cost of providing per lesson behind-the-wheel instruction.

2 Hour Class

Behind-the-wheel instruction is typically done in 2-hour blocks and charged on a per lesson basis. Limiting instruction to 1 behind-the-wheel lesson will greatly reduce the cost of this instruction. It may be possible that a student can benefit from one 2-hour lesson and not have a need for additional instruction prior to their road test.

Stay Local

Because the cost of driver's education varies locally, it is best to take a course nearest to you. Even if you found an out of state course that is less expensive, the cost of travel to send the student to and from the class would eliminate any savings that you would realize.  The closer the driver's education course is to you, the less expensive it should be. Teen drivers often benefit from receiving their drivers education in school. This class is an additional course that they can sign up for when they become eligible to drive and can greatly minimize the cost of drivers education instruction for a parent. You may also find that a local community college or adult education facility offers a drivers education course at a reduced rate.

Take a Safety Only Drivers Ed Class

A final way to minimize the cost of driver's education is to take a safety only course. This course focuses on defensive driving techniques and other ways for a driver to remain safe when operating a motor vehicle. Since this course does not focus on other aspects of driving that may be important not necessarily a need to know for testing, the cost should be considerable less than other types of driver education courses.