Progress have some of the finest instructors working for them. Based in Glasgow, but covering surrounding areas, they specialise in intensive courses. (more…)

The Big Red L take great care in recruiting the best instructors they can find.

See if they have a course near you.

Drive Me Bananas offer some of the highest quality training in the Edinburgh area. (more…)

The Big Red L are a quality reputable company, who offer intensive driving courses around the whole of the UK, they don’t guarantee a pass and they insist on an assessment session before booking your course - like all good companies will.

Lots of websites seem to advertise “guaranteed pass” courses of some description, but the simple fact is - there is no guarantee that you’ll pass!

When you look into what you get, you’ll find that if you don’t pass after the course, they may pay for any future tests you take with them.

Unfortunately, without taking a little extra training this is pretty much useless - especially considering that many of these courses are residential and so are a long way to travel to. The cost of travelling back for the test would be outweighed by extra training, accommodation and rail or bus fares.

Other “guarantees” involve a refund of your test fee, or some other similar token gesture - not a guarantee at all, just a bit of change back.

Our pass promise is really simple - you get £300 back if you don’t pass your test at the end of the course.

Whether you take it and don’t pass, or if you decide you don’t feel ready for the test, or if we feel that by the time of the test it would risk your safety and that of the examiner - you get your £300 back.

This means that if you want to visit us for another day of training before another test, stay in a hotel overnight, and pay for your test, you can. This should give you a very good chance of passing the test in the area you had your training, all within budget.

On the other hand, you could find a good auto instructor in your area - something we will help with if we can - and you can get some weekly lessons and take a test in your home area.

Either of these two options should come in well under the £300 cashback.

As far as guarantees go, we reckon this one will at least guarantee peace of mind.

However, be very careful, because like any guarantee - you have to be aware of what you get under the guarantee. Most guaranteed pass courses simply offer you your next test free - a grand total of £50ish back. No extra training, no train fare or hotel fees, often not even the hire of the car and a lesson beforehand.

Be careful when looking at guaranteed pass courses - have a look at what one of the more outspoken driving instructors thinks about them:

The Undercover ADI - Guaranteed Pass Driving Courses

There’s a lot of intensive driving course companies based there, despite it’s test centre being placed in a very busy area (probably why many of the courses which start in Blackpool end up driving miles away on the final day for a test in Heysham, Wigan or Preston - in areas where their customers have never driven).

Be a bit careful - though I am sure there may be some good intensive course companies based in Blackpool, there are certainly some bad ones. When booking your course look out for how many of you will be in the same car - they often sell courses for 2 drivers to 1 car - how do you fancy sitting in the back of the car for half the time (or more if the other driver is slower to pick things up).

Another hazard, as mentioned above is where you will be taking your test. All of our tests are carried out in the area that you book your training for - but the many residential companies will train you in one area then because of difficulties getting test times they will move you anything up to a couple of hundred miles to do your test in an unfamiliar test centre.

If the intensive course company arrange your accomodation for you - find out where you will be staying and what is included in the price - often this is an excellent source of income for driving course companies - they pay a cheap hotel £100 a week for your bed and breakfast, but you pay £200. It is worth calling the hotel yourself - don’t mention the driving course (they may know about the scam) and ask their prices.

So, if you want to learn to drive - why choose Blackpool?

With a waiting time of around 3 weeks for the theory test, and around 7 weeks for practical driving test appointments - it is often a better course of action to book driving lessons with a good local instructor, taking 2 or more 90 minute or 2 hour lessons a week for 10 weeks will mean that you get a lot of practice, and have time for the learning to sink in properly.

There is a place for intensive courses - they are simple to fit around work and life commitments, but the simplest, most successful (and often cheapest) way to learn to drive is still to take regular lessons.

If you are in our area - Lancaster - have a look at Driving Lessons Lancaster for more details about weekly lessons in an automatic car.

1: Pass rates can easily be twisted around - we could legitimately tell you we have a pass rate of 39% or a pass rate of 87% - both of these figures would be true, but which one would you expect us to advertise?!

2: Pass rates are dependent upon the customer base - ADIs who specialise in training young men will tend to have a higher pass rate than an instructor who specialises in nervous or disabled drivers, but which ADI would you expect to have the harder job? Maybe even more important - which ADI would you expect to have the most skill and experience?

3: Pass Rates for companies who specialise in intensive courses are naturally lower than those who deal with weekly lessons - the intensive course customer (especially the residential intensive customer) will usually only take 1 test with the intensive company - and with a first time pass average across the UK of only 17.5% - the intensive company will be at a disadvantage. The weekly lessons company can take you back, and back again, and with the majority of people apparently taking 4 tests, this means that the weekly lesson company should have a pass rate of at least 25%.

Just so you know - our pass rate is better than the average, and our training is second to none, but don’t get dragged into comparing pass rates - they confuse all of us, and help none!

The usual one is the “guaranteed pass” which we have dealt with in the “myths” section, but recently we’ve started to get people searching for “one DAY intensive course” and similar terms! Even we’re not that good that we can get you through your test in a DAY!

If we’ve turned up on a random search please tell us - it always makes us giggle!