r/NewDriversUK

I passed my test last month and I have a real bad fear of slip roads, I feel like every time I go on one I almost crash because people just won’t move over… how do I get over this? Just finished a drive and almost crashed into a truck (not his fault) but genuinely what do I do in these situations where I have no where to go and I’m at the end of a slip road?

Here’s my story lol

I got a cheeky 1L VW Up! (Lovely car), and the first drive was eye opening.

I think it was more the fact that I learned in a powerful diesel car (not needing to really set gas or anything even on hills), moving to the underpowered petrol was very difficult at first as it has a weak bite and not as much shove from the engine.

I was like a kangaroo down the road as if I’ve never driven a manual car in my life.

Eventually got the hang of the clutch in the car as I practised in an empty car park figuring what I was doing wrong 🤣

My driving instructors car is a vaxhaul mokka and I loved the bite pointin hill starts. I find it so easy. In my mom’s Toyota aygo I’ve never been able to do a hill starts. I’m looking to buy a first car if anyone has any good suggestions based on this??

Greetings! Hoping for some insight, advice, and maybe a tiny bit of patience as I rant about how ridiculous the system is here...
I'm an Australian, living in London, with a UK passport, who until March 2026 had an aussie licence. That's now expired, and thanks to cancelling a trip back home due to fuel prices skying flight ticket costs, I lost the chance to renew my australian licence and now wont until I'm back in Aus late this year or early 2027.
For context - I've had my full driving licence for nearly 20 years, I've been driving here on my Aus licence the last few years I've lived here as I'm regularly back and forth between here, Europe and Australia and didn't action the licence trasnfer to a UK licence in time post arrival. That's on me, my fault, no excuses, not looking for any tiny violins or sympathy for it.
As a result I'm now a learner again. Passed my theory test last month, and have my practical booked in Wales next week. Wanted to get a test ASAP, as everyone does, so just asked Gemini what the most likely availabilty was and it spat somewhere out I was able to book and ended up only waiting about 8 weeks for the practical.
My conundrum is I don't own a car, I don't have any family here or friends who own a car, and I obviously can't rent one with a learner licence. I misread the 'bring your own car or use your instructors car' on the booking confirmation as that the instructor testing you on the day will have a car you can use, as this is how I did my test in Aus back in the day. However without access to a car, seems I'm completely unable to complete the test.
I messaged a driving instructor in the area of my test about renting their car for the test time, and driving with them to and from the testing center, and their advice was to by myself a car... which I still cant drive anywhere on a learner licence.
Any ideas?
Really appreciate your advice, thank you in advance. Tough out here for us learners!

Three attempts. Four attempts. Lost count. Someone walked past twice. Did not make eye contact with either of us. Finally got it on what felt like the seventh try. Drove home immediately and did not leave the house for the rest of the day. When does this become normal and not a full body experience?

So I’ve passed my test in February (I was only doing weekly 2h lessons, no private practice) and only got my car last week - not driving it just yet as I’m waiting for insurance to become valid next week. I’ve done a little drive with my friend once we’ve picked up the car and I did feel quite rusty, especially in a car I’m not used to driving yet. Does it feel harder to get used to driving more frequently by yourself if you’ve haven’t been frequently driving when learning? I will have a refresher lesson with my instructor and then I will do my best to drive at least once a day and do some easy local routes outside of rush hours until I build my confidence. Any other advice apart from that?

Phew, I just passed on my 2nd attempt (3 minors). I'm over the moon but also full of regret. I'm 45 next month, and I just wish I had done this as early as I could and not left it for so many years because 'I didn't need it,' or 'Im scared that I can't do it.'

I was crushed after my first fail (2 serious and 6 minors), but the only thing to do is dust yourself off and go again. Don't get disheartened. The longer you leave it, the harder the tests will (probably) get, the more expensive it will get, and the more it will get in your head that you can't do it.

I hope this isn't coming across as pompous or whatever, (I mean I passed literally less than an hour ago) I'm just relieved and excited.

Just keep trying as much as you can, the moment you get back to the test centre and the dread builds up, only for them to say, 'I'm happy to say...' it will all become worth it in an instant.

I saved up for a long time so that I had money to buy a car after I passed my test. I thought that would take away most of the expense after I passed but even after that it is still costing me £120 per month for insurance and then fuel is crazy expensive too, almost £2 a litre where I live and I'm spending around £40 to £50 per week on that. I'd say in total it's costing me almost £100 per week to drive. I do work quite a long way from home but it was actually significantly cheaper for me to buy a bus pass and travel everywhere by bus. Sorry about the moan but I feel deflated. I thought learning to drive would open up the world to me which it has, sort of, I just have no money left to do anything.

Is it just me that feels like this?

I've test driven a 2012 Hyundai i30 1.4l petrol engine which seemed in great condition and the price was competitive. I've agreed to go ahead with the purchase pending an AA pre-check.

I just wanted to check something with the community since I know very little about cars and what I should expect from an older one. I learnt in a newer car (new-seeming Vauxhall Corsa) and driven a parent's car (2014 Ford Fiesta with the 1l eco boost engine). Both move off easily with clutch only but I found I needed to add gas for the Hyundai to move off. I can't tell if this is because of the relatively small engine or if I just didn't have a good grip on the bite point. I was also a little dishevelled at that point because I'd had a hard time reversing it out of the showroom down a narrow alleyway (haha) and was keen to just get going.

Anyway if this is the case, is it normal if it only moves off with help from the gas pedal? If so and the issue is the smallish engine, I guess I should expect to have to do hill starts with handbrake all the time, unless I master the bite point and find some hidden torque in there in the meantime? I don't have a problem with that if I give myself time to get used to it.

I'm sure the AA pre-check will highlight it if there are any true issues, but this has just been playing on my mind a bit. Any insights much appreciated.

Edit: In hindsight, I was reversing with just the clutch before I found I could only move off in first gear with help from the gas.

Edit 2: I appreciate “gas” is an Americanism but that seems to be the terminology, in the context of my lessons at least.

Hi all, I passed my driving test this morning!
I already owned a car and had a provisional insurance policy. I called my insurer to update them, but my premium tripled in price. I have 7 months left on the policy.
The catch: If I cancel and switch now, I’ll lose my 1 year No Claims Bonus (NCB).
My Questions:
• Should I cancel? Is it better to find a cheaper deal elsewhere even if I lose my NCB progress?
• Any tips to lower it? Should I try adding a parent as a named driver or look into black box policies?

Would love to hear how you handled the jump from learner to full license insurance!

Hi if you used P plates after you passed your driving test how long did you use them for and keep them on your car? Passed my test a week this coming Wednesday. Thanks.