Dominic Remmers of Harpenden, traveled 107 miles to take a driving test in Derby to avoid huge queues in St Albans
Some learner drivers travel more than 100 miles to take their exams in centers with the shortest wait times due to massive delays for exams in some parts of the country caused by a bulging backlog of novice drivers that has built up during Covid.
On Thursday, This is Money exclusive revealed average waiting times for practical driving tests across all 243 centers across the UK, some as long as six months.
The zip code lottery of delays showed a huge four-and-a-half month gap between test centers with the shortest wait times and those with extensive booking lists.
Dominic Remmers, 18, from Harpenden, was told last summer that he would stand at the back of a three-month queue at his local driving test center in St Albans if he wanted to take the test there.
So instead he made the decision to travel two hours 107 miles north to Derby, where he could take the test in a month, but in a town he had never driven before.
To learn the roads he would take, Dominic used a new “cheat code” app that plots the test routes at every driving center in the country.
Official figures show that last recorded waiting times for driving tests are now about double those in 2020, with learners expected to wait more than three and a half months on average.
Despite the DVSA increasing testing hours, bringing older invigilators out of retirement and introducing new rules and regulations to clear the backlog, it has so far failed to ease the deadlock.
As a result, some students have taken matters into their own hands to find the locations with the shortest wait times and book their tests there in an effort to secure a license sooner.
“I started looking for a test slot in early July 2022, but the earliest slot in St Albans was October of that year,” said Dominic.
“I was desperate for an earlier slot, so I started searching the official test website hourly. I kept changing zip codes across the country until I found a slot in July.
‘But it was in Derby, 107 miles away.
“I was confident in my riding ability, but had never practiced any of the test routes there.”
Dominic said that when the route led ‘Driving test routesapp while searching his phone.
It provides learners with the routes commonly used by invigilators in all 243 driving test centers across the country.
“My dad and I went to Derby the day before my test and practiced routes from the app.
“This boosted my confidence that I wouldn’t get caught on the exam. The next day I took my test and passed,” he said.
‘The exam route ended up being a combination of the routes in the Rijtest Routes app, so I was quite happy to have been able to practice them the day before.
“I was very happy that I switched test centers because it reduced my waiting time by three months.
“I think some people are afraid to try slots in different places in the country, but I would just say that if you’re good enough to pass your exam, you’re good enough to drive anywhere in the country. ‘
The ‘cheat code’ app for driving tests
Route-Led LLP was founded in September 2010 by co-founders Martin Williams and David Hesketh.
David tells us that the company initially only offered driving test routes – for a fee – via satellite navigation systems.
This had been made possible by test route information shared by the DVSA in the early 1990s, although the PDF format route description was quickly removed from public view after only a few months.
In June 2021, the Rijexamen Routes app was launched for both Apple and Android.
Launched in June 2021, the Driving Test Routes app provides directions for the routes used for practical exams at all 243 test centers across the UK
“We were lucky enough to download all the published routes that the DVSA had made available,” says David.
“We’ve found several methods to update these, including working with driving instructors across the country and our large customer base.”
This also applies to customers who have requested refunds because they were taken on slightly modified versions of the route than the one on the app.
Upon reimbursement, customers are asked to provide information on how the route deviated from what the app showed, so that Route-Led updates the guidance daily.
“In a way it was a very fortuitous timing to launch the app as we had just gone through Covid and demand was starting to go crazy due to the huge backlog caused by tests not being available during much of 2020 during the lockdown,” explains David.
David Hesketh, co-founder of Route-Led, says the routes are regularly updated using “collaboration with driving instructors across the country and the app’s large customer base”
He says the app has grown at an 8 percent monthly rate since launch, and more than 220,000 people have installed it in less than two years.
Before the pandemic – about 1.6 million practical tests are taken each year, although some are repeat exams after failing, with the average pass rate currently a fraction of less than 50 percent.
The app costs a monthly subscription of £12.99 for one test centre. Adding an extra center route costs € 9.99 once.
The app was originally listed in the “navigation” section of the App Store, but has since moved to the “education” sector, alongside other driving test applications. And it is now among the top 20 most profitable in that segment.
David points out that if you filter each app by the highest yield, almost all of them are driving instructions, language apps – like Duolingo – or applications to teach you how to play a musical instrument.
It’s not just learners using the app – approved driving instructors are using it to teach in regions they don’t normally cover, but there’s been an increase in demand due to varying wait times around the country
Instructors use the app to learn different test center routes due to backlog
And the app is not only used by students.
Instructors also use it – and they are responsible for the basic level of demand for the application.
“Driving instructors want the tool because they see an increase in people learning in their area but can’t get a test date early enough at their nearest center – and are therefore booking elsewhere,” said David.
“When they tell their instructors, many of those who traditionally only operate locally need to learn what exam routes will be in different towns and cities to ensure their clients are confident on those roads as well.”
Driving instructors can get up to six free trial center routes on top of their monthly subscription.
David Grant, a licensed driving instructor who mainly operates in Reading, High Wycombe and Slough, says he downloaded the app after receiving more and more clients telling him they would take their exams in Greenham and Aylesbury due to reduced waiting times .
“My students have to book driving tests miles from their homes because of the very long (about five months) turnaround time for the driving test on site,” says David.
‘The app is useful for teaching students in areas they are less familiar with.’
The app has also launched in Ireland, Canada, and California and New York in the US. It will be available in Australia soon.
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