New driving test booking rules aim to end reselling for profit issues

Sweeping changes to the way driving tests are booked have come into force today (May 12).

Under the new rules, it is no longer lawful for third parties, such as test booking and cancellation finder services, to make bookings on someone else’s behalf.

It also means that driving instructors won’t be able to make bookings on behalf of their students.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) says that the changes mean that learners are now ‘firmly in control of their own booking’.

Beverley Warmington, DVSA Chief Executive, said: “Our priority is to stop learners being exploited by third parties, put them in control of their driving test and make the process fairer by clamping down on businesses that resell tests at inflated prices.

“These new measures help bring a halt to a system where the use of bots and third parties increases the amount some learners pay for a test and blocks test availability for many others. These measures will help free up appointments for genuine learners who are ready to take their test.”

The new rules mean that learners should only ever pay the DVSA’s official fee for a test – £62 on weekdays and £75 on evenings, weekends and bank holidays – and build on changes introduced in March that reduced the number of changes that can be made to a test from six to two.

From June 9, additional changes will mean that learners will only be able to move their test to one of the three nearest test centres. It aims to ‘deter bookings’ in locations where learners do not ‘intend to take their test’.

Simon Lightwood, Minister for Roads and Buses, said: “These new rules put learners back in control by stopping others from snapping up tests and reselling them for profit, helping make the system fairer and ensuring tests go to the people who genuinely need them.”