Last minute driving test booking companies: Beware of the scams!

There are many stresses associated with the experience of learning to drive. One of them is finding the right date and time for your practical test. Admittedly it is easier to book your driving practical test way in advance. The DVLA (official site) displays booking date and time slots usually from six weeks away i.e., if you wanted to find out what dates are available today, you will find that the earliest dates starting offered on the dvla site are from six weeks from today! This is due to the very high demand for driving test slots as well as the lower number of driving test centres in each area.

It may be easy to get a slot suitable for you if you are planning on taking your test as far as six weeks away. However, in those cases where you need to book a slot urgently and especially when the slot required is for a very early date meaning you need a slot for next week (as an example) and you can't wait  as long as six weeks away to do your test, you may be tempted to use the 'last minute driving test companies'.

These are, mainly Internet based, sites that promise or even 'guarantee' to get you a drive test date of your choice no matter how soon you want it. They, of course charge a fee, usually around £20, for their services. This fee is very reasonable especially if waiting for six weeks to do your test would likely hinder you in some way. For some people getting their driving license earlier ensures a promotion at work, or enables them to change carriers and so forth. Most people require urgent earlier test dates because they have failed their initial tests and need to re-book. In these cases waiting for another six weeks might cost more (in extra driving lessons etc), which the person doesn't need. This is especially so if you failed on something that you can easily rectify without needing extra lessons. Regardless of your reasons for needing an early driving test slot, you should be aware of the scam associated with some of these companies promising to give you just what you are desperate for.

The typical scam used by some of the Internet based 'last minute or find cancelled driving test bookings' is one in which, you part with the money and get a date as far as six weeks away! In other words they charge the driving test booking fee, £62,(which, is compulsory and has to be paid even is you booked via DVLA) plus their commission and they simply book whatever the earliest test dates are available from the DVLA. The problem is that these dates are exactly the same ones you would have been able to get yourself directly from the dvla site. In other words, all these companies are doing is getting you whatever is available (six weeks away from the date you paid them) on the DVLA site. So why pay someone to do something that you can do yourself especially when what they get for you is not even what you had asked for?

The worse aspect of this sort of scam is not simply that you will lose money and end up with a date much later than you wanted but you could put your actual identity at risk of fraud. How is this so? Well firstly, in order for the companies to book a slot on your behalf, they will require personal information about you. This includes; your date of birth, full name, gender, licence number, credit or debit card and so forth. Furthermore having this information about you means that they can access your bookings on the DVLA site without your consent. In fact victims of such scams have found themselves in deep waters especially after they asked for their money back from these companies often after realising too late that they had been scammed.

Indeed some victims have found their test dates cancelled at the last minute by these companies, thus forcing the victims to re-book the test (and paying the test fee again) whilst remaining in a state of panic as they are unsure if the company will log into the victims database and cancel the booked slot yet again! This is why parting with such sensitive and person information to one of these companies can literally turn a simple mistake into a living nightmare. Armed with your personal details, these companies have absolute access to whatever booking activities you engage in the the DVLA site. Hence they can pretend to be you and cancel or even make random bookings (charged to your card) whenever they feel like. The worse part in all of this is that there is absolutely nothing you can do about it simply because you voluntarily gave them the personal details. You could try taking matters to court however, the laws governing the Internet are far from clear cut.

Speaking to a DVLA official recently about any advice for victims of such scams, he told me; "We do not support ANY of these companies claiming to be able to get you a quicker test date at last minute notice. We deal with the victims of these scams almost daily despite such scams been exposed on popular programs such as Watchdog. My advice is, if you need an earlier date simply book the earliest date on our database, which could be six weeks away but then keep checking daily as we get cancellations all the time. You will find a date sooner by doing this and you won't have to worry about been taken advantage of or suffering the unfortunate mishaps others have done in the hands of scam artists".

So in a nutshell, if you need an urgent test date and you need one earlier than the usual six weeks waiting period then do the following:

1) Book the earliest available slot directly on the dvla website- see link below (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/Doitonlinemotoring/DG_197299)

2) Keep checking for cancellations as often as you can. Tip: If you need an earlier test date because you failed your previous test then allow at least 7 days before checking for cancellations. This is because by law, you will not be allowed to re-take the test less than 10 days from the date you failed your previous attempt. Therefore, the dates showing on the DVLA site might not include dates that fall within the 7 days of your 10 days exclusion. Since most dates exclude the weekends it is safer to wait 7 days.

3) Remember any cancelled dates that suddenly become available for you to re-book have to be taken straight away otherwise you will lose them. So be prepared to be flexible and ready to reschedule other commitments in your life to fit in whatever date/time slots you are lucky to get. There is a high demands for cancelled slots as many people wait for opportunity for someone to cancel so that they can take that earlier slot so be vigilant and optimistic.

4) Don't forget that you are allowed to change the date 3 times ONLY. So once you initially book the usual date (within or up to six weeks from the date of your booking), then as you keep an eye out for any cancellations that will appear, if you find a cancelled slot and booked it but then decide you want a different date (e.g., a better date appeared) then you can still cancel the previous booking for the new date. However, you won't be able to then cancel that because you would have changed your dates 3 times. Cancelling any further dates will lead to you losing your 'booking fee' without any refunds. The DVLA site does display a message to warn you of this once you have reached your maximum cancellations (3 times) so don't worry if you forget how many times you have cancelled.

5) Once you have managed to book a last minute slot directly on the DVLA site i.e., you have managed to find a time and date for your driving practical test suitable for you from the cancellation dates on the DVLA site, make sure you have everything else you will need for the actual test. These include: Checking with your driving instructor (if you are using his/her car for the test and not your own) and making sure that he/she books that date for you in his/her own diary. This will eliminate finding out last minute that you don't have a car to do your test in! So always keep your instructor updated with any changes you make on the dates you book/re-book on the DVLA site. Don' also forget to bring both parts of your driving licence (provisional licence/learner's licence) to the test centre on the day of your test. Good luck.