[weikianng]

Hi all,

Have anyone here (non-British), have any experience in acquiring a UK Driving Licence? Personally, I think acquiring one will increase job opportunity. Please share your views, and experience, if you have acquired one.

Thanks.

[z3mms]

I've been driving in UK for the past one year but UK law only allows me to drive for a year with a non-UK driving license.. so now i gotta try getting myself a British driving license. My housemate has gone through the lessons and theory + practical tests and passed with ease... i suppose it wont be that hard provided you really know what you can, must and mustnt do whilst driving.

Im currently preparing myself for the theory test and planning to go through the practical test without taking any driving lessons with an instructor.. (to save some money) lets see how it goes..

[AlvinLuo]

I just passed my driving test last month and I would strongly suggest taking driving lessons with an instructor. There are many important things that we need to learn and also minimise the risk of failing. Every instructor will make sure you are confident and well prepared before sending you off for test.

Each time you fail, you need to pay £62 for resit and also have to pay 2 hours to rent instructor's car which cost around £70 for me. Total amount you need to pay around £132 for each resit.

Get the latest "The Official DSA Practical Driving Test DVD" and start practice for your Hazard and Theory test.

Good luck!

[AlvinLuo]

I am applying job at the moment and I did state I have a full clean UK driving license. But so far I still haven't got any interview yet.

But of course it's worth getting it, the expiry date for UK driving license is 10 years.

There is another way of getting it, which is convert Msia driving license to HK driving license, then convert to UK. You need to know and trust someone in order to do this, because you need to send your passport to HK which is quite risky if you don't know the person who is doing the application for you.

[weikianng]

z3mms, on 27 January 2010 - 09:01 PM, said:

I've been driving in UK for the past one year but UK law only allows me to drive for a year with a non-UK driving license.. so now i gotta try getting myself a British driving license. My housemate has gone through the lessons and theory + practical tests and passed with ease... i suppose it wont be that hard provided you really know what you can, must and mustnt do whilst driving.

Im currently preparing myself for the theory test and planning to go through the practical test without taking any driving lessons with an instructor.. (to save some money) lets see how it goes..

Alvin, on 27 January 2010 - 11:32 PM, said:

I just passed my driving test last month and I would strongly suggest taking driving lessons with an instructor. There are many important things that we need to learn and also minimise the risk of failing. Every instructor will make sure you are confident and well prepared before sending you off for test.

Each time you fail, you need to pay £62 for resit and also have to pay 2 hours to rent instructor's car which cost around £70 for me. Total amount you need to pay around £132 for each resit.

Get the latest "The Official DSA Practical Driving Test DVD" and start practice for your Hazard and Theory test.

Good luck!

Alvin, on 27 January 2010 - 11:35 PM, said:

I am applying job at the moment and I did state I have a full clean UK driving license. But so far I still haven't got any interview yet.

But of course it's worth getting it, the expiry date for UK driving license is 10 years.

There is another way of getting it, which is convert Msia driving license to HK driving license, then convert to UK. You need to know and trust someone in order to do this, because you need to send your passport to HK which is quite risky if you don't know the person who is doing the application for you.

I see. Thank you guys for the feedback. I did try the theory test online. Personally, I think the driving rules are almost the same in Malaysia.

One thing to share is if you have an NUS card, to can learn driving at around £7 per hour. So I am thinking of utilising whatever students benefits before my student identity ends.

Converting the licence? Sounds interesting, too bad I do not know anyone who do that. Saw an advertisement in a local Chinese grocery store but not willing to try. Like you said, losing a passport is really risky. Rather go through the safer way.

z3mms, do let me know your experience when you gone through everything. Good luck!

Alvin, how much in total did you pay in total? How many hours did you learn with the instructor?

I have also applied for a two jobs now. So far no replies yet. Hopefully I am able to get a job soon.

[AlvinLuo]

Hi Weikian,

Here's the breakdown of my cost:

Provisional License - £50
Theory Test - £31
3 x 1 hour lesson - £18+£17+£17 = £52
4 x 1.5 hour lesson - £25 * 4 = £100
Using Instructor's Car on Test day - 2 x £20 = £40
Practical Test - £61
Total = £334


*I stated wrongly in the above post regarding using instructor's car on test day, it's £40 not £70.

[weikianng]

Alvin, on 28 January 2010 - 01:32 PM, said:

Hi Weikian,

Here's the breakdown of my cost:

Provisional License - £50
Theory Test - £31
3 x 1 hour lesson - £18+£17+£17 = £52
4 x 1.5 hour lesson - £25 * 4 = £100
Using Instructor's Car on Test day - 2 x £20 = £40
Practical Test - £61
Total = £334


*I stated wrongly in the above post regarding using instructor's car on test day, it's £40 not £70.

Opps, is more than what I expected. I thought £150 will be enough. I guess I will have to start my part time first before going for the licence. Haha...

[TsLeng]

I got my UK driving license as well and it cost around 300-400 in total taking into account the theory test and some lessons to familiarise with the route.

But its well worth it since you can rent cars (provided you are over 21/22) and certainly better prospects of finding a job.

[Limmy]

I have been driving in UK for about 4 years now. First year with the non-UK driving license and I will have to get a UK driving license after that. The breakdown cost to obtain a UK driving license is about the amount as what you guys been posted on this forum (+-£350-£400) for the whole process; provided that you didn't fail the test!!! Driving in this country is fairly similar to Malaysia; apart from the driver here are more considerate; I reckon... ... I've been driving in KL for about 10 years before I came over to UK and I would say that, if you're familiar with driving in Malaysia, there is nothing to worry about driving in this country. Probably the hardest part to pass the test here is to get rid of all your bad habits you've learned while driving in Malaysia (I reckon)..... hahaa....

Currently I'm working as a Civil Engineer in one of the biggest civil contractor firm in Europe; and believe me or not, they wouldn't employ me if I don't have a UK driving license. There was a case happened to one of my colleague (South African) where he lost his license of being caught for drink driving. He was banned from driving for 20 months with £400 fine (obviously this lad was overdosed), and straight away he got the termination letter from my company the next day.

So I would say that having a UK license certainly have a better prospects of finding a job, and in some jobs, it is a "MUST" to have a driving license. For those that already have a license here, please do APPRECIATE of what you have caused over here, there won't be "Boss, kasi la chance, macam mana mau settle.... 50 la 50 boss kasi settle la". You be nailed to the ground if you've been caught in serious offense, or your points on your license will be gone!!!

Think, Don't drink and drive....

Malaysia BOLEH!!!!

PS: Keep me posted if there are any events coming up... I like to meet more M'sian in this country....

[z3mms]

alvin: holy ****... why didnt i know about this malaysia->hongkong->british license before.. if i knew this i wouldve asked my hongkee colleague to convert my malaysian license to hongkong from there when we went back last time. that wud save me a lot of hassle and $$!

ahh... too late now :'((

[AlvinLuo]

z3mms, on 13 February 2010 - 04:36 PM, said:

alvin: holy ****... why didnt i know about this malaysia->hongkong->british license before.. if i knew this i wouldve asked my hongkee colleague to convert my malaysian license to hongkong from there when we went back last time. that wud save me a lot of hassle and $!

ahh... too late now :'((

Haha.. I know some of my friends have done that but I don't dare to risk my passport. I would prefer to experience the procedure of getting driving licence in UK.

There is someone who actually offering this service in this forum. Have a look:
http://frommy.org/to...__fromsearch__1

To all FromMY members: I don't personally know him so do it at your own risk.

[weikianng]

Alvin, on 14 February 2010 - 01:22 AM, said:

Haha.. I know some of my friends have done that but I don't dare to risk my passport. I would prefer to experience the procedure of getting driving licence in UK.

There is someone who actually offering this service in this forum. Have a look:
http://frommy.org/to...__fromsearch__1

To all FromMY members: I don't personally know him so do it at your own risk.

I think experiencing the whole process will be better than letting someone who you does not know to convert your licence. I have actually find out more about the converting method. She had helped a lot of people to convert their driving licence to Hong Kong ones.

Basically the procedure is like below:
1. Send your passport and current driving licence to this person, and she will send it to Hong Kong to get it converted. Around 2-4 weeks to get them back. (for Malaysian it cost £298)
2. While waiting, apply for Provisional Licence. (£50)
3. Once you get the Hong Kong driving licence, send it to DVLA with the Provisional Licence, and DVLA will send the British Driving Licence to you.

Too bad I do not know this person personally, so I will still go for the driving test method, it cost around the same after all (£348).

[z3mms]

£298 to convert malaysian->hongkong? aww that's not really worth it then..
ok time for me to proceed with my original plan then

[weikianng]

z3mms, on 14 February 2010 - 02:38 PM, said:

£298 to convert malaysian->hongkong? aww that's not really worth it then..
ok time for me to proceed with my original plan then

Yeah... I am going to do it these 2 months as well. Do you know where we can get materials to prepare ourselves for the theory exam?

[AlvinLuo]

Just get this Driving Test Success ALL Tests 2009/2010 Edition (PC) and practice.

Good luck!

[weikianng]

Alvin, on 18 February 2010 - 03:26 PM, said:

Just get this Driving Test Success ALL Tests 2009/2010 Edition (PC) and practice.

Good luck!

Thanks for the heads up. I am looking for a Mac version, but does not seem to be able to find one at the same price... Am now going through those free lesson websites...

Alvin, do you mind to let me know more about the Hazard Test, from the video, the person was only pressing left or right click from the mouse. It says we cannot press to many times. How does it work exactly? If you left-click, the car will go left?

[AlvinLuo]

Hi WeiKian,

Hazard Test just only need right click.

Basically it's something like this, there will be a video of you driving a car. When you see a cyclist in front of you, you need to click once to spot there is hazard. The score will depends on how fast you respond to it. If you spot it too slow, and you won't score any points even you click it.

If you abuse the systems by randomly clicking a lot of times, you will automatically failed the test. I do not know how many clicks considered abused. However, if you click too fast, sometimes you won't score the points too.

So what I do was, as soon as I see a hazard, I will click like 3-4 times.

I would strongly you to get the DVD. I only took few tests in the DVD due to last minute and I just managed to pass my theory test. Some of the questions from the DVD will be repeated in your real test.

Hope that helps.

[weikianng]

Alvin, on 22 February 2010 - 12:41 AM, said:

Hi WeiKian,

Hazard Test just only need right click.

Basically it's something like this, there will be a video of you driving a car. When you see a cyclist in front of you, you need to click once to spot there is hazard. The score will depends on how fast you respond to it. If you spot it too slow, and you won't score any points even you click it.

If you abuse the systems by randomly clicking a lot of times, you will automatically failed the test. I do not know how many clicks considered abused. However, if you click too fast, sometimes you won't score the points too.

So what I do was, as soon as I see a hazard, I will click like 3-4 times.

I would strongly you to get the DVD. I only took few tests in the DVD due to last minute and I just managed to pass my theory test. Some of the questions from the DVD will be repeated in your real test.

Hope that helps.

I see. Was confused about the Hazard test at first. Thank you.

[AlvinLuo]

I have a friend who did for himself for about £300. It took him about 3-4 weeks to get the license done. He's located in West Midlands.

Where you at now?