In recent years, enrolment in automobile driving courses has grown continuously. According to the statistics from the Transport Department (TD), waiting time for driving tests (private car and light goods vehicle combine) is over 200 days, on average. For learner drivers who want to pass in one go, a more secure way is to receive at least 30 hours of driving training before taking the test as recommended by the TD. However, the Consumer Council's survey showed that all driving training packages offered by the 11 surveyed driving schools, did not fulfil the recommended training hours. The lowest was only 5 hours. Moreover, the package prices of these driving schools varied considerably, up to 10 times. If extra tuition lessons are needed, taking into account some charges for miscellaneous services and car rental, the final sum may become 6 times the price of the original package price, leading to substantial unexpected expenses out of the estimated budget.
The Council sent questionnaires to 21 driving schools, receiving 9 replies, while obtaining information from 2 unresponsive schools via their webpages. In general, the driving training packages are categorised into 3 types: "hourly rate", "package" and "package with value added course". Among the 17 private car and light goods vehicle driving packages offered by 9 schools, the number of lessons varied from 7 to 35. The remaining 2 schools, offered only "hourly rate" courses. Among the surveyed schools, 9 schools offered 45-minute lessons, 1 school offered 55-minute ones, and 1 school offered lessons lasted for 45 or 55 minutes, depending whether a dedicated driving instructor was requested or not.
The Council reminds consumers to beware that many driving training packages are claimed to be low-cost. But the survey found that the fees of private car and light goods vehicle training packages varied considerably by up to 10 times, ranging from $1,750 to $20,195. Among the surveyed packages, only 2 included the fees for learner's driving licence, driving test and car rental for driving test in their posted prices. The others, after counting in all necessary fees, would entail expenses ranging from $4,408 to $22,853.
The survey revealed that there were no driving training packages fulfilling the 30-hour training recommendation from the TD. The maximum was just 26 hours, but still falling short of the recommended training hours.
Therefore, if learner drivers expected to have driving training of up to 30 hours, they must also consider the fees for extra lessons. Generally the fees ranged from $240 to $510 per lesson for private car and light goods vehicle respectively. The district where the training takes place might affect the rate of charges.
Based on the suggested training hours, the Council chose the most flexible courses for automatic transmission vehicle held in Kowloon and New Territories, to calculate the total expenditure on a 30-hour driving training with the inclusion of lessons fees, as well as fees for learner's driving licence, driving test and car rental for driving test. The respective fees for driving training would climb from $11,898 to $30,503 for private car, and $12,418 to $30,503 for light goods vehicle. Therefore, if consumers enrolled in the cheapest package ($1,750), taking additional training to fulfil the recommended training hours, the extra costs might amount to $10,908, or 6.2 times the original package price.
The Council also reminds consumers to pay attention to the location and time of training, as well as the type of car (manual or automatic transmission), for which prices differ. For example, at the same driving school, fees for lessons of private car taken on Hong Kong Island were 8% higher than those for lessons taken in Kowloon and the New Territories. As for a course on manual transmission vehicle driving of another driving school, the charges for training on Hong Kong Island was 16% higher than that in Kowloon and the New Territories.
Some consumers may believe that learning to drive an automatic transmission car is easier than a manual one, but may overlook the difference between them in price, which is even more substantial as far as light goods vehicle training is concerned. 1 surveyed school charged $7,600 for an automatic transmission light goods vehicle course and $4,560 for the one on manual transmission light goods vehicle. It was a 67% difference. Such differential in price also existed in the fees for car rental for driving test and extra training hours charged by the surveyed driving schools. In general, the private car course fee for manual transmission was higher than for automatic transmission; but vice versa for light goods vehicle.
Some driving schools set prices according to the time slots when the training took place. The courses on driving private car and light goods vehicles alike which offered greatest flexibility of time charged fees 27% higher than similar courses with the same number of lessons but of least time flexibility.
Apart from the hours of training, the quality of driving instructors was also another factor to be considered. 6 schools claimed that they offered the same driving instructor for the entire driving training; while 2 indicated clearly, that different driving instructors would be arranged for each lesson. 1 claimed that the arrangement would depend on the nature of courses; while 2 others did not provide such information. If learners were not satisfied with the performance of driving instructors, 9 schools stated that a change of instructor could be arranged free of charge, in some cases twice and in other cases, unlimited changes.
No matter which alternative was chosen, learners should make sure to receive sufficient training and possess basic driving skills, good driving habits and attitude, as well as enough on-road experience before taking driving tests. Other tips for consumers are as follows:
- Learn the details of the course content, including the number of lessons, duration of each lesson, items covered by the package price, routes of training, types of vehicle, etc.;
- If learners cannot attend a class as scheduled, what is the deadline for notification and the arrangement of substitute class;
- Enquire about the possibility and arrangements for dropping out, for example, whether unused lessons can be refunded;
- Keep receipts and relevant information after enrolment, for the protection of consumer's rights.
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