Learning to drive.

[Bex2www.expat-equestrian.com]

Hi I want to learn to drive in the nw year and as i understand you have to take the thoery in French over here. As my french is useless i will be going over to England for a crash course in driving and taking my theory test . I was just checking that IF i pass will i be able to drive striaght away, or is there some complication i should know about?

Thanx in advance

Bex

[Anton Redman]

From mempory you are subject to the lower speed limits for the first twelve months after you pass your UK test when you drive in France.

[Russethouse]

Bex, have you ever had driving lessons before ? I think you are asking an awful lot of yourself to learn to drive on the left then drive on the right, with little or no experience. (Perhaps you will be driving an automatic ?) Are you sure you couldn't 'hack' through the theory ?

By the way I'm sure I read recently that these 'crash' courses are not very successful (because if they were I would send my daughter)

Off topic - did you get your shipping sorted ?

[Nelson]

Gay

I have to say that as a driving instructor in the UK intensive courses can be very successful to the right person. As an aside I have to say that I have never yet tought anybody to crash.

regards colin

[Dick Smith]

That bit worried me, too, but I didn't like to say...

[Anton Redman]

I thought the French theory test was multiple choice and the CD Roms covered all questions and answers. Might be worth having a look at one of the CD Roms or checking with a French driving school.

[Nick Trollope]

[quote]Hi I want to learn to drive in the nw year and as i understand you have to take the thoery in French over here. As my french is useless i will be going over to England for a crash course in driving an...[/quote]

I am convinced that you can't do anything with a UK theory test pass in France. You certainly can't drive in France with a UK provisional licence. I'm also sure that you must be 21 (if you hold a UK licence) to drive anywhere that is not the UK.

Or are you referring to a full UK licence crash course? I think the over21 rule applies, though.

Also, you can't get a UK provisional licence without a UK address, so (unless you have a provable UK address) you will not be able to take any tests in the UK.

As someone else has said, the fr theory test is multiple choice and you can get all the answers in advance. Do one!

[Val_2]

In France ALL ,irrespective of age,newly qualified drivers have to go on probation (A) for three years in which if you lose the allotted number of points you will have to start from scratch again. This may apply to people passing in the UK but living and driving in France with french insurance especially. French insurance for beginners is not nearly as expensive as UK beginners but you will find nothing much under 1100€ per year + franchise. After the three years probation drivers will then get a full french driving licence. As for getting the answers in advance of the french theory test, my daughter says no and it is illegal to try and do so.

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

Lol, six identical posts! You have the patience of a saint... or a short term memory problem! Hope that you had the problem I did earlier, kept getting an error message telling you that your posting had failed?!

[Bex2www.expat-equestrian.com]

Thanx for replies, as they have been confliting i will keep searching on the web to know where i stand. I havent had any lessons but have driven on Private land a few times. I wouldn't understand the french theory even if it is multiple choice! I prob didn't explain myself properly, I dont just want to do the theory in England I want to do it all.

Russethouse.

I haven't sorted out the delivery problems. The woman in my nearest post office osn't very helpful. (i probably has something to do with my very bad French and her not speaking/understanding any english!!) She doesn't try to help just kind of stares blankly at you. Havent been able to get to the big one as still have no transport.

 

Cheers

Bex

[Bex2www.expat-equestrian.com]

Thanx for replies, as they have been confliting i will keep searching on the web to know where i stand. I havent had any lessons but have driven on Private land a few times. I wouldn't understand the french theory even if it is multiple choice! I prob didn't explain myself properly, I dont just want to do the theory in England I want to do it all.

Russethouse.

I haven't sorted out the delivery problems. The woman in my nearest post office osn't very helpful. (i probably has something to do with my very bad French and her not speaking/understanding any english!!) She doesn't try to help just kind of stares blankly at you. Havent been able to get to the big one as still have no transport.

 

Cheers

Bex

[Val_2]

Apologies for the multiple replies,but when I pressed to send,a page came up with Server problems written on and please try again,which obviously I did but I didn't expect the message to get printed on the forum. Since the new "lot" took over, there is nothing but trouble and it seems not just with me either.

[Russethouse]

Nelson, I read recently that these intensive courses are not the success some people may hope, I'm talking here of the ones where you go away for a week and have driving lessons everyday (all day too I expect) with a test at the end.

Perhaps I should have put a smiley after 'crash' !!

Bex - can't you get one of those little cars everyone complains about, not sure you need a license ? (Sure someone else will know about it)

[Dave&Olive]

Bex - can't you get one of those little cars everyone complains about, not sure you need a license ? (Sure someone else will know about it)

 If some one could answer this could solve my problem!!!!

                           Dave

[Hegs]

To be honest I suspect you will be in a difficult legal position with a brand new UK license in France. Aside from the "new driver" restrictions in France, I *think* you need to have been resident in the UK for six months before a UK driving license is valid in France (i.e. you can't hop over, pass a foreign driving test, then convert it back to France).

( "Il est impératif d'avoir sa résidence "normale" (lieu de résidence pendant un minimum de 185 jours par année civile) dans l'État membre où l'on désire passer son permis de conduire." http://www.code-route.com/echange_europe.htm)

>As for getting the answers in advance of the french theory test, my daughter says no

This is true but example questions are published which very, very closely match what you will find in the real code. Your driving school will have tutorial/test CDs which are based on these, I found only 2 or 3 questions out of 40 in the code had not been covered during tuition.

There are now also a couple of oral questions in the French practical as well you have to be prepared for, I will know what they are like next week (gulp).

There are also some English resources for passing French driving theory test.

http://www.americansinfrance.net/driving%5Fstudy%5Fguide/

[Hegs]

>Bex - can't you get one of those little cars everyone complains about, not sure you need a license ? (Sure someone else >will know about it)

>

> If some one could answer this could solve my problem!!!!

There are cars called "voitures sans permis" for which no driving license is required. They are restricted to 45kms/hour, look like toys and I was lead to understand they are really expensive to buy.

[Val_2]

Hegs. The little voiturettes can cost anything from £8K equivalent upwards to buy new and they even do a pickup version now. I honestly feel they should be banned as the people driving them usually have hardly any road sense and it causes people to overtake in dangerous conditions. A few of our local drunks have taken to driving these now after losing their licences and they are bl**dy lethal when you get behind them.

[Richard-R]

Can you not take a test in France in English? I understand that in the U.K. you take take the test in languages other than English. Seem to remember a sign outside a driving school offing lesson for Arabic speakers.