Learner drivers turn to YouTube and TikTok to cut costs - but instructors warn of risks

Learner drivers say they are turning to online tutorials to help with the cost of obtaining a driving licence.

Driving lessons in the UK are now about £35 to £50, according to the RAC, with the average learner needing 45 hours of lessons and a further 22 hours of practice.

Megan Kielthy, who passed her driving test in August, said social media videos "definitely" saved her money, but she also had seen AI-generated images and misinformation that she had warned could confuse learners.

The Driving Instructors Association (DIA) said while digital education could be "excellent" it should go "hand in hand" with practical lessons, and that road safety was a matter of "life and death".

Megan, 18, opted for a trainee instructor to save money but said learning to drive had still cost her more than £1,000.

She earns £10 an hour babysitting, which she said had gone towards her £30 lessons alongside help from her parents.

"I don't think that I would have been able to do it without the financial support from my parents," she said.

"I found that having access to YouTube allowed me to cut costs.

"I would learn all the content with my instructor but then I was able to revisit content and then if there was something in a YouTube video that I didn't know, that I didn't fully understand, I was able to go back to my instructor and ask him."

She added: "I had part of high school online because of Covid so I already knew how to use recorded content for learning so it felt very natural for me."

Megan warned that not all of the content she had seen online had been helpful.

"I stumbled across an AI image of a roundabout showing which lane to be in for the exit and it just made no sense. I showed it to my driving instructor and he agreed it was ridiculous.

"If people solely relied on online content it could lead to people going on their test unprepared or misinformed of what they're going to experience on their test and driving after."

The total cost of learning to drive is about £2,460, according to the DIA, a rise of more than £570 since 2020.

Learners also need to pay for a theory test at £23, a practical test at £65 and temporary driving insurance in personal cars which can cost £40-£50 a month.

Betsi Seward, 18, is currently learning to drive alongside studying at college and working part-time.

"I am lucky I have a part-time job and can afford to fund it myself but if I didn't, it would be so difficult," she said.

"Over the last couple of months my whole TikTok and Instagram is just people learning to drive. It's like my algorithm knows, it's quite scary," she said.

"I find them helpful. I was practicing how to do an emergency stop and I was watching videos on how to do that and it really helped to see like where to put my foot on the clutch and stuff like that."

But Betsi said not all the content she had seen was helpful.

"When you post people making mistakes, that is what is going to get the attention and interaction," she said.

She said there were also "random accounts of people using AI to generate mock tests like the routes... and it's obviously not real.

"But then if you're just learning to drive and you haven't had a few lessons, you wouldn't know that and it's quite scary actually, because if you take that information into the car with you and it's wrong, then it's quite dangerous actually and quite scary."

Savannah Jones, 20, from Cardiff, who works in childcare, passed her driving test in June.

Her dad paid for her lessons, which totalled about £2,000.

"I'm very grateful. He was very chuffed when I passed first time," she said.

"I was watching a few YouTube videos. I saw a lot of TikToks. It was very much most of my algorithm was learning to drive, tips and tricks.

"I think it could help someone cut the cost but not for me personally. I would watch to understand it a bit more and apply that when learning."

John Reynolds has been a driving instructor for 13 years and started making his own social media videos last year.

These include clips showing test routes, common mistakes and videos of manoeuvres.

"I started making short videos for learner drivers to actually learn something outside of driving lessons and to learn things which they need to know for the driving test," he said.

"I also do long videos on YouTube so people who can't afford driving lessons have got the opportunity to find out the correct way to do things for the test.

"So by doing these extra lessons online, it can help bring down those costs."

He said while his videos could be a useful tool, they did not mean learners should opt out of formal lessons.

"I know straight away [if] they have been watching another video," he said.

"I found that there was a lot of things on there where instructors would say 'this is how you do it, this is how you shouldn't do it' and being very specific to the car they're actually teaching.

"So what I try to do with mine is make it more universal so it doesn't matter what car you're driving."

He warned that people should use online material responsibly.

"It needs to be used responsibly and it's looking for those snippets of information to actually improve your driving. You need the practical skills to make those actual decisions.

"When you then try that road, it's a totally different scenario."

Carly Brookfield from the DIA said she understood gaining new skills online but said there were risks.

"I'm a huge advocate of using digital education as something that goes hand in hand with practical training from a professional trainer," she said.

"That's excellent from the cost perspective, but it's also excellent because the most exposure you can get to driver education in this period, the safer you are.

"[But] I'm going to be very frank with you here. You could possibly learn enough on YouTube and TikTok and you could possibly fluke a 45-minute driving test," she said.

"What is the ultimate test of your driving and your driver education to that point is when you [are] on your own and you can cope with those risks.

"When it comes to road safety, we're talking about life and death."

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), the UK government body responsible for road safety, said: "Alongside the advice of an Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) and using official learning guides and the Highway Code, there are many ways that learner drivers can supplement their preparation for the driving test.

"This may include reputable social media content and also private practice with a relative or friend."

YouTube and TikTok were approached for comment.

Additional reporting by Michela Riva.