Driving instructor texts and the new test booking rules

DVSA conducted 1,998,621 practical car driving tests in Great Britain in the year to March 2026, and 1,000,043 of them were passes. That's a pass rate of 50.0%, the highest for any year in DVSA's series, which goes back to 2007 to 2008. The waits are still long: in September 2026 the median learner waited 11.6 weeks between booking and taking their test. And since 12 May 2026 the booking itself has been the learner's job alone, because DVSA made it against the law for anyone else, instructors included, to book, change or cancel a car test.

That last change moves a lot of the admin onto the learner and a lot of the coordination onto texts. An instructor can no longer book a slot and tell the pupil afterwards. They have to tell the pupil when they're ready, make sure the pupil books with the instructor's reference number, and keep track of a date they don't control. DVSA's register listed 42,401 approved driving instructors at the end of March 2025, and the rule applies to every one of them for car tests.

How many tests, and how many passes?

DVSA's table DRT121A gives tests conducted and passed by quarter and financial year. The pass rate sat between about 46% and 47% for most of the 2010s, jumped to 49.8% in the pandemic year of 2020 to 2021 (when only 437,352 tests took place), and has climbed since 2023 to 2024 to reach 50.0%. The first quarter of 2026 to 2027, April to June, ran at 51.3% on 543,773 tests.

The volume matters as much as the rate. Nearly two million tests in a year is the most in the series too, ahead of the 1,945,225 of 2023 to 2024. DVSA's monthly table shows how much overtime goes into it: in September 2026 it made 30,873 test slots available through examiner overtime, in a month when it conducted 191,682 tests.

How long is the wait?

DVSA publishes two waiting measures each month in table DRT121G. One is the median time between booking a test and taking it, for people who took a test that month. The other is how many weeks ahead you have to look before 10% of a centre's weekly slots are still free to book, averaged across centres. They answer different questions. The first is what learners experienced, including the ones who found an earlier slot through a cancellation; the second is how far out a learner booking today would have to look for reasonable choice.

Both are well above where they were before the pandemic. In September 2019 the median wait was 7.4 weeks and the 10% availability point was 8.4 weeks away. In September 2026 those figures were 11.6 and 19.7. DVSA's breakdown for September 2026 puts 41.1% of tests within 7 weeks of booking and 29.5% more than 21 weeks after it.

New appointments, the gov.uk guidance says, "are added 24 weeks in advance" and are "released every Monday at 6am". Cancellation slots appear whenever another learner changes or cancels, and "there's no waiting list or cancellation list for driving test appointments".

What changed in the booking rules in 2026?

DVSA brought in four changes for car tests in three stages, set out in its guidance updated on 19 June 2026:

The guidance is plain about the instructor's role now. "You need to book your car driving test yourself on GOV.UK. Your driving instructor is not allowed to book it for you." Before booking, it tells learners to agree with their instructor that they're ready and to ask for the instructor's reference number, because "you can enter this when you book to make sure your instructor is available". Learners have to confirm they're the person taking the test and accept DVSA's terms, and DVSA can suspend online access or cancel the booking if someone books in a way that breaks them.

For an instructor, the text that says "you're ready, book now, and use my reference number" has become one of the most important messages in the whole course of lessons. The guidance gives the reference number one job, making sure the instructor is available, so the text should ask for it in so many words.

Notice, changes and refunds

Changing or cancelling a car test for free needs "10 full working days' notice", and DVSA counts "Monday to Saturday" as working days, "but Sundays and public holidays do not". The exact cut-off is in the learner's booking confirmation email, and it's worth asking pupils to text it to you when they book.

A change of date, time or centre counts as one of the two, and changing date and centre together still counts once. Updating contact details or adding the instructor's reference number doesn't count, and if DVSA itself moves the test, "for example, due to bad weather", the learner is reset to two changes. After two changes, the only option is to cancel and rebook, with a full refund at 10 working days' notice. Short notice refunds are possible for illness or injury, bereavement, a school or college exam, or a stolen licence, with proof emailed to DVSA. A learner who fails and wants to resit has to choose a date "at least 10 working days away".

On the day, the learner needs a suitable car and their licence. GOV.UK warns that "your test will be cancelled and you will not get your money back if you do not take the right things with you". That's a sentence worth repeating in the day-before text.

What happens on the day, in a text's worth

A few facts from GOV.UK's guide to the test are worth having in writing, where the learner can reread them the night before. The test starts with an eyesight check, reading a number plate from 20 metres (20.5 metres for an old-style plate), and "you'll fail your driving test if you fail the eyesight check". The drive itself lasts "around 35 minutes", with 20 to 35 minutes of independent driving following a sat nav, traffic signs or both. A learner passes with "no more than 15 driving faults" and no serious or dangerous ones. The examiner will ask whether the learner wants someone in the back of the car and at the feedback, and GOV.UK notes that "this will usually be your driving instructor".

After a pass, "you can start driving straight away" without waiting for the full licence, and DVLA should be contacted if the licence hasn't arrived three weeks after applying. After a fail, the earliest new date is 10 working days away, so the text that follows a fail is usually about lessons in the meantime.

When DVSA cancels

DVSA's own cancellations are recorded in table DRT122B. In 2025 to 2026 it cancelled 101,423 car tests: 60,092 for examiner medical absences, 29,438 for leave, 11,884 for "acts of nature" (bad weather and bad light) and 9 for industrial action. The table counts all cancellations, including those made weeks ahead, and dates each one by when it was cancelled.

When weather stops a test, GOV.UK says DVSA will "automatically book the next available date" and send details "within 3 working days", or up to 7 days in a long spell of bad weather. Learners can't claim expenses for weather cancellations. If DVSA cancels at short notice for another reason, such as an examiner being unwell, the learner can apply for a refund of out-of-pocket expenses. Either way the instructor usually hears about it from the pupil, which is one more reason the thread needs to work in both directions.

The texts an instructor sends

These are written for a made-up school, Fernhill Driving, each in one part. The lesson reminder, the night before:

Fernhill Driving: lesson tomorrow (Tue) 16:00 to 17:30, pick-up at the school gates. Bring your provisional licence. Reply C to confirm or call to change.

The ready-to-book text, which replaces the instructor booking the slot:

Fernhill Driving: you're ready to book your test. Book it yourself on GOV.UK and add my instructor number from your lesson card. Text me the date once booked.

Confirming the booking and the plan for the day:

Fernhill Driving: great, test booked for Thu 3 Dec at 10:12. I'll pick you up at 08:45 for a warm-up drive. Please text me the change deadline from your email.

The change deadline, a fortnight out:

Fernhill Driving: if your test on Thu 3 Dec needs moving, it must be done by Fri 20 Nov to keep your fee. You only get 2 changes, so call me first.

The day before:

Fernhill Driving: test tomorrow at 10:12, I'll collect you at 08:45. Bring your photocard licence: without it the test is cancelled and the fee is lost.

The weather warning:

Fernhill Driving: icy roads tonight. If DVSA cancels tomorrow's test, they'll rebook you and send the new date within 3 working days. I'll text in the morning.

And the two that follow the result, one for each outcome:

Fernhill Driving: congratulations! You can drive straight away. If your full licence hasn't come 3 weeks after applying, contact DVLA. Drive safe.

Fernhill Driving: sorry it didn't go your way today. The earliest resit is 10 working days off, so book on GOV.UK when ready and I'll text lesson times.

All eight are service messages in the ICO's terms: they're "for administrative or customer services purposes", the kind that "confirm or remind them about appointments", so they need no marketing consent. A text to former pupils about a motorway lesson offer is different, because it "actively promotes or encourages people to make use of a particular service". That one needs consent or the soft opt-in, and an opt-out in every message. Our post on appointment reminder wording has more on reminders that get a reply.

Running it from one number

Texting pupils from a personal mobile works until a second instructor joins, or a pupil's parent is paying and wants the reminders too. CaptiFi Connect gives a school a UK mobile number with a two-way inbox, so "can we move Tuesday?" reaches whoever has the diary, and scheduled sends for the night-before reminders. Credits cost 3.5p to 5p a text depending on the pack, no VAT added, and they don't expire, which suits a diary that's busier some months than others. The one text no schedule can send for you is the ready-to-book message, because only the instructor knows when a pupil is ready, and since 12 May 2026 that text is the instructor's main part in the booking.