This story has been covered in the press – I saw it in today’s Sunday Mirror, and it is also covered by Autoblog. It concerns various websites which charge a premium priced for booking theory and practical driving tests – apparently the AA has complained to the Office Of Fair Trading (OFT).
It isn’t exactly new. The DSA sent out an email alert in July 2010 on the matter. It’s the same advice that I’ve given on the Information page for the last year, and I also gave this warning back in March 2010.
The thing is, some sites are definitely scams – they deliberately fool people into paying money and they provide nothing in return, not even a test booking in some cases.
The ones that charge a premium price and deliver what they offer aren’t really scams. What they’re doing is highly immoral, particularly if they conceal the fact they are not official sites (and most of them do), but they are still providing a service – albeit of questionable value.
I’m not defending them – I think they are wrong - but we need to be clear on what is actually happening and not just keep labelling things we don’t like as “scams”. After all, stealing money from someone is not the same as overcharging them. It’s similar, but not the same.
But the overall message is this…
- BOOK YOUR TEST ONLY VIA THE DSA WEBSITE
- DO NOT BOOK IT USING ANYONE ELSE
- ALL YOU CAN GET IS A TEST BOOKING – THERE IS NOTHING “EXTRA”, SO DON’T PAY EXTRA IF SOMEONE OFFERS IT
- THE THEORY TEST IS EASY - DON’T PAY SOMEONE TO HELP YOU
- A SIMPLE DVD COSTING AROUND £6 WILL HELP MORE THAN THEY CAN
Use the DSA’s site, and only the DSA’s site – see the links on the Information page.
The DSA has introduced a CAPTCHA system on its booking pages, designed to inhibit automated test checking and booking.