How much did you pay for Driver's Ed for your child?

[Samiam]

DS15 has a learner's permit, but in order for him to get a restricted license (eligible now), which allows him to drive to school related functions during certain hours, or a regular license at age 16, he has to take a state-approved Driver's Ed course.  I was just looking them up and they are around $300 here.  Yikes!     On the other hand, if he waits until he is 17, then the Driver's Ed course is not required.  

 

I'm almost thinking of having him wait until he is 17.   For one, he has little interest in driving at this point, and often turns down my request for him to drive.  Technically, I don't think he's ready even for a restricted license based on the limited driving time he's had thus far so even going for the restricted license wouldn't happen for at least a few months, probably late summer at the earliest (assuming he agrees to actually drive more between now and then).

 

On the OTHER hand, gosh, how nice it would be for him to drive himself to some of his events in the fall, I'm especially thinking of his football practices which have no official end time, so I am often stuck sitting in the parking lot waiting for him anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour.    I know taking the Driver's Ed course gives a discount on car insurance...but really, how much could the discount be considering I paid $300 for the course....$10 a month maybe....so 30 months before I'd break even...just guessing on that.   

 

When I brought it up to him, he's ambivalent either way.  DH goes with whatever.    How much did Driver's Ed cost for your child?

[redsquirrel]

I think 300 is a pretty good price. I paid $300 for my own Driver's ed almost 30 years ago, so I am impressed it isn't more. I was thinking about it recently, as the mother of a teenager, and commented that it was prob $3,000 by now.

 

And that class got me a lower rate for years later, and it also made it easier for me to get my own insurance when it came time. But, that was an eon ago, so who knows.

[zoobie]

Do any public high schools offer it as a summer school course? DH took it during summer school back in the dark ages.

[Miss Peregrine]

It was $225. I'm in SoCal.

[dhudson]

Our son's was $800 for a 3 day classroom, 2 day driving workshop ( they drove on a old airport learning how to manage a car, get out of a skid and deal with many more things) and (4) 1.5 hours of street driving lessons.

[Excelsior! Academy]

Around $150.  We did parent taught driver's ed. through National Driver Training Institute.

[milovany]

We have one option where we live and it's $405.  We pay half, kid pays half.  Our kids are usually older (17 or 18) when they get their license, but we still feel what they learn in Driver's Ed. is important.  I wish we could homeschool it but it's not allowed in our state.  Best to you! 

[J-rap]

Ours were around 325. That includes ten 4- hour classes and five behind the wheel lessons (I think those were an hour long.)

[swellmomma]

Driver's Ed here is $725.  I have 2 that will be in it at the same time.  When I took it as a teen my folks paid around $600.  I wish it was only $300ish here

[justkeepswimming]

A little over $300 here. Two days in-class instruction and three two-hour driving sessions included. I balked at first, but it actually was a really beneficial experience overall.

[Pawz4me]

$600 for oldest and $450 for youngest.

 

We probably could have gotten them in a driver's ed class at one of the local public or private schools for $25-$50 each, but we had lots of scheduling limitations and needed each of them to take it when it was convenient for us.  Kids here have to have driver's ed before they can get a learner's permit unless they're 18 or older.  Getting their learner's permits as early as possible so they could get LOTS of driving practice under our supervision was non-negotiable as far as we were concerned.

[bettyandbob]

$300 sounds like a good deal.

 

Besides the cost of the course have you investigated what it will cost to have your ds licensed. Your insurance agent can tell you. My ds was going to be very expensive so we did not push getting a license.

[Donna]

$300 in NJ and they must have one of these classes in order to get their permit at 16. My kids had the class in school for free…book work and test then we have to pay for 6 hours behind the wheel with a licensed instructor. Just another way NJ grabs more money from its residents. The driver's ed instructor did nothing for my son that my husband and I couldn't do. 

[Carrie12345]

Mine was something like $180 or $220 over 20 years ago (and through my school), so $300 doesn't sound high to me.  The classroom instruction was free (a 1 semester course in school), so it was just a few sessions of Behind the Wheel. Maybe 4 all together?  It was very helpful to have an experienced instructor talk me through some things that my nervous mother couldn't, um... verbalize quite so clearly and effectively.

 

Drivers Ed discounts can be about 10%.  Knowing my middle aged mom-mobile premiums, I don't think 10% is anything to sneeze at for a teenaged boy's probable premiums!

[JFSinIL]

We had three of our kids take it through the local school, last one as a summer class. About $300.   Local driving schools cost the same. 

[Prairie~Phlox]

We are teaching dd. our insurace company said it does not matter if they take it or not, good grades is what gets them a discount. Our insurance also has a program where you can mount a camera inside the car & it will tell you how they are driving. We have American Family fwiw.

[unsinkable]

Ours was $525 for 30 hours of classroom instruction and 10 hour long personal driving lessons (only our child in the car.) We also paid a bit more to have the driving instructor pick DS up at home for all his lessons.

 

I'm glad we did it.

[unsinkable]

Have you checked into how much the insurance will be??? You are balking at paying 300 dollars. Our car insurance went up $1,000 EACH 6 months for EACH of my boys.. So it cost 2,000 a year in insurance for a teenage boy to drive in our family!!!

Yes, your insurance goes up. But it also depends on the value of your cars and the coverage you have.

 

Many of my son's friends had older cars with no collision and their bills didn't go up as much.

[In The Great White North]

Pretty sure it was $600.  If you take it at school, it is $400 but the schedule is totally unworkable and inflexible.

[Amy in NH]

It was $500 for him to take it at the public school.  The 10-week session finished at the beginning of April.

[TechWife]

Driver's Ed here is required in order to get a learner's permit. Because of that the state and counties cover most of the cost, so ours was only $45. 

[Corbster98]

My son attended a private driving school last summer for the week. Cost was $350.

[katilac]

$400 to $500, required for those under 18. 

[4kidlets4me]

We paid $325 and that got us 30 hours of classroom instruction and 6 1hr long driving sessions. It's required in our state if kid wants license before 18. 

[Dmmetler]

There's a thread on the local board here, and apparently it's around $450-$500.

 

 

[Hikin' Mama]

In my area, it is $100 if taken through the public school and $300 if taken through a private provider.

 

Regarding waiting until your child is 17 so that the child doesn't have to take driver's ed: many insurance companies give a discount if the child has taken driver's ed. Might be worth checking out.

[KRG]

Parent Taught Driver's Ed--$80.  

[dirty ethel rackham]

The local schools offer it for $250.  We went with a private company at it was $500.  We didn't really have a choice because, although the school has to allow our children to take DE, we are at the bottom of the list and you have to take whatever time they give you or go back to the bottom of the waiting list.  We knew our schedule was not flexible enough for that.  Of course, after we had paid this for both boys, another company started offering DE to homeschoolers at a big discount if they could get a minimum # and meet during the day. 

 

ETA:  In our state, the only way a child under 18 can get a license is to take a "state approved" in person class with classroom and road time.  Once 18, you can just go take the test and get a license, but insurance is really expensive if you don't take a class.  We wanted our kids to have a lot of driving experience while under our supervision and authority before heading off to college so we needed them to get their licenses at 16.

[PuddleJumper1]

I am amazed by some of those prices!

 

We paid $80 for my son three years ago. He took it through the ps during the summer. That included the required drug and alcohol training as well as the cost of his test. We did have to pay the actual fee for his permit (I think it's about $59). There was a small fee when it he got his license a year later.

 

Dd is just finishing driver's ed through our state virtual academy which is free for us. The only cost we will have is the $59 cost for her permit.

 

 

[Lolly]

Don't know where you are, but is an online class sufficient? Ds took one online for about $25. I went through Homeschool Buyers Coop to purchase DriversEd.com . My state does not require it, but it gives us a discount on his insurance. Their site does say they do not offer approved classes for North carolina, Ohio, and Florida. The most expensive state seems to be Texas (prices vary by state) at $89.

[sassenach]

Ours was $400. If we only had to wait till 17, I probably would have. Here, we'd have to wait till 18 and dd's school is a bit of a drive, so it was worth it for us.

[plansrme]

It was about $50 for an online version here in GA.  In GA, you have the option to do the course online and the actual driving with a parent.  The parent keeps a log of 40 hours or so of driving under different conditions, and it is checked when the kid applies for her license.  A live class requires far fewer hours behind the wheel, but they are with a non-parent instructor.  The online course was stupid, but it satisfies the requirements for a DE class in Georgia and was much easier to schedule than a live class.  Also, the online class was nothing compared to the wringer I put her through on a daily basis, so by the time she got her license, I was confident in her driving ability.

 

 

[Karen in CO]

I paid about $300 for my ds years ago.  The instructor also gave him his driving test.

[Night Elf]

I paid $300 for 6 hours of driving instruction for my oldest dd just before she turned 18 and got her regular license. We taught her but we felt a professional would be icing on the cake, just to make sure she was a safe driver and knew how to do everything that the test would include. We're going to do the same thing for our other children too. Better safe than sorry.

[QueenCat]

It was around $350. 30 classroom hours, spread out over 4 Saturdays plus 6 hours behind the wheel with a professional instructor. Well worth it. Made me far more comfortable to start driving with ds.

[Onceuponatime]

$90 dollars for Drivers Ed.com, along with parent taught in-car driving. This is allowed in our state.

[HRAAB]

$300 is average for our area.  Last summer I paid $299 for my dd to take driver's training.  A cheaper option is to go through the public schools.  Unfortunately by the time I checked into it, they were full.

[kewb]

I would be all over $300.  It is closer to $450 where I live.

[TheApprentice]

We paid $350 for ds.

[wonderchica]

I'm amazed at these prices! We live in a very poor county. Our cost to take it at school is $80. Just an in-classroom class, then 5 2 hour classes on the driving course and the road. If it was in the hundreds, no one would ever be allowed to drive!

[unsinkable]

I'm amazed at these prices! We live in a very poor county. Our cost to take it at school is $80. Just an in-classroom class, then 5 2 hour classes on the driving course and the road. If it was in the hundreds, no one would ever be allowed to drive!

I'm wondering if the class is subsidized through your school taxes. If it is, then everyone in the district is paying for the class.

 

The class my DS took was OVER the minimum for classroom hours. I think the minimum is a 5 hour class and that costs about $30. The driver needs 50 hours of driving time (minimum) so the class my DS took only covered a portion of that.

 

DS also had an option for a little more money to have his instructor pick him up, give a quick review lesson and then take him to his driving test. We decided not to do that.

[Amber in SJ]

Our charter school paid $380 for my dd this year.  $60 for the online Driver's Ed required to get the permit and $320 for the 6 hour behind the wheel Driver's Training required to get the license. Public schools around here no longer offer these courses but they are required if your applicant is under 18.  It is a real pain.  Because they are required, insurance companies don't give a discount for completion.  Most insurance companies do give a discount for the completion of their own course, in addition to the required course.  It turns out I could buy their course on DVD for $120 and get a 5% discount on the student's insurance coverage which is $68/ month so a whopping $3.40 off.  The good student discount is better.

 

Amber in SJ

[momofkhm]

Ours is through the public schools.  But it's too expensive for them to make it free, so everyone pays $45 or something like that.  

 

Through the public schools as in, contact your local school and take it with them.  We actually have a large enough homeschool population that they offer homeschool classes.  Still $45.

 

 

 

 

[Mothersweets]

$400 in WA state.

 

I've been really happy with the program in our area. Our teens are much better drivers after going through the course - much better than I was at that age after taking Driver's Ed in high school. It is money well-spent, imo.

[sheryl]

My dd starts next month and I registered her for $55.   This is an independent driving school offering classes to p.s., charter school, private schools and homeschoolers.  Our schedule worked better for her to attend the class held at a local p.s. so off she goes next month!

[Susan C.]

$400 each kid. Included 8 hours of class time (the driver's education) and I think 5 sessions of driving lessons. And it included going to get license in the driver's ed car (they were used to it for parallel parking). If you do your own, make sure your state accepts it, ours does not. And I will mention that it is really nice to have them learn in someone else's car. And have someone else doing it! Oh, and you eventually get the $$ back on money saved on insurance.

[TrixieB]

I see courses here advertised for about $500.  The schools no longer offer driver's ed.  I haven't looked into it because my child is not clamoring to learn to drive, and I'm not eager to pay the $$$$$ insurance bill. 

[Tap]

No schools here offer it.

 It is required for kids under 18 to get their license and homeschool/parent led training doesn't count.  My husband is a licensed trainer to teach safety to people who drive cargo vehicles....even with his certifications/licenses, he couldn't do it at home. 

It costs $450 and another $100 for permits, testing, licensing. 

We taught ds how to drive without the class and then he waited until he was 18 to get his license. He didn't want to get his license before that so it just worked out for us.

He gets a discount based on grades but not drivers ed.  His insurance on a mid-90s Volvo costs us approximately $100 per month.

 

DD15 will take the class this summer.  She is much more gung-ho to get her license that he was, so we will have to foot the bill. (I won't let her work yet, so she doesn't have a way to earn it).

[mamakelly]

My ds took the class online at mycaliforniapermit.com I think it was $50. Then it was $75 per 2 hours of driving instruction and he had to do that three times.

[wonderchica]

I'm wondering if the class is subsidized through your school taxes. If it is, then everyone in the district is paying for the class.

 

The class my DS took was OVER the minimum for classroom hours. I think the minimum is a 5 hour class and that costs about $30. The driver needs 50 hours of driving time (minimum) so the class my DS took only covered a portion of that.

 

DS also had an option for a little more money to have his instructor pick him up, give a quick review lesson and then take him to his driving test. We decided not to do that.

In our state you have to keep a parent's log documenting that you have met the amount of behind the wheel time required for a license. Maybe in some states the required time is in the classroom?