WHAT'S THE STORY WITH THE COST OF DRIVING LESSONS?

The day many drivers have dreaded has dawned. Since midnight, no provisional licence holders are permitted to drive unless they are accompanied by a qualified driver who has had a licence for more than two years. Despite a concerted push by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) to reduce wiating lists, nearly one in seven drivers - over 300,000 people - will find themselves in a driving limbo in the morning.

The reforms, aimed at improving road safety, have been broadly welcomed, but question marks hang over many aspects of the new law, most notably how it's going to be effectively policed by an overstretched Garda.

A perhaps easier question that Pricewatch readers have been asking of late is, what are the factors driving the cost of lessons, and how can substantial price discrepancies between neighbouring instructors be explained?

Aoife Kane is one such reader. She has only recently started learning to drive and has been alarmed at the rate at which she is spending money.

First there are the incidentals - the theory test question booklet costs €17.99, the theory test is another €36.50, and a sight test will set you back at least €15, the same price as a provisional licence. The actual driving test is €38, and if you pass, a full 10-year licence is yours for €25. Then there is insurance, L-plates, passport photos and any repeat tests that may need to be taken.

The thing that bugs Kane most, however, is the "vast difference in prices" she has found in lesson fees between motoring schools. "I've only researched the lessons in Terenure, and have come across a difference of €100 for block-booking 10 lessons between the worst and best quotes [from €300 to €400]." She says there are similar differences in the price of single one-hour lessons too, which range in price from €35 to €50.

"It galls me to fork out what will amount to, at a minimum, €500. I can only imagine how students or unemployed people who need to be able to drive to get a job may feel about the cost involved," she said.

"My mother taught me to drive a 1957 Renault Dauphine, manual, up and down hills - thought I would never get the clutch right," said another reader in response to Kane's complaint. "None of us paid anything to learn to drive. A very brave relative taught us on deserted roads or in empty parking lots. Nobody was killed!"

Such sentiments, though not uncommon, make Karl Walshe of the Irish School of Motoring wince.

HE SAYS THATtaking lessons from friends or family may seem like a good idea, but the bad habits people pick up will stay with them for life and could end up costing them a lot more than a few hundred euro.

He says the costs associated with learning to drive are good value when all the overheads - car costs, petrol, advertising, insurance and wages - are factored in. Many driving instructors will spend in excess of €8,000 on fuel alone this year, and that figure looks like it's heading in just one direction. "I wish more people would see that it does represent good value, but then again I am biased. Young people can afford cars, petrol, insurance and even have the money to soup up their cars, but they don't feel the need to educate themselves properly. They don't realise how important it is. "

He accepts Kane's point that there are difficult-to-explain price discrepancies between instructors based in the same areas, and says that it is "easy to duck and dive out there". He says the most important thing people looking for an instructor need to check is whether they have public liability insurance, and suggests that some schools offering rock-bottom rates cut this particular corner.

It's not hard to do. The industry is almost completely unregulated at present, and all you need to open a driving school is a car and perhaps a roof-top sign. The law is, however, changing, and from the beginning of next year the sector will come under the auspices of the Road Safety Authority. Instructors will have to be vetted by the Garda and go on comprehensive training courses. They will also be tested every two years.

So, how much should learning to drive actually cost? Walshe says it is difficult to pinpoint the number of lessons a person needs, but says a rule of thumb suggests a "raw beginner" should take one lesson for every year of their lives. "The older people get, the longer it takes them to learn to drive because as people get older, they get slower and more cautious." Based on this rule, a 25-year-old can expect to shell out in the region of €1,500 when all is told.

PRICES DO VARYacross the country, with Dublin and Galway proving the most expensive areas in which to learn. Anything up to €60 an hour is not uncommon, although in Dublin the average price would be between €45 and €55.

Comparatively speaking, the Hibernian School of Motoring is quite cheap - an hour's lesson will cost €35. The school was set up last year as an off-shoot of Hibernian Insurance, and the company is using discounted motor premiums to get new business.

Young people who block-book 10 lessons get six months' free insurance as named driver on their parents' cars, and lower premiums are offered to provisional drivers who reach certain standards, regardless of whether they have passed a test.

Michael Bannon of Hibernian says the school is "not just trying to churn through pupils", and claims that because the company wants to have the people it teaches on its insurance books, it makes financial sense to make them better drivers.

Money aside, finding a good instructor other than by word of mouth is a tricky business. Neither Walshe nor Bannon have much by way of advice for would-be learners when it comes to picking the best instructors - apart from inevitable plugs for their own businesses.

One piece of advice, however, is not to merely hunt for the cheapest. Lessons from a terrible instructor charging €30 are a complete waste of money, while paying €60 for a lesson that's bang on the money makes much more sense in the longer term.