Some companies have been charging more than three times the price of an officially booked test as well as using customers’ personal details without their permission
The RAC has warned learner drivers to beware of being ripped off by the driving test black market.
Since January 2023, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), which is responsible for the driving test, has issued 283 warnings, 746 suspensions and closed 689 businesses for misuse of its booking service. However, the RAC has found many unofficial sites are still trying to exploit learners struggling to become qualified drivers, as the average post-pandemic wait for a practical driving test is still at around four-and-a-half months across England and Wales.
It said learners desperate to beat the backlog are regularly being sucked in by a ‘black market’ that uses bots to book test slots faster than any human could. These slots are then resold at overinflated prices, or by paid-for services offering to alert users to test cancellations in their local area as they become available.
While the official driving test costs £62, the RAC’s research shows some sites are reselling tests for up to £195 – more than three times the official price. The DVSA is taking steps to quickly clamp down on the black market for booking driving tests, but the RAC has found many slots can still be bought through third parties online as they are sold via encrypted WhatsApp chats.
On these channels, sellers will often use the ‘disappearing message’ function so conversations aren’t traceable. Other third parties are profiting from the backlog through ‘cancellation alert’ schemes and apps, which charge users a one-off fee to receive alerts every time a slot becomes available sooner than their original test.
While these sites require legitimate proof of a DVSA test, sign-up fees can still set drivers back nearly twice the amount of an official test, with ‘VIP packages’ advertised for up to £117. The RAC has also found it’s not just money learners should be concerned about losing, it’s their personal details too.
Freelance journalist Lara Olszowska, is one such victim. Lara said: “I bought into the driving test black market at £169 for a test worth £62, just to avoid having to retake my theory and delay my practical exam. I gave them my driving licence number, my theory certificate number, and my home address without batting an eyelid. After failing that test, I went online to try to book my next attempt, but the DVSA website kept popping up with an ‘error’ message.
“That led to a fateful phone call with the DVSA where I learned my account was blocked for having ‘too many’ tests booked using my details – even though I was blissfully unaware for the years it was going on. A company had used my details to repeatedly book tests under my name 52 times and swap them with other candidates who wanted the slots for triple the price.”
The RAC is advising drivers to book directly through the government website rather than through a third-party ‘black market’ site, which often contains false information such as how frequently you can book your driving test.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “It’s terrible that ‘brokers’ using software to reserve tests faster than a human possibly could are making it so hard for learners to book test slots. It seems as though technology is constantly being used to cheat the system as we’ve been told someone’s driving licence number was used to book multiple tests.
“The best course of action before the DVSA finds a solution to this problem once and for all is to book only via the official Government website and not pay well over the odds by using a so-called broker’s site.”
