Case Histories
There is often a lot of pressure from other members of the family and from friends to learn in a manual car. Their argument is usually in the form of:"If you learn in a manual, you can drive both"
Most of my clients who have passed in an automatic do not want to drive both! They only want to drive an automatic. Don't let anyone make you feel inadequate if you cannot manage a geared car. You are not alone; indeed there are thousands of people who could not get on with gears for various reasons. These cases are just a few:
Sarah came to me a few years ago, when I was teaching both manual and automatic. She had already had a couple of driving instructors, but felt that she wasn't getting anywhere. But she wanted to continue learning in a manual car.
It wasn't long before we realised between us what her problems were. She was scared of holding people up! Consequently, she would try to pull away too fast, stall the car, then declare that she couldn't do this and I would have to take over the clutch to get us moving again.
I tried very hard to reassure her that she had as much right to be there as everybody else, that she couldn't do it any faster so there was no point in trying..........
But it was obvious that this fear was not going away. I asked her to have just one lesson in the automatic and see how she felt.
She loved it! No fears, no worries about holding people up, no giving up!
She passed her test first time in an automatic and has never looked back.
Clare had been trying to learn to drive a manual car for ten years! She'd had many driving instructors over those years, and not one of them recognised that she was never going to do it, or if they did they decided to keep taking her money regardless. Then she met Julie, an instructor of my acquaintance. Julie took her for just one two hour lesson and saw at once that it was never going to happen. She advised her to try an automatic. That was the first time Clare had known that she could learn in an automatic!
She knew there were automatic cars, but she had no idea that she could actually learn and pass a test in one.
Clare passed her test first time after only three months with me.
Karl had failed three tests in a manual car. His boss was a friend of mine and asked me if he could have a go in the automatic. We booked an appointment and I asked to see his driving test reports, which showed that he had failed every test for moving away.
Basically this means stalling the car, rolling back or being in the wrong gear. Karl changed to automatic and failed the first test on a reversing manouevre, but he was so pleased because he did everything else right.
Second time he passed and now has his own car and is doing really well. Had he not changed to automatic, he would still be trying to pass that test.
Mandy was terrified of learning to drive at all, and would rather not bother, but she was moving to a place with little in the way of public transport and needed to get to work.
She started in the manual, but even on quiet country lanes was scared to death. At the end of that first lesson, she asked for the automatic.
She passed first time and is now happily driving herself to work and visiting friends.
People want to learn automatic for various reasons, either they are afraid of the traffic, and find they can concentrate on it much better without having to worry about gears and the clutch. They may have co-ordination problems (lots of people do) or they may have a mild disability which will prevent them from handling all the controls properly.
Perhaps you have left it until later life and want to do it as quickly as possible. Three years ago I taught three ladies in their sixties, one of whom had never even sat behind the wheel before.
I am getting more and more people who have never driven before and do not want to bother with gears.
Whatever the reason, do not let it keep you from driving at all!
