Booking your car driving test

From 12 May 2026, you will need to book your car driving test yourself on GOV.UK. Your driving instructor will not be allowed to book it for you.

Before you book your test

Before you book, speak to your driving instructor to:

• agree that you’re ready to take the test
• ask them for their driving instructor reference number – you can enter this when you book to make sure your instructor is available

Booking your test

When you book your test, you should:

• only book at a test centre you intend to use – you will only be able to move your test to nearby centres
• choose a date you realistically expect to be ready by – you will only be allowed to make 2 changes to your appointment
• use your driving instructor’s reference number

From 12 May 2026, you will have to confirm that you:

• are the learner who will be taking the test
• agree to a new set of terms and conditions

Making changes to your car driving test

From spring 2026, there are 3 changes to how you manage your driving test appointment:

• you can only make 2 changes to your booking (from 31 March 2026)
• only you are allowed to make changes to your own booking (from 12 May 2026)
• you can only move your test to nearby centres (from 9 June 2026)

How many times you can change your test

From 31 March 2026, you will only be able to make 2 changes to your existing booking. If you’ve already used all changes under the current rules, you will be able to make 2 more changes from 31 March 2026.

Only use your limited changes when your circumstances genuinely change.

What will count as changes

Only these things count as a change:

• changing the date or time
• changing the test centre
• swapping your appointment with another learner driver who already has a test booked

If you change more than one thing at the same time (for example, the date and test centre together), this still counts as one change.

Example

If you change your test from Northampton on 4 June to Kettering on 12 May, this counts as one change

What will not count as changes

These things will not count towards your change limit:

• updating your address or contact details on your booking
• adding or removing your driving instructor’s reference number
• any changes that DVSA needs to make to your test (for example, due to bad weather)

If you need to make more changes

If you need to make more changes after you have used your 2 changes, you will have to cancel your test and book a new one.

You will get a full refund if you cancel at least 10 full working days before the test date.

Who is allowed to make changes to your test

From 12 May 2026, only you will be allowed to change, cancel or swap your own driving test.

You will have to confirm that you:

• are the learner who will be taking the test
• agree to a new set of terms and conditions

From 12 May 2026, it will be against the law to change, cancel or swap a driving test for someone else.

Where you can move your test

If you book a new test from 9 June 2026, you will only be able to move your test to:

• any of the 3 centres nearest to where your test is booked 
• the test centre you first booked at on that current booking

Example

You book your test at Southend. The 3 nearest centres to Southend are:

• Basildon
• Chelmsford
• Tilbury

You can use your first change to move your test to one of those.

You decide to move your test to Chelmsford. You are allowed to make one more change.

You can use your second change to move your test to the 3 centres nearest to Chelmsford. These are:

• Brentwood
• Basildon
• Hornchurch

You can also use your second change to move back to the test centre your first booked at, which was Southend.