You can book the moment you walk out of the test centre. The test itself just cannot be sooner than 10 working days away. What nobody warns you about is what the booking service shows you when you try.
The rule, in one line
After a failed car practical you have to pick a date at least 10 working days ahead. Monday to Saturday count as working days. Sundays and bank holidays do not. In calendar terms that is about twelve days, so fail on a Tuesday and the Monday a fortnight later is usually the earliest the rules allow.
Nothing stops you booking it immediately. The restriction is on the date of the test, not on when you are allowed to book one.
Just under a million learners a year are in exactly your position. Of the two million car tests taken in the last full year of figures, half were failed. It is the most ordinary thing that happens at a test centre.
The gap between the rule and reality
The rule says twelve days. The booking service, at a typical centre, says five months. Both numbers are true, and the distance between them is the whole problem.
At the latest count 146 of 317 centres in England, Scotland and Wales had nothing free anywhere inside the 24 week booking window. If yours is one of them, the retest date you are offered has nothing to do with the 10 day rule. It is simply the first gap in a full diary.
Half of all learners sat their test inside 11.9 weeks though, not the twenty-three being advertised. They did not wait out the date they were first given. Something earlier came free and they took it.
What to do on the day you fail
- Book something before you leave the car parkTake the earliest date showing, even if it is months away. You cannot improve on a test you do not hold, and holding one costs nothing extra.
- Check your theory certificateA theory pass lasts two years. If it runs out before you pass the practical you have to sit the theory again from scratch. Find that date now, not in four months.
- Look at the centres around youThe wait swings from under six weeks to the full twenty-four. Our waiting times table has every centre, and each one has its own page.
- Have someone watch for an earlier dateDates come free every day when other learners move or cancel theirs, and they go in minutes. Either check constantly yourself, or have it done for you.
What a retest costs
A retest is a fresh booking at the full fee: £62 for a weekday test, £75 for an evening, weekend or bank holiday one. There is no reduced rate for a second attempt, and nothing from the failed test carries over.
Once the retest is booked
Three rules decide everything you can do with it from here:
- You get two changes on a car test
- Moving or cancelling without paying again needs 10 full working days' notice
- You can only move it to one of the three centres nearest to where it is booked, or back to the one you first chose
Worth knowing before you need them, because the first change is easy to waste.
Getting the retest sooner
Tell us your centre and the months that suit you, and we watch for an earlier date on your behalf. You hear by SMS and WhatsApp the moment one appears, and you decide whether to take it. Nothing to pay upfront, and you only pay if we find you a test and you take it.
Find me an earlier testNothing to pay upfront
Questions about retaking a driving test
How long after failing can I retake my driving test?
At least 10 working days. Monday to Saturday count, Sundays and bank holidays do not, so it works out at roughly twelve days.
Can I book my retest the same day I fail?
Yes. You can book straight away. It is the date of the test that has to be 10 working days off, not the booking.
Do I have to pay for a driving test again if I fail?
Yes, in full. Nothing carries over from the failed attempt and there is no reduced rate for a second go.
Does my theory test certificate still count?
Only if it is still inside its two years on the day of the practical. If it has run out you have to take the theory again before you can sit the practical.
Why can I not find a date 10 working days away?
Because the rule and the availability are different things. Nearly half of all centres have nothing free inside the whole 24 week window, so the earliest showing is often months out.
How many times can you fail a driving test?
There is no limit. You can keep booking retests, with the same 10 working day gap between each one.