The plan was to use my dad’s VW Beetle, but it stopped running three times before we got out of the driveway. Just plain stopped, all lights off, and completely dead when trying to restart. Nothing, no lights, no solenoid click, nada. The battery was replaced last August.

He was going to drive it around a bit and would have passed the test easy. He has most of his experience driving truck, but he’ll have to pull forward into a parking spot and do a Y turn on a 26’ wide road. He can’t touch the front curb when parking or hit the cones rant a 9’ apart. Both tires cannot touch the grass in the Y turn either.

He did the driver’s ED through the high school and the instructor, who is also a licensed tester, gave him a mock road test. He got a perfect score, but that was with the school’s car. The guy even broke out the tape measure and my son was within a 1/4” of perfectly centered in the parking space.

Truck is a long bed, crew cab with a 60’ turning radius. I never pull straight in to 90 degree spots, always back in. He does great backing in as well, but that’s not allowed.

The other option was my dad’s Corvette which my son has yet to drive.

If he doesn’t pass, it’s more money, plus they are two months out for road tests. Plus I have to fix my dad’s Beetle that is only 3 years old with 20,000 miles. Just crap.

Is renting a car like the school car for the day out of the question? It seems like that would be the easiest way to get your son to pass the test.

sounds like an alternator, which if I recall correctly is fairly common on those beetles.

Sorry about the difficulties, that's a crap situation no matter how you look at it.

Back when I was 16 my mom had a minivan and my dad had a sedan with a stick. At the time I couldn't drive stick, so I used my mom's minivan. This was way before backup cameras and it didn't have motorized side mirrors to help you cheat when parallel parking. I touched the curb while parallel parking and failed. Next round I borrowed my aunt's little sedan with an automatic and passed no problem. I don't remember what it cost but I had to wait a month. Best of luck to your son!

On the plus side, you might save 2 months' worth of the hefty insurance increase.

He passed!

The tester gave him a break on the 3 point Y turn after 9 points and told him the back into the grass.

Was going to say, go for in the F350, life has setbacks, you have to learn to adapt and work with things.

Passing the test with that truck, good for him...

The parallel parking must have been interesting!

Parallel parking is really easy because the mirrors are huge. There’s actually two mirrors on each side and I have the bottom ones adjusted to see the back tire on each side. The mirrors also make backing into parking spots a snap.

The Y turn worried me the most as it’s an automatic fail and can’t be done with my truck in the distance they give you. Thankfully, the tester understood.

Unfortunately, he can’t drive before 6am until he’s 17 and even then, it only moves back to 5am. This means you know who still has to drive him to 4:30am swim practice.

Now he’s gotta get his boater’s safety class.

And my daughter got her learner’s permit a month ago, so I get to do it all over again.

Are hardship licenses/age waivers a thing in Florida? Some states have those, which allow kids and their parents to apply for additional driving allowances beyond the normal underage restrictions, for the purpose of driving to things like school/sports/work.

That might be worth looking into, if you're trying to avoid having to drive him to swim practice every morning.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
He passed!

Cool!

That is good to hear. you guys can joke about this for years!

Then there is: 'when I was doing it, we had a...

Learned to drive on the ranch in an 87 Suburban. Drove it a bit in HS too. Definitely makes anything smaller an easier feat.

Why do I not remember parallel parking when I took my drivers test?
Congratulations to the young man!

Years ago, when my room-mate, Rick, took the test for motorcycle endorsement, the examiner pointed out a course laid out behind the DMV building. He told Rick to ride around the course, staying between the lines and observing all traffic protocol.

Always the smart-ass, Rick asked the examiner "What's the lap record?"

^Good one! Since I quit wearing contact lenses, I gave my nonprescription aviator sunglasses to my son. I tried to get him to tell his driver's ed instructor "I feel the need, the need for speed!". He wouldn't do it.

 
Parallel parking in my 1959 drivers' test, in a 1957 DeSoto. There were no passenger side side view mirrors back then. We learned a method that I use to this day. Pull up next to the car in front of you (or pylon), all the way. Cut your wheels to angle back into the space. As soon as your A pillar reaches the back of the car in front, cut your wheels back the other way. It works perfectly every time, ending a few inches from the curb (at least for regular cars).

I road tested for my CDL A back in Syracuse, NY. Part of that test was parallel parking a 18 wheeler. It comes pretty natural after you've practiced it. I did fine on my road test. Heck, the school examiner put us through his road test, sitting over there in black sun glasses. Made me quite nervous as he had many years driving experience in his back pocket.

Rent a car for the driving exam and then return it, no sense in taking the driving exam in a gigantic F350 or rescheduling the exam. A small rental car can be rented for less than 100 bucks a day which is a better solution to your other two options of using the F350 or rescheduling.

Awesome job.

I had to take mine on a big ole’ Caprice Classic and I was taught to drive by my firefighter dad and this was my parallel parking “training”

“That’s the fire chief’s car, that is the chief of police’s car……if you hit either one you’re dealing with it.”

I learned to parallel park….and have PTSD.

I took my driving test when I was 14 in a 63 GMC 4-speed pickup.

Manual transmission, steering, and brakes.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
He passed!

The tester gave him a break on the 3 point Y turn after 9 points and told him the back into the grass.

I feel your pain!
My oldest got his Tuesday.
He did his test in my Jeep, I couldn't quite figure out a way for him to take the test in my unmarked squad car.

After having a Florida motorcycle license for several years, I had to take a Pennsylvania motorcycle drivers test in 1980 after I moved back up north.

I picked the coldest day in January. No snow on the ground but, damn it was cold. The BMW R75 ran great.

The state drivers examiner sat inside his heated office and looked out the window as I took the test.

Of course, I passed.